Free 70s/80s Vintage Arcade Games at BART Powell St. (Sept. 3-9)

Free Vintage Arcade Games at BART’s Powell St. Station

Back in 1976, BART tried to make a little extra money off the growing arcade game craze by placing a six-sided Atari console on the platform at Powell Street so passengers bored waiting for trains could drop a quarter (worth about $1.30 in today’s dollars) to play primitive games with boxy graphics like Pong and Space Race. Now, celebrating its 50th anniversary, BART pays tribute to this event by setting up four slightly-more modern (but still vintage) arcade games from the late 70s and early ‘80s (Pac-Man, Asteroids, Space Invaders and Galaga) for seven days of free play on the concourse level. It’s great (for once) when inflation works backwards.      

September 3-9, 9.a.m – 5 p.m., Powell Street BART Station, Concourse Level, S.F., Free. bart.gov

From Saturday, September 3 through Friday, September 9, 2022, BART will commemorate it’s 50th anniversary by throwing back to the 1970’s with a free, vintage arcade game event at Powell St. Station in downtown San Francisco.

BART will have 4 vintage arcade games (Pac-Man, Asteroids, Space Invaders and Galaga) set up for free play each day of the event between 9am and 5pm.

This event specifically throws back to 1976 when BART partnered with Atari to place a 6-game, 6-sided console on the platform level to promote the gaming company’s new games and bring revenue to BART through the 25-cent per play cost.

Join BART as we celebrate 50 years of service in the Bay Area