(Image: Raygun Lounge)
There is hope of a replay at Capitol Hill all-ages arcade bar and tabletop gaming hangout Raygun Lounge where an employee is getting help from the neighborhood to restart the business.
“Raygun Lounge in Capitol Hill has been a nexus for gamers, geeks, and anyone seeking a place to belong. Raygun isn’t just a pinball barcade — it’s a community,” River Flanary says in the plea asking fans to pitch in to keep Raygun Lounge open.
“It’s where pinball wizards meet board game strategists; where LGBTQ+ folks feel safe and at home; where tabletop RPG campaigns unfold, and Magic: The Gathering games rage on. Raygun is a place where our community gathers and becomes friends, with food and drink and engaging games,” Flanary writes.
Raygun dates back to 2009 when Eric and Amy Logan opened Gamma Ray Games on E Pine near Crawford. Raygun Lounge added an arcade bar to their mix a few blocks up the Hill on E Pine in 2012. The two combined into the one space where you find Raygun now in 2014.
Covid nearly ended the game for but temporarily shifting more heavily into retail helped dull some of the pandemic pain.
It was a pyrrhic victory. Flanary says the COVID-19 era debt made it impossible for the original Raygun business to continue. With the blessing of the Logans and the landlord, Flanary now wants to save the lounge and step forward as an owner with the community fundraising supporting the restart.
(Image: Raygun Lounge)
“We must save the Raygun because it has been a community hub for fifteen years. It’s a place that people call home. It’s one of the few family friendly spaces in Capitol Hill,” Flanary says. “The neighborhood would be more empty place if our doors shut.”
With a decade of bar and restaurant experience, Flanary acknowledges the challenges of staring fresh with Raygun — but when it is your turn to play, you roll the dice and count the spaces, turn the card and make your move.
“These donations will help to bolster our operating costs,” Flanary says. “We don’t really have much aside from enough to acquire the space and pay for legal and licensing feels, and having a buffer in savings would help with necessary improvements and ensure that staff stay employed, beers keep pouring, and arcade machines kept on.”
Raygun Lounge is located at 501 E Pine. You can support the fundraising campaign here.
A BRIEF HOLIDAY MESSAGE FROM CHS
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support 🎁
