They had thought about the idea before, but when faced with the annual challenge of how to celebrate their son’s birthday, Mitch and Nicole Robison realized it was time to add a bonus round to what Lebanon had to offer.
Within months, the Robisons – with the help of their co-player children – opened Afterglow Arcade, Lebanon’s newest play space located downtown.
It was their son Ori’s 13th birthday last April that set the pinball in motion, so to speak. The family had to decide how they wanted to celebrate. Nicole said in past years they’d already done “all the things,” with Lebanon’s bowling alley being their go-to for several years.
“We love the bowling alley, but we wanted something different and there wasn’t really a space here to do that,” Mitch said.
They opted this year to go to an arcade in Albany, but the distance made it difficult for many of Ori’s friends to attend. Recalling they’d talked about opening an arcade before, and looking around at the venue in Albany, Nicole realized the dream was attainable. The pair decided to just “buckle down” and do it.
“So we launched a business plan and we just started ripping,” Mitch said.
The energy at Afterglow Arcade comes alive with bright lights and the iconic sound of beeps, dings, machines being manipulated and – for the lucky ones – electric fanfare for jackpot winners.
In one corner, a brightly-lit glass counter displays prizes that can be earned with paper tickets. It’s one of the arcade’s signature highlights, harkening back to the original days of video game rooms when quarters were placed in coin slots and tickets spit out for points earned.
Instead of modern game cards arcades use today, the Robisons issue out custom tokens to their customers and use paper tickets for prizes.
According to Mitch, the couple wanted people to be able to tap into the kinesthetic response one gets when they put coins into the machine and feel tickets in their hands.
“When we touch it, when we feel it, it makes us feel good,” he said. “When you pick up all those tokens, when you hear the tokens hit the bottom, it sounds nice. And when you hit the jackpot, you get to see all those tickets pour out and then you get to pick ‘em up and hold ‘em and feel ‘em.”
It’s that physical and stimulating sensation they wanted their customers to have, something that can’t be experienced with player cards, Nicole said.
“When a kid hits the jackpot and it goes to a player’s card, you don’t know that you hit a jackpot, you don’t know how many tickets you have,” she said. “But when those tickets start pouring out and everyone’s looking and you’re the cool kid, it’s a great feeling.”
The other thing the Robison’s focused on in their business was affordability.
While visiting several arcades in the state, they found the reloadable game cards usually cost money to obtain and required a minimum amount of, like, $10 put on them, Mitch said.
“We didn’t want that,” he said. “We wanted a kid to come in and have five bucks and throw five bucks in and have fun, right? We just really want to make it accessible to this community.”
Plus, he found that using the game cards made the experience less fun in a different way, as well.
“The ones that were not affordable just weren’t fun because it had me thinking about money, not thinking about fun,” Mitch said.
On Aug. 29, Afterglow Arcade and Contender Comics partnered together to host their first Santiam Comic-Con. Kids and adults, some in costume, flitted from machine to machine and perused comic books.
Mitch and his 4-year-old daughter Olivia, who was dressed in a Batman costume, played some games together, seeming to just enjoy the business they were building together. Olivia, you see, plays a vital role in the business as the company’s game tester.
Closer to the front were Nicole, also dressed as Batman, and son Ori. They were busy selling tokens and handing out prizes.
Ori, 13, helps by making prizes with his 3-D printer and manning the prize table. One of his favorite games at Afterglow is Big Shot, a catapult-type game.
And what does Olivia think about her family owning an arcade?
“It’s actually the best,” she said.
But she doesn’t get to just play all the games she wants; her family lets her earn tokens by doing chores.
The arcade still has plenty of room for growth. In the back storage area, the Robisons have a number of games ready to be fixed up and set out for play. It’s an area they think could eventually make a nice event rental space. There’s also a smaller room set aside as a party room.
The family has plans to expand with a snack shack and bar, but for now, for the adults who just want to sit and relax while their kids play, there’s a row of tables and chairs set along the building’s wall of windows.
It’s a simple option for parents, but one Brittney Dewberry appreciates. On their first day at the arcade, Brittney and her husband, Ross, showed their young daughter, Finley, how to play some of the games.
“It’s great for her because there’s not a lot in town for littles,” Brittney said. “She loves the tickets, she loves the coins, and she doesn’t know yet she gets the prizes at the end.”
Plus, she noted, it’s not very expensive.
During the comic-con event, Haley Downs watched as her son, Ryder, played with a driving game, one that was clearly too big for him, but he seemed to be happy just playing with the steering wheel. Meanwhile, Haley’s hands grasped a row of paper tickets longer than her. The coins and tickets, she said, were making the experience more fun.
Also, she noted, “It’s pretty neat to have something for the kids to do in town versus having to drive hours away.”
That was another part of their business plan that was important to the Robisons: location.
“So it could be something families could walk to, kids could walk to, have somewhere for families to go after school, during summer, when it’s raining,” Nicole said.
And when they leave, she doesn’t want them to leave empty handed.
Some people, Nicole explained, are saving up their ticket wins to later redeem for one of the bigger prizes – perhaps the PS5 or TV. But Nicole tries to encourage them to at least get a sucker, “because it’s fun to save, but it’s also fun to leave with something in your hand.”
Afterglow Arcade has only been open a couple of months, and the rainy, indoor season has yet to reveal the true success of the business, but so far the community’s reception has been “fantastic,” Mitch said.
“I didn’t expect to receive the gratitude that we’ve been receiving from everyone,” he said. “So many people thank us for providing this.”
The Robisons are already starting to get to know the regulars, and Nicole said she even had a couple hold a date night at the arcade.
“We’re just here to have fun and help families have fun, and we have a lot of people thanking us and being really grateful.”
