Pushing The Right Buttons: Nineteen80

Few things in life excite me as much as music. As a self-confessed geek who grew up spin-dashing through Green Hill Zones and riding on Yoshis, it’s safe to say that one of those things is video games. Learning how to Hadouken as a kid was just as significant as discovering my first Kraftwerk jam, and even till this day, I still have a love-hate relationship with Golden Axe (Death Adder was always a cheap boss). I could easily ramble about my up-up-down-down obsessions – boy, could I – and revisit that happy place in the memory card that is my brain. Or, I could simply visit this wonderful place.

Nineteen80, as its name implies, is a nod to everything we love to milk from that bygone yet timeless decade. Scurry through the throwback-teasing rabbit hole that lures along Tanjong Pagar Road – just spot the neon-lit “Arcade” sign that hangs right next to Kilo Lounge – and you’ll enter a retro wonderland that’ll dig a “Great Scott!” outta you. From the pixellated “Press Start” greeting that lies at the end of the Tron-like entranceway, to the wall of cassette tapes that impresses behind the DJ console, every element in Nineteen80 exudes shameless and campy nostalgia.

From left to right: Joshua Pillai, Francesca Aurora Way, and Yafith A. Hamid

“We wanted to build an emotional connection. That’s the most important thing for a night out,” says Joshua Pillai, one-third of the orchestrators behind Nineteen80, A Phat Cat Collective, which has worked with venues such as CÉ LA VI, Bar Rouge Singapore, and Ola Beach Club. “When you go to a gig, you like a band because there’s an emotional connection through lyrics or song. Likewise, when they come back here and hear a guilty pleasure, or simply see anything in this place, they’ll say ‘Oh my god, I remember this’. That right there is an emotional connection.”

True enough, it’s easy to feel a tad emotional for any patron whose passions are stuck in a swirling ’80s loop. Unlike other nightlife establishments that hark on future-centric pursuits or aim to introduce a novel concept, Nineteen80 is a living, breathing time capsule that cherishes an era with charm. “A lot of places look to what’s next or how to push the barriers to achieve something progressive. For us, we just wanted to take a step back. We don’t mean to educate; we aim to commemorate,” reveals Yafith A. Hamid, also a co-founder of A Phat Cat Collective.

For ’80s gamers who lurked in arcades growing up, Nineteen80’s environment is a chipper one. Below yet another wall-embedded caption that button-mashers know too well, “It’s On Like Donkey Kong”, is a row of old-school arcade machines that were guilty of eating up your 20-cent coins back in the day. Mortal Kombat, Puzzle Bobble, Golden Axe and Space Invaders are just some of the classics that welcome all challengers; and with token-filled glass jars positioned beside each machine, these games are all essentially free to play. Just remember not to be a twerp and hog the machines.

Besides, with Nineteen80’s diverse and razor-sharp programming, there’s plenty to keep patrons entertained on the dancefloor. Like power-ups on a Mario Kart track, the soundtrack of the venue rotates from Wednesdays to Saturdays. For instance, Wednesdays usher in Miss-Demeanor, Nineteen80’s Ladies’ Night that blasts timeless hip-hop and r&b hits, complete with complimentary Vodka Ribenas for all Princess Zeldas and Samus Arans in attendance. Thursdays throw out disco, funk and other alternative-leaning gems, while weekends adopt a more open-format approach with jukebox jams that never go out of style. Overall, the tunage here in this hideout is inclusive, sentimental, and unabashedly cheery.

This flexible curation suitably represents the progressive nature of not just music, but other cultures in the ’80s, and it was actually a preliminary hurdle that plagued the conceptualisation of the space. “The first challenge was to put forward an ’80s idea. But when we asked people, everyone had different interpretations of the ’80s,” admits Joshua on building their first physical space. “Should we do an arcade bar? Should we go with pop colours? Should we go street and grunge? Or should we go rock & roll or metal?”

“There were a lot of things that went through our mind design- and concept-wise. But in the end, our interior designer helped us create the perfect atmosphere,” continues Yafith. This mastermind turned out to be design extraordinaire, Tina Fung, with her co-founded studio, Space Objekt; with Nineteen80 marking her first interior design project in Singapore. With her expertise, Nineteen80 came to life with not just embellishments from yesteryear – like the 3D Bruce Lee mural – but also elements with Singaporean flavour, such as tongue-in-cheek pager codes on the wall, and terrazzo tiles that were used in old Toa Payoh playgrounds.

Even the drinks here ramp up the vintage appeal. Francesca Aurora Way, the remaining third of the Phat Cat trinity, elaborates, “We have two kinds of cocktails. One kind is very ’80s-inspired and sickly sweet [like the rum-filled Club Tropicana], but we wanted to reinvent that with fresh juices to make it more palatable for this day and age. The other kind is classics which are given a new lease of life [like the Long Island Iced Tea and Blue Lagoon]. We call them the Cocktail Remixes.”

Whatever HP-restoring elixir you pick, it’s likely it’ll make you feel right at home in this vibrant, charismatic discotheque. Despite opening in mid-2018, Nineteen80 already attracts legions of visitors, young and old, every week; easily reaching full-house and drawing long entry queues on weekends. And what’s most fascinating about this development is that it doesn’t alienate anyone despite its zealous theme. You don’t need to be a music geek. You don’t need to be an ’80s baby. You don’t even need to know the difference between your Metal Slug and Metal Gear Solid.

“We never wanted Nineteen80 to be solely on arcades,” explains Francesca. “We wanted to take the ’80s theme to another level. We felt there was more we could flesh out, and we wanted to create an entire culture around this place.”

Well, mission accomplished, Phat Cats. You’ve done just that with Nineteen80.