Game On! Q&A With 8-Bit Owner Dale Irons Ahead of Hutong Video Game Bar's 4th Anniversary, Dec 2

Like a game of Minecraft gone awry, 2017 has left bricks flying, buildings and alleyways unrecognizable and beloved businesses slane as Beijing officials play with the controls and dramatically reshape the city. Yet a few fortunate longtime favorites have managed to stay in the game, including video game themed Beiluogu Xiang bar 8-Bit, which will celebrate its fourth anniversary this Saturday, Dec 2 with a night of button mashing, cheap drinks, DJ's and more.  

Co-owner Dale Irons (who DJ's and runs the joint's PR under the alias Sake Gin, and is aided in the operations with the help of his business partner Hao Yue) says 8-Bit's current status can be summed up by the anniversary party's poster: "We chose to use the artwork from the original Super Mario Bros game for the poster. On it, Mario is triumphantly leaping towards the bricks. I guess this is showing that our future can't be entirely certain, but we will keep going till our very last life!"  

Below, Irons tells us about his favorite 8-Bit memories from the past four years, his plans to level up the bar, as it were, in the near future, and more.

What are some of your fondest memories of running 8-Bit over the past four years?   
The first would have to be our opening night at our first location on Jiaodaokou. Neither of us had opened a bar previously, and down to the last minute before opening we were questioning ourselves and worried about how people would react to our concept. Still to this day, to be honest, we have never been to another video game bar so we really had no idea what to expect.

But as soon as we opened the doors for the first time, and seeing the reaction from the first customers coming in and enjoying overwhelming nostalgia, childhood memories, laughter, and smiles, it was then that we knew that we had did the right thing.  

We've also had great memories at our current location. The addition of the rooftop gave 8-Bit a whole new atmosphere, in no small part thanks to the barbecue's with the Arrow factory team. The rise of the Super Smash Bros community, and more recently laughing with Comedy Club China at their open mic on Wednesdays, have also been major highlights.  

How did 8-Bit get started in the first place?  
It happened incredibly fast. My friends and I would spend many drunken nights playing Wii.  Suddenly, Hao Yue and I had the idea of how fun it would be to bring this atmosphere to the public. Three weeks later we had found our first location, then five weeks after that we opened for the first time on Jiaodaokou.

Why did you switch locations In 2015, and why has Beiluoguxiang been a better home?
We had outgrown the first spot. We were constantly turning people away, it was way too small. And not having a toilet was also a downside [laughs].

So we wanted a larger space to fit more people and to put on events with DJ’s, comedy open mics, quizzes, along with being able to serve food.

How does it feel to be throwing an anniversary night in 2017? You're one of the year's few surviving hutong bars, so I'm guessing this occasion feel triumphant in a way, but also poignant?   
Well, it's obviously been a tough year for the entire hutong community. It's been incredibly sad to see some of our favorite bars fall victim to the bricks, as we know how much work and passion goes into opening and running a bar in our favorite neighborhood.

Any future plans for 8-Bit you'd like to share?  
Our next step is going to be into VR. I can't give too much away at this point but be sure that next year we will be hosting some brand new experiences.

8-Bit's fourth-anniversary party will be held on Dec 2 from 6pm onward. There's be drop-dead cheap drink specials (Kirin 600ml bottles and jello shots on for RMB 10, house spirits for RMB 20), a beer pong competition, karaoke, a range of video games available to play and sets from local DJs like DJ Boring, Jrs, and Sake Gin. For more information, click here.

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Images: Mitchell Pe Masilun, Kipp Whittaker