KELLY TRAN
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From fluorescent to neon lights, Old Taylor High’s cafeteria is now home to Press Start Arcade.
The former mess hall, room 129, is now decked out in dark flooring and walls as space-themed neon and black lights shine the way through the maze of arcade games.
New walls were built to separate the kitchen from the main area, creating a break and storage room, and around the former snack bar to establish a new space for the arcade’s sister business, Mother’s Basement Games.
“It’s gone through a transformation,” arcade owner Brian O’Quinn said. “Even the building (management) was like, ‘This cafeteria is barely recognizable.’” Having burst out of the seams of its former classroom space, the larger room allowed O’Quinn to acquire more games and introduce other entertainment spaces. The arcade reopened in its new location in mid-August, as some of the new games have already found their place in the arcade. Press Start is waiting on 13 more, in addition to some coin-operated kiddie rides.
“I even got Raptor Capture as soon as I saw this one on auction,” he said. “I played this one religiously whenever I got to go out to pizza parlors to play it, and now, I have my very own.”
In a few weeks, the arcade will begin its crowdfunding campaign for its entertainment room, which would incorporate fellow Old Taylor High businesses such as Xiomaris Pinatas, Brown Sugar Cheesecake Bar, The Loose Screw and 1922 Libations & Bites.
Customers can rent out the room for birthday parties — for those big and small — or for group activities like Dungeons & Dragons campaigns.
“We want to have the community of Old Taylor High to come together,” arcade general manager Zoë Welch said. “We all like to support and lift each other up and try to get everybody to just have fun.”
O’Quinn came across the original classroom space after moving to Taylor in 2020. At the time, the classroom was home to The Hangout Pinball Lounge.
A fan of games and a regular customer at Austin-based arcade Pinballz, O’Quinn set his mind to creating his own gaming space one day.
“I could just see pinballs through the window, and I told my wife, Amy, … ‘Oh, I’m gonna own that spot,’” O’Quinn said.
To work toward that goal, O’Quinn pivoted from the luxury pool business to begin Mother’s Basement Games, selling board games and merchandise at local markets.
Eventually, the pinball lounge classroom became available for new ownership, and O’Quinn took the chance to develop it into something more.
“I stopped working just for the grind, and I started working for the fun of it,” he said. “Now, it’s everything I want it to be.”
But O’Quinn’s dream doesn’t stop at the cafeteria. He hopes to begin franchising to create something akin to Main Event or Dave & Buster’s, starting with the lot on Main Street where Walmart once lived.
“It’s a fun start to the arcade,” Welch said. “I’m excited to see where Brian and Amy go because I know (they) have more ideas.”
For now, O’Quinn plans on building up the geeky and gaming community in Taylor and bringing attention to the old high school by holding a “nerd market,” which he hopes to expand into a convention similar to Comic Con. O’Quinn aims to hold the first market in November.
“Nerds are everywhere,” he said. “Hopefully, that starts to generate a little bit more excitement about coming to Taylor.”
