AURORA | Remember the pixelated joy of Atari? Austin Almquist does.

At All That and a Bag of Chips, a new video game lobby now open on South Peoria Street near East Iliff Avenue, gamers can take their pick of old and new.

“Our lobby includes games from all spectrums: from Atari, to Nintendo, to Xbox and Wii,” said Almquist, who opened the game lobby in January with his friend and business partner Jory Ray.

Jory Ray, left, and Austin Almquist, right, pose in their store, All That And A Bag of Chips in Aurora on Feb. 20. The small shop was created to give gamers a place to relax and play video games at a small price. (Aaron Cole/Aurora Sentinel)
Co-owners Austin Almquist and Jory Ray talk Feb. 20 about their store All That And A Bag of Chips in Aurora. The small shop was created to give gamers a place to relax and play video games at a small price. (Aaron Cole/Aurora Sentinel)
Alex Coplen plays “Madden 25” on Feb. 20 at All That And A Bag of Chips in Aurora. The small shop was created to give gamers a place to relax and play video games at a small price. (Aaron Cole/Aurora Sentinel)
Theo Walker plays “Battlefield 4” on Feb. 20 at All That And A Bag of Chips in Aurora. The small shop was created to give gamers a place to relax and play video games at a small price. (Aaron Cole/Aurora Sentinel)

The premise for All That and A Bag of chips is that customers purchase a random bag of snacks that can include anything from a granola bar to a Laffy Taffy for $5, and then gain access to this unlimited video game paradise.

Ray, who is the brainchild behind the endeavor started a similar business in the small coastal town of Hana in Hawaii last June called Vidakine. The arcade is located outside, and is close enough to hear the ocean, he says.

“It blew up really fast over the summer,” he said. “Talking with Austin about all the different things we wanted to do with it, I figured the next step was to come back home to Colorado.”

Ray and Almquist grew up together in Loveland, but Almquist now lives and works in Aurora.

“The games we grew up with, there was no online play,” Almquist said. “It has always been a dream of mine to have something like this, an extended basement that you can come to and have a group of like-minded individuals playing games and having fun.”

The lifelong gamers say feedback has been positive so far. And the game lobby has acquired a following through the tournaments it holds during the week and on weekends.

The tournaments have a friendly tone, according to Almquist. Competition is not the point.

“We try and pick somebody local that loves the game, and knows how they want to run the tournaments, and we let them host it,” he said.

“We actually had a kid from Overland High School host our first ‘Smash Bros.’ tournament, and we gave him free reign to set it up the way he wanted. I think that was a win for a senior in high school, not only to take on a big project, but to really feel good and meet other people from other schools.”

For the month of February, the partners are offering free gameplay to women as a way to expand on their mostly male customer base.

According to a 2013 study of the industry by the Entertainment Software Association, 55 percent of today’s gamers are male.

The same study showed that almost 60 percent of Americans now play video games, and that 62 percent of those gamers play games with others, either online or in person.

“My favorite game growing up was ‘Smash Bros.’, and I never had a place where I could go challenge people at it,” Ray said.

Since opening All That and a Bag of Chips, Ray says he has met his match.

“I didn’t know how hardcore the ‘Smash Bros.’ community was, but they found us, and they made Wednesday night Smash night,” he said.