BUSHWICK — Calling all unruly 1990's high schoolers who cut class for Nintendo 64 face-offs in their parents' basements. One resolute Bushwick businessman wants you to relive your youth — with a bourbon-infused whipped cream and temporary tattoo twist.
"You can come and act like you're in your mom's house and eat burgers and drink and play," said Lucas Walters, 30, of his bar Tutu's' new "adults-only" video game nights, during which players can munch on menu items from pork belly to Brussels sprouts. "And if you want to order the kale salad, be my guest."
Each Wednesday a game host hauls glow bracelets, temporary tattoos and medals to the spot to incite fierce competition in the free game, with rotating rounds of Golden Eye, Mario Kart and Super Smash Brothers.
"If you win a round, you get a free drink ticket and a medal...people get really into the medal. They get super-stoked," said the host Sarah Booz, 28, who also includes a trivia session halfway through the 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. contest and offers a crown to each night's overall champion. "But whoever wins has to be removed from the game for a few rounds so they don't get hammered."
And Walters — who usually sticks to "The Guy" lamb burger with shallot fries while asserting his N64 prowess — said the weekly rounds stemmed from his own yearnings for "the way the controller felt in your hands" and the "groundbreaking graphics at the time."
"We'd play Golden Eye religiously," reminisced Walters of the Nintendo 64 game he'd play at his friend's "lawless" household in Northern California. "And we'd watch 'Jerry Springer' a lot, back in the days it was good and raunchy."
Then he grew up, moved to New York, and realized what he was missing.
Walters' idea struck a chord with plenty Bushwick bargoers, said Booz, who said she'd seen the number of players swell from only a handful to 20 since starting the game a few weeks ago.
The game — shown on the back bar's projector and with slots for four players at a time — is just one of Tutu's new nostalgia-inspired events, said Walters, who also kicked off Monday movie nights this week with "Romeo and Juliet" featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.
The bar — which opened a few months ago in the Morgan restaurant's former home and has also hosted "Dungeons and Dragons" sessions — is also starting a happy hour Wednesday nights from midnight to 1 a.m., Walters said, to serve staff finishing work at nearby restaurants and bars.
Walters recommended "adult hot chocolate" with bourbon-infused whipped cream for players to give their button-pushing skills a sugar boost — and to feel even more like a blissful kid.
"Nintendo 64 was the last game I was into as a child," he said. "Those were the coveted games we loved."
