Saturday, 20 March 2010

Photos and Interviews from today's Mana Bar opening @themanabar

The Mana Bar's first ever patrons at the opening, Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 100320

The Mana Bar's first ever patrons

A new cocktail bar set up especially to play video games, the Mana Bar, opened in Fortitude Valley at midday today. I was there at the opening to interview guests and some of the owners.

When I got there at about 11.45am, there were more than 50 people lined up waiting to get in - this photo gives you some idea of the crowd:

Line-up before midday at the Mana Bar opening, Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 100320

I did five interviews while I was waiting to get in: click "play" on each player below the photo captions to hear each interview.

Mario World cosplayers at Mana Bar Opening, Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 100320

Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Wario, Luigi and Mario cosplayers from the Mario series of games.





El Fuerte (Street Fighter 4) cosplayer at Mana Bar opening, Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 100320

El Fuerte (Street Fighter IV) cosplayer




Pras (centre), Mana Bar co-owner, at its opening, Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 100320

Pras Moorthy, co-owner (centre)




Yug, Mana Bar co-owner, at its opening, Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 100320

Yug Blomberg, co-owner (front)




Yahtzee Croshaw, Mana Bar co-owner, at its opening, Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 100320

Yahtzee Croshaw, co-owner




You can become a fan of the Mana Bar on Facebook, or follow their Twitter account. The Mana Bar's opening day goes on until midnight tonight.

The Mana Bar is at 420 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, in the same building as the Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Arts. The Mana Bar's door faces the street, you don't have to go into the Judith Wright Centre to get to the bar. The best way to get there by public transport is to catch a 196 or 199 bus to stop 5 on Brunswick St, or catch a train to the Fortitude Valley station and walk up Brunswick St - click here for a Google Map. If you need to look up bus or train timetables, click here to use Translink's journey planner.


Guitar Hero at the Mana Bar opening, Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 100320

Guitar Heroes


Guy on the best stilts ever, outside the Mana Bar opening, Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 100320

This guy on the best. stilts. ever. was outside when I was waiting in line.


3 of the 5 screens at the Mana Bar opening, Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 100320

3 of the 5 video game screens


Tending Bar at the Mana Bar opening, Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 100320

Tending Bar


Raskulls being played at the Mana Bar opening, Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 100320

Guests playing Raskulls, a soon-to-be-released game made by Brisbane game studio Halfbrick. This YouTube vid shows the official trailer:




I'll be uploading more photos later.

UPDATE: Click here to see all 36 photos from the opening, on Flickr.

Posted by David J at 4:38 pm

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2 comments:

S2333 said...

Good interviews and a very fast turnaround considering it only opened a couple of hours ago.

20 March 2010 at 4:58:00 pm AEST
David J said...

Thanks very much. Yep, I wanted to get the story out while the opening was still happening and it was early enough that people would still read it, so I jumped straight on the computer when I got home and edited and uploaded the photos and interviews, and wrote the story.

20 March 2010 at 5:10:00 pm AEST

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