Jason
- Aug 20, 2021
- 2 min read

Hailey’s Harp-cade- Metuchen, NJ (June 2019)

Some people call this time of year “Summer” but I call it “ARCADE ROAD TRIP SEASON!!!” (TM). That’s right folks, today marks the kickoff of summer lacrosse. For the next two plus months I will drive my sons to tournaments up and down the East Coast, stopping at as many arcades as humanly possible along the way and reporting back.

This weekend’s tournament is in Delaware, which just so happens to have an extreme lack of arcades (someone out there needs to open one in the First State) so I decided to find a cool arcade along the route there. That means close to the NJ Turnpike...and “Hailey's Harp-cade” in Metuchen, NJ is just that.

Located around five minutes off of the highway, Hailey's Harp-cade consists of two parts, the Bar / Arcade in one building and an Irish Pub that serves food around the block. The pictures of Hailey's Harp-cade that I have seen online definitely don’t do it justice. The place has a lot more games than I expected.

Below is a list of what you will currently find there. That’s a ton of games for a relatively small place, right? I was very pleasantly surprised. All of the games are coin-op. The pins were a little expensive at a buck per play for older games ($0.75 for Dr. Dude) but they all worked so I wasn’t really offended. The star of the day for me was DE Guns and Roses. I don’t see that game on location very often so I don’t have much time on it. Man, what a fun pin. My son and I loved it.

I had never been to the town of Metuchen itself. Again I was very pleasantly surprised. The downtown area was really nice. There was tons of bars and good restaurants. People were milling about all over the place. There even was an outdoor concert with a great rock band playing and people gathered around listening. We tried to hit the pub for dinner but there was a wait and in the middle of a three and a half hour drive, you don’t wait for dinner. So we went to the BYOB Mexican restaurant across the street. It was great.

Overall our trip to Metuchen and Hailey's Harp-cade was a very pleasant experience and a great way to start the summer arcade tour off. If you’re within driving distance, make sure to check it out.

PINBALL

Williams No Good Gophers

Data East Guns & Roses

Bally Dr. Dude

Williams Twilight Zone

Williams Line Drive (pitch & bat)

VIDS

The Simpsons 4-player

Ms. Pac-Man

Pac-Man

Area 51 Site 4

Centipede