From retro classics to modern hits, new arcade opens in Wausau

Rich Palzewic

Staff

July 6, 2026

WAUSAU – A new Wausau entertainment venue is blending retro gaming with modern attractions, food and drinks.

Co-managing Partner Tom Powers said Oasis Arcade, located at 102 Jefferson St., offers everything from retro gaming classics and pinball machines to modern attractions, specialty drinks and a full bar and food menu.

Powers said Oasis is off to a “hot start” since its opening early last month.

“It’s been crazy,” he laughed. “We are growing week to week. Wausau was hungry for what we are offering. That was evident because we had 3,000 Facebook followers before we even opened.”

Powers said partnerships with local businesses, including the Jefferson Street Inn and CHAR Grillhouse, have made the first month even better. 

“Everybody has been fantastic,” he said. “People we saw the first week came back the second week, and now they’re bringing friends.”

Powers said it’s great to see families utilizing the space, no matter their age.

“I might have a 70-year-old grandfather in here with his grandkids who are spending three or four hours on the pinball machines,” he said. “Grandpa might be playing ‘The Addams Family’ that he’s used to, but the kids are playing the ‘Pokémon’ machine.”

More on the game side

Powers said Oasis features 22 pinball machines and 35 arcade cabinets, with pinball machines ranging from new Stern and Jersey Jack models to vintage units dating back to the early 1990s.

“The arcade games range anywhere from Pac-Man to Terminator 2,” he said. “When we started this whole thing, we scoured the entire country, looking for the best of the best. With some of the machines, we had to completely rebuild the cabinet.”

To keep things fresh, Powers said the staff at Oasis will periodically rotate games in and out.

“Some of our cabinets are cartridge capable, so you can literally open the cabinet, pull the cartridge out as you did for the Atari system and put in a new one,” he said. 

Powers said the token-based system helps keep prices at Oasis affordable for all ages. 

“All arcade games are our pride and joy, and we strive to take the utmost care of them,” he said. “Tables are all around, so we ask our patrons not to put food or drink on the cabinets or glass. The other co-managing partner – Seth Clendenning – and I aim to keep these machines in top shape.”

More than just games

Though games are a main draw at Oasis, Powers said the space offers more than just arcade play, including a full bar, food menu and specialty desserts. 

“I’d say we’re close to a one-stop shop for date nights,” he said. “The bar is totally separate from everything, but we don’t run any tappers – everything is bottled or canned and super fast. We specialize in a lot of specialty drinks, which correspond to the different games. You can actually order a mixed drink of ‘Jaws,’ which has grenadine in it and looks like blood in the water.”

Powers said Oasis currently has a limited food menu, including hand-breaded Mullins cheese curds, house-made pretzel bites and pizzas.

“If you’re looking for that true date night, that’s where some of those partnerships come into play,” he said. “If you really want to have a nice dinner, you can go to CHAR Grillhouse first, which is right across the street, and have a great steak… After dinner, pop on over to Oasis for some after-dinner entertainment.”

Powers said CHAR also crafts custom desserts for Oasis that are not part of the restaurant’s regular menu.

“Those desserts are unique to Oasis,” he said.

Due to city regulations and a desire to keep the space welcoming for all, Powers said Oasis is restricted to adults after 7 p.m. 

“We are regulated as a bar/arcade by the city, and we need to follow certain rules,” he said. “The city had a few concerns, so to get approval and be good partners with the city, we decided kids are welcome with adults until 7 p.m. We felt it was the perfect compromise. With how [often] we’re open, there is plenty of time for everyone.”

How it all began

Powers, 57, said he doesn’t have much of a background in arcade gaming, noting his only experience came from playing at Northridge Mall in the Milwaukee area as a child in the 1980s. 

“About six months ago, I saw online that somebody had one of these arcade cabinets for sale,” he said. “It turned out to be a place in Eau Claire that buys, refurbishes and resells games.”

Powers said he and a friend – who was also interested in a vintage pinball machine for his basement – went to Eau Claire to speak with Tim Sexton of Eau Claire Games and Arcade, and ultimately ended up buying a game for his own basement. 

“On the ride home, my buddy said, ‘We should open an arcade,’” he said. “I told him that was a ‘fantastic idea for 1986.’ He told me he thought arcades were making a comeback, but it wasn’t until I visited a few similar setups to Oasis, that I saw the interest was there.”

While doing his own research, Powers said both of his sons came home for a visit and helped confirm that arcade-style games are still popular. 

“One is 23 and the other is 21,” he said. “The 23-year-old spent about seven hours downstairs on a cabinet, and he played ‘Marvel vs. Capcom’ – a game he did not grow up on. That’s a game from the mid-1990s.”

Powers said his youngest son further reinforced the point, staying up all night playing “Battletoads.”

“I found him and his girlfriend the next morning in the basement, wearing the same clothes as the day before,” he laughed. “My two boys proved to me Oasis could work. They did not grow up on these games, but here they were playing them for hours. Those games are not too recent and don’t have the graphics that games have today, but they still captured my boys’ attention.”

Though games like “Mario Bros,” which debuted in 1983, can be played from home, Powers said the experience is different when played on a cabinet surrounded by people, flashing lights and noise. 

“It’s the same experience that sucked us in 1985,” he said. “If you add the pinball factor to this, pinball is never the same game twice. If you play “Battletoads,” “Marvel” or “Pac-Man,” level one is always level one, but pinball changes every time.”

Finding the ‘perfect location’

After market research showed the Greater Wausau area could support an arcade, Powers said he set out to find the “perfect location.”

He said there’s nothing really like Oasis within a 100-mile radius.

“Business-wise, it looked like it made sense, but we still needed to find the correct spot,” he said. “We really wanted to put the arcade in downtown Wausau, so we are 150 yards off the 400 block, which is the central heart of Wausau, especially in the summer.”

Powers said another key requirement for the building was separating the game area from the bar area. 

“In other locations, the games surrounded the bar, and you couldn’t escape the noise, so it was really important to find a place where the bar was separated from the game floor,” he said. “We wanted a place where you could have a double-date night and be able to escape the stimulus. Maybe the ladies want to sit and watch the 130-gallon reef aquarium behind the bar while the guys play ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.’”

Before the duo occupied the 102 Jefferson St. building, Powers said it was a Chinese restaurant that closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was nice because it was big – 5,200 square feet – and had a full industrial kitchen and a separate bar,” he said. “The game space now sits in what used to be the dining room.”

Being located in downtown Wausau, Powers said parking is at a premium, but Oasis doesn’t have to worry about that.

“We are on the ground floor of a parking ramp,” he laughed. “You can’t get much better than that.”

Once the location was secured, Powers said the “real work began.”

“The cleanup was extensive,” he said. “We took a truckload of cleanup away. When the previous tenants left this building, they basically locked the doors and walked out. When we walked in, there was still oil in the fryers.”

Powers said the cleanup, renovations and game installation took about three months to complete.

“In the middle of all this cleanup, Tim Sexton from Eau Claire Games and Arcade did a lot of the legwork in finding me the games,” he said. “We basically gave him a list and said, ‘Go hunting.’ They brought games in from all over the place. Some of the games were from private collections, and some of them were from auctions. Some of the games needed full renovations.”

Oasis Arcade’s current hours of operation are from 3-11 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 3 p.m. to midnight Fridays, 10 a.m. to midnight Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.

The arcade only hosts private events on Mondays and Tuesdays.

For more information on Oasis Arcade, head to Facebook.