This Boise bar closed, moved, wound up in ‘battle.’ Now it’s game over for liquor license

Leveling up keeps getting harder for Spacebar Arcade in downtown Boise.

After closing for 11 months while relocating to a roomier spot nearby, the reopened bar now has no liquor license.

Spacebar Arcade had been leasing its license since returning to action last March at 620 W. Idaho St.

That lease has expired, it explained Thursday on social media. Consequently, it’s game over for liquor sales — at least “until this situation is resolved,” as Spacebar Arcade wrote.

Open to customers 21 and older only, the basement gaming destination will remain in business selling beer, wine, and canned cocktails. That puts it in the same alcohol situation as Boise’s other classic arcade and bar, Realms, 109 S. 23rd St., which is open to all ages.

Spacebar Arcade “has been in a battle with the powers that be,” it wrote on Facebook, to be granted an alternative known as a continuous operations liquor license. “We are being refused a license.”

“... If anyone has $300,000 they would like to burn on a liquor license for us,” Spacebar Arcade posted, “it would be greatly appreciated.”