Mana Bar

Mana Bar was the first Australian cocktail bar and video gaming lounge located in Brisbane, Australia within its biggest night-life and entertainment district, Fortitude Valley.[2][3][5][6][7] The bar held its opening event on 20 March 2010.[3] The bar allowed visitors to play current generation gaming consoles free of charge while enjoying video game themed drinks.[2][6][7][8]

Mana Bar
Address420 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley
LocationBrisbane, Australia
Coordinates
OwnerMorrigan Moore
TypeBar
Capacity50[1]
Opened20 March 2010[2][3]
Closed24 May 2015[4]
Website
www.manabar.com.au

The Mana Bar was founded as a collaboration between Guy "Yug" Blomberg, co-creator of Australian Gamer; Pras Moorthy, senior designer at The Creative Assembly; video game critic Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw; and Shay Leighton, creative director of local cocktail bar The Bowery.[9][10] Morrigan Moore became the owner and general manager in May 2014.[11]

The bar closed on 24 May 2015.[12]

History

The idea was first conceived by Australian Gamer co-creator Guy Blomberg, in December 2007 after a house party in which Guy himself noted the successful combination of alcohol and video games made for an excellent social environment.[13] Guy was later joined in this enterprise by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw, Prasant Moorthy and Shay Leighton.[14] After years of planning and several pushed back opening dates, the Mana Bar opened on 20 March 2010. It is also reported that there are only a handful of venues in the world that offer a similar experience.[14] Despite the 50 person capacity of the venue, the opening night saw over 100 line up, with the waiting time for some reported to be up to three hours long.[15]

The Mana Bar has received significant media coverage from prime video game and geek culture sites including Kotaku,[16] Destructoid,[3] Gizmodo[17] and Joystiq.[6]

On 9 August of the same year, it was confirmed that the success of Mana Bar in Brisbane has led to plans to expand to Sydney (no opening dates were mentioned) and Melbourne[18] due to be opened on 16 July 2011. It was also revealed that there were plans to expand internationally, with the owners looking at opening the bar in the United States and Europe.[19][20]

After a little over two years of operation, the Melbourne bar closed in September 2013, citing low patronage further impacted by restricted trading hours.[21]

On 19 May 2015, the owners announced via the bar's Facebook page that the venue would cease trading on Sunday 24 May. The owners thanked "everyone [who] made it the sweet ride it was."[22]

Video game industry relations

The Mana Bar had strong ties with the video game industry, and had been used by developers and publishers as a promotional venue where they were able to preview or launch their games. This included the launch of Blazblue,[23] the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta, Just Cause 2[23] and Raskulls[24] all being playable at the venue prior to the official launch of the games, the latter being a preview exclusive to the Mana Bar.

References
  1. "Functions and Bookings Packages" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 March 2010. Retrieved 1 July 2010. The Mana Bar has a 50 person maximum capacity...
  2. "Mana Bar opening event on Saturday, 20th of March". MCV. 3 March 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
  3. "The Mana Bar: Australia's first gaming destination". Destructoid. 23 March 2010. Archived from the original on 28 May 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
  4. Bochenski, Natalie (20 May 2015). "Game over for gaming hangout Mana Bar". Brisbane Times. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  5. Turi, Tim (11 January 2010). "Australia Opening Their First Video Game Pub, Mana Bar". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 23 May 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
  6. Gilbert, Ben (10 January 2010). "Yahtzee and others to open Australian video game bar". Joystiq. Archived from the original on 12 April 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
  7. "Australia's First Dedicated Videogame Bar Opening February 2010". IGN. 11 January 2010. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
  8. Cheer, Dan (11 January 2010). "Australia's first video gaming bar opens". GamePlanet. Archived from the original on 19 January 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2010.
  9. "Australia's First Video Game Bar". Mana Bar. Archived from the original on 26 May 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  10. "The Mana Bar opens February 2010". tsumea. 14 January 2010. Archived from the original on 18 January 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  11. "The gauntlet has been passed (Facebook post)". Mana Bar. 1 May 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  12. Serrels, Mark. "The Mana Bar Is Closing Its Doors". Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  13. "The Mana Bar". AustralianGamer.com. 16 February 2009. Archived from the original on 28 January 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  14. "Yug and some other guys are opening a bar in brisbane". AustralianGamer.com. Archived from the original on 15 January 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  15. "The Mana Bar: cocktails and gaming a potent mix? « OXCGN – Xbox Gaming News Reviews Views". Oxcgn.com. Archived from the original on 26 May 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  16. Wildgoose, David (12 January 2010). "Australia's First Video Game Bar Opening Next Month | Kotaku Australia". Kotaku.com.au. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  17. Broughall, Nick (11 January 2010). "Brisbane Gets Australia's First Video Game Bar | Gizmodo Australia". Gizmodo.com.au. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  18. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. "Gaming Bar To Conquer Sydney, Melbourne, The World". Kotaku.com. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
  20. Newman, Jared (6 December 2010). "Mana Bar May Come to Your City Some Day". GamerCrave. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 7 December 2010.
  21. Serrels, Mark (5 August 2013). "The Melbourne Mana Bar Is Closing 'For Good'". Kotaku. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  22. "Mana Bar will be closing its doors effective this Sunday the 24th of May". 19 May 2015. Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  23. Toastfarmer20 Mar 2010 (20 March 2010). "What's on at the Mana Bar – PALGN Video Game News – PAL Gaming Network". Palgn.com.au. Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
  24. "Mana Bar opening featuring". Raskulls. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
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