1 Minute Cooldown

The Mana Bar Dress Code

Even though I found myself not as impressed by Brisbane as by other cities, I still had some pretty good reasons for visiting. Among those, there is one that probably stood out beyond the rest. It all goes back to an idea I have heard many people profess over the years. "Why don't they have a bar where you can play video games?" Well, I am here to say that there is one, and its in Brisbane. Ever since I came across its existence while doing my research for my Australian adventure, I knew there was no way I was going to miss out on visiting a place (as whimsically named) as the Mana Bar. (And if you don't get it, do not worry. That just means you grew up normal and socially adjusted. I am sure you had lots of friends and maybe even kissed a girl every now and then, but for those of you like me, I hope the punny of this establishment at least received a small chuckle of appreciation. Now, I am not always the biggest drinker, and certainly not in Australia (where drinks are eight dollars at the bare minimum), but I was willing to have a few cold ones if it meant visiting a bar that also boasted five HDTV screens with some of today's newest and most exciting video game consoles and titles. After all there is nothing better than drinking a beer, unless its drinking a beer and sniping some newbs.

So when Friday night rolled around I headed out the door with the intent of finding the elusive bar and getting my drink on. In the hour walk it took me to locate the bar, I realized that it was not as big as it seemed in their Internet promotions. In fact, while walking I overlooked the place and wound up walking 15 minutes in the damn wrong direction. I almost gave up trying to locate the bar until I happened across its small recessed entrance almost by chance. Through it was a door which led to a man in a black T-shit who checked my ID and let me inside, ( and all with only a small comment about me being from New Jersey.)

The thing I noticed first was how small the place was. When I looked everything up on the Internet and downloaded the Press Packet (Because apparently writing an unknown travel blog actually elevates you to the status of press,) I got the feeling that the inside was going to be much much bigger. Turns out it was creative camera work. The establishment I actually found was relatively tiny and cramped. Still, I barely noticed the size, because soon my eyes became fixated on the decor of the place. There was a display case hanging on the wall that showed figurines of video game characters like Master Chief and a life-sized model of Link's Hyrule Shield. Additionally, above the main bar there was a wide-screen projection showing nothing but non-stop video game music videos, cut scenes, and other video game related footage. Of course it was hard to understand sometimes, but I think it was a nice touch. The last thing I noticed was the video games.

Happy people and their video games... and alcohol.

Arrayed across two walls were large HDTVs each with a different type of game. There was one TV wired to play Guitar Hero, while the one next to it I found people involved in an intense game of COD: Modern Warfare 2. Across the way there was a TV set up to play nothing but Nintendo games and the people crowded around it were involved in playing Mario Kart 64. Next to it was a TV set up with old-school joysticks and smash buttons and there was a line of people waiting to play Street Fighter IV. Best of all, all the games were free to play. Now granted there was not a lot of room, but no one seemed to mind. Chairs were freely offered and given by the clientele for those whose turn it was to play at the consoles. My first impression was extremely positive, not only with the bar, but with everything I saw. So after staring in awe at the place for a few minutes I finally found my feet and shambled up to the bar to order myself a beverage.

Now World of Warcraft defines alcohol as: (with most drinks) is a consumable item that can be procured either through adventuring or a vendor. Unlike other drinks, it does not restore mana. (But see 'Kungaloosh.') It shares global cooldown with other drinks despite this. Depending on type, alcohol will also occasionally give benefits such as 'Well Fed.' For the most part, alcohol is used purely for recreation. If you drink enough alcohol, you will first become "tipsy", then "drunk", and finally "completely smashed"; after enough alcohol, you will vomit.

I got a regular and cheap beer, (not enough to get "completely smashed,") but what impressed me the most about the alcoholic selection of Mana Bar was the creative cocktails they employed. Among the funny and nerd-worthy drinks they were selling were: the Princess Peach, the Breath of Fire, the Mana Potion (A blue drink), the Health Potion (a red drink), the Ashgar Ale, and the Elixir of Fortitude. This does not even cover the shots they offered, like: the Choco Island, or the Red vs. Blue (it was red and blue), the Cloud Strike, the Shambler, and (my personal favorite) the FINISH HIM, (which looked like a Bloody Mary).

After getting my drink, it did not take too long to find myself embroiled in a level of Modern Warfare. Sitting down and taking the Xbox controller in hand, I started off the game with some preparatory excuses to my fellow gamers: Its been a long time since I played, and I'm used to playing on PS3. Even with those in place I went on a thirty minute spree of "not-sucking-that-bad" over the course of four or so levels. (I hate that damn villa level.) I then moved to play a few games of Mario Kart and then a few songs of Guitar Hero.
 

The Ocarina of Lime (get it)
Masses of Bacardi Superior Rum smashed
with fresh lime, mint leaves, sweetened
with a teaspoon of brown sugar and
blended with sparkling water.



However, my time with Guitar Hero was one of those rare things I need to complain about. How can I play a game based on mashing buttons to the beat of a song, if I can't hear the song over the music playing in the bar? It is only one of some of the improvements I would make to the Mana Bar. Do not get me wrong, this is a place that is well worth visiting, but there are somethings I would change. First off, more space. The place was fairly small and could suffer to have some of the walls blown out. Second, I would add couches, and maybe even different rooms for different consoles. I would especially like to see an Old-School room where you can grab an authentic controller and play some NES or SNES, or even Sega Genesis. The way I see it, the people of Mana Bar have done the concept of the "Video Game Bar," right, but there is no need to rest on their laurels. They should start thinking about what's next and how they can do it bigger.

Yet, the one thing I would not change would be the patrons of Mana Bar. Everyone was there to have a good time, and there was no sort of inflated machismo or other sorts attitudes that you might find at another type of bar. Most people were laughing, talking and joking freely to each other, and enjoying the relative ease you often find among people who know that they are in a place for one reason... video games. Guys seemed more ready to compete over the Wii remote than the girl at the corner of the bar. Maybe even more surprisingly, there were a good amount of females in the bar. Most had green/blue/purple/etc hair, and most were accompanying their significant others, but the sheer number of them impressed me. Maybe it is my own prejudices, but I did not expect to see many women at a place such as the Mana Bar.

Still, my prejudices were not done being challenged for the night, as the most surprising part of the evening came while I was watching some people play Modern Warfare. When I was playing game there was a bearded fellow who was pretty much wiping the floor with myself, and anyone else who dared challenged his assault-rifle-wielding skills, but after a few rounds of dying to this man who was way better at it than us, we all eventually bowed gracefully away from the controllers and content ourselves to watch or find other endeavours. I stayed to watch as one of the open spots was taken by a woman who looked like she would have been more at home in a shoe store than in a video game bar. Yet, to every one's amazement and pleasure she proceeded to make my bearded nemesis look like a bearded fool. Her kill streaks were unstoppable, to say nothing of her knifing skills.

I guess it goes to show that you can't judge a book by its cover. I suppose it is the same with a small cramped dark bar in some forgotten corner of some forgotten city on some forgotten continent of the world. You never know what your going to find if you just have a little patience and a little willingness to look for something which may not always be readily apparent. This is a lesson that video games have taught us through the ages, whether looking for a secret passage in Mario or inspecting a room for a vital clue in Uncharted 2, we should never judge anything by first impression, even if it is a small unknown city named Brisbane.