Quarter House Arcade
Owner: Unclaimed (but a known haunt of the Lost)
Location: Downtown Gatlinburg
Description:
Bright neon buzzes softly in the dim glow of CRT screens, casting shifting colors across the faces of those lost in the games. The scent of old carpet, hot pizza, and sugar-sweet soda lingers in the air, mingling with the sound of button mashing and muffled laughter.
Quarter House Arcade is a relic of a different time, a place where the past clings stubbornly to the present. The walls are lined with classic cabinets—Pac-Man, Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter—some of them running smoother than they have any right to. In the back, a lounge area offers cracked leather couches, dimly lit corners, and an unspoken rule that what’s said here stays here.
For the Lost, Quarter House is more than a hangout—it’s neutral ground. A place to mingle without politics, to trade favors over rounds of pinball, or to meet contacts without the watchful eyes of the Freehold’s power players.
Some say that certain machines don’t just play games. That if you find the right one, punch in the right high score, press the right buttons at the right time, you might just find yourself somewhere else entirely. But where, exactly, depends on the game you play.