LAKELAND — David and Kelly Cawley found a unique way to bring their "geeky" habits into their wedding: They held their reception at an 80s-themed retro arcade. 

In October 2021, the Cawleys gathered 100 of their closest friends and family, children included, at 5135 US Hwy 98 N, the spot previously known as Galaxy Bar. The newlyweds, who love cosplaying and Star Wars as much as they love each other, celebrated their marriage over pizza, wings and pinball machines. 

"We were regulars there. We'd fallen in love with the staff ... and of course with the games and the vibe and all that," Kelly Cawley, 43, said. "The games were a hit. It was a perfect place to host a party of that caliber." 

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Cawley and her husband found Galaxy Bar when Joysticks Arcade Lounge, an arcade bar the two had frequented in Orlando, closed for pandemic-related reasons. And earlier this year, they lost Galaxy Bar, too — or so they thought. 

In late 2019, Galaxy Bar opened in a shopping center with Brewlands Bar & Billiards North and Linksters. At the end of February, the 80s-themed retro bar and arcade closed for good. 

At least, on the north side. 

On Friday, there will be a grand opening for Galaxy Bar at Leo's Live, 5263 S. Florida Ave. on the non-smoking side of Ybor Cigars and Spirits. The arcade games and pinball machines have been in the new location for weeks, moving there just five days after the original Galaxy Bar shut its doors.

The new Galaxy Bar was supposed to just be a row of pinball machines. It has since grown to the full scope of retro arcade games and mostly new pinball machines owned by Dawn and Mike Brower, the owners of equipment leasing company Merlin Amusements. 

As customers step inside, they're greeted by rows upon rows of '80s and '90s nostalgia spread across two rooms. There are pinball machines from major fandoms, including Deadpool, Dracula, Ghostbusters, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Star Wars' The Mandalorian. Classic arcade games include Pac-Man, Carnival King, Frogger, Tetris, StreetFighter, Mortal Kombat and Tron. And of course, no arcade would be complete without a couple of Skee-Ball machines. 

The space is lit by the glow of the retro games, illuminating movie posters and beer signs hung across the walls and a bar tucked along the right side. There's a digital jukebox pre-loaded with the hits of the late 20th century. And the sounds distinct to the youth of those who spent hours combating the metal ball inside pinball machines and chasing colorful ghosts in Pac-Man — as the Browers did — also fill the space. 

The hum of the retro bar keeps regulars like Jeremy Cousin, 40, coming back.

"It's almost mind boggling because I haven't walked into an arcade since I was probably, I don't know, probably 10 was the last time I walked into a true arcade," Cousin said. "And to walk into Galaxy and hear all the noises and see everybody's smiles on their faces — even though they're not my machines there, I get just as much enjoyment watching people play as I do playing myself." 

Cousin lives around the corner from the new space and has been every Friday and Saturday since the machines headed southside with his fiancée, Monica. They spend most of their time — and at least between $20 and $40 on games alone — playing Marvel vs. Capcom, Donkey Kong and the Stern Batman '66 pinball machine.

The Galaxy Bar game collection is owned by the Browers, who have been building their collection since buying Pac-Man for their first home in 1994. The collection steadily grew over the years, spilling into the living room, the bedrooms of their three children and then into an eventual addition to their home, which housed 27 games. Even now that 55 of their classic arcade and pinball machines are on the floor of Leo's Live, other games still litter the Browers' home, including the original Centipede, Donkey Kong and Ms. Pac-Man their kids used to play. 

"It's taken a lifetime to build this," Dawn Brower, 50, said. "Having our personal collection turn into an income stream is my reward for indulging a hoarder for 25 years." 

Mike Brower, 53, has been in the arcade game industry since he was 18. He said he keeps the "persnickety vector games," the ones that aren't super dependable, at home. 

"I cut my teeth on playing the arcade games, on Donkey Kong," Brower said. "And I cut my teeth on working on them, on games like Donkey Kong, at the very beginning." 

In 1997, the Browers started Merlin Amusements, an equipment rental company that specializes mostly in jukeboxes and pool tables. The two, along with their son and part-time employee Anthony, 31, run the rental and maintenance on all of their equipment. 

In 2019, the Browers were approached by Megan Lewman, owner of The Juice Box. Lewman wanted to start an arcade bar, and she wanted to do it with their massive collection.

Dawn Brower had been approached with the idea before, but she'd turned those opportunities down.

"When I talked to Megan, she was perfect," Brower said. "She had been to more barcades than I had. She had been to more of the local places."

The three struck an arrangement — Lewman had a bar manager who would handle that side of the business, and the Browers would be in charge of the games with no ownership in the bar or space.

Lewman couldn't be reached for comment. 

Minus time spent down during COVID-19 lockdowns, Galaxy Bar was open just over two years. But because both Lewman and the Browers lived on the south side of Lakeland, operating a bar on the north side with a 30-minute commute was proving difficult, especially because older machines require constant maintenance. 

"Its fatal flaw was just that it was on the north side and it was difficult for everybody. I had been watching the earnings just be very average," Dawn Brower said. "We've been in the bar business long enough to understand that the volume on the south side is just better than it is on the north side. It's just going to be a higher volume place." 

The northern location wasn't ideal for their customers, either. Cawley, who lives just three miles from Leo's Live, was making biweekly trips with her husband. 

"That was the only thing that made it tiring, was that it was just so, so far out," Cawley said. 

When Lewman shut down the bar at the end of February, the Browers weren't interested in buying the space. But they did purchase the Galaxy Bar brand, including its signage and signature cocktails, like the sparkly Galaxy Martini that comes with a free scrunchie. 

"When we bought the Galaxy Bar brand, I said, 'It feels like you named our baby and we're coming to finalize an adoption,'" Dawn Brower said.

Leo Poldino Goncalves, 64, and Teresa Pina, 55, own Ybor Cigars & Spirits and its non-smoking side, Leo's Live. 

"We are the voice of the arcade collection, and the arcade collection is now known as Galaxy Bar," Dawn Brower said. 

The Browers have been leasing equipment to Goncalves and Pina since they opened Ybor in 2006.

Pina said while she wasn't sure about converting Leo's Live, which typically hosted karaoke and other live music on weekends, into Galaxy Bar at first, she feels good about it now, mostly because she trusts Dawn. 

"I see it being a very positive thing on the south side of town," Pina said. "I believe in them and they believe in me, so we see it as a positive thing." 

The grand opening for Galaxy Bar at Leo's Live is Friday. The bar will be open Wednesday through Sundays from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. 

The bar is limited to just those 21 and up. Eventually, there will be Sunday Fundays, where kids will be welcome from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. 

"This is really targeted for the 28- to 35-year-olds who are digging the 80s right now,"  Dawn Brower said. "And then people who are 45 and up who actually remember being kids in the 80s. Because that's where all the feels come from." 

On top of nostalgia, Galaxy Bar will be selling "Instagram worthy" drinks themed after movies that will splatter the walls in posters, like "Ghostbusters" and "The Smurfs." 

"We're just trying to keep as much as we can of how it felt to be in the old space. But we're classing it up a couple of notches," Brower said. "We're not going to have a stripper pole. We're not going to have burn marks on the floor. We're going to have $13 martinis is what we're going to have." 

But perhaps that's offset by the cheap price of the games, which Brower said could be considered museum pieces. The oldest machine in the building until Space Invaders arrives is Asteroids Deluxe, a black and white vector game built in 1980. The oldest pinball machines are from 1992 but several are from just seven years ago, qualifying as "new retro" — machines based on older bands, TV shows or movies, that are Internet-enabled with large, digital score screens. 

The stand-up arcade games cost a quarter, sit-down driving games and SkeeBall are 50 cents and pinballs are one play for $1 or three plays for $2. There are change machines on site but no refillable play cards. 

"Where else do you go and get joy for a quarter?" Brower said. "The people who are coming here remember how it felt to put a quarter in the machine. That's what we want. We don't want tokens. We want quarters because that's what it was in the 80s; it's part of the theme. It's part of what makes us special, so we deal with the change. Because that's our jam. That's what we've always done." 

Maya Lora can be reached with tips or questions at mlora@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @mayaklora.