Insert Coin(s) will feature local artists and every game you could ever possibly want

Dylan Scott

Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011 | 7 p.m.

At the moment, this retail space next to Vanguard Lounge on Fremont Street East is a mess of jackhammered concrete. Coming April 15, though, entrepreneur Chris LaPorte and his crew plan to transform it into Insert Coin(s), a video-game bar and lounge unlike anything Las Vegas has seen before.

Absurdly obtuse sofas, a fiber-optic networking system and handiwork from some of the valley's most talented graffiti artists should give the space a "Tron meets Blade Runner", tech-noir ambience.

Arcade cabinets stocked with all the classics — Super Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, Pac-Man, you name it — will surround a monstrous bar at the lounge's center. LaPorte couldn't even count the number of HD screens that will line the its mantle and walls.

The main draw, though, should be those neon couches that will be matched with "every game console ever." Sega Genesis? Got it. Super Nintendo. You bet. Playstation 3? Of course. The couches will occupy the bar's wall space, facing inward, with TV's affixed to the pole in front of the gamers, as well as another installed behind the sofa for the pedestrians.

The floor at Insert Coin(s) will serve as a canvas for local graffiti artists, recruited by LaPorte, who hopes they will leave their surreal imagery right at his customers' feet. Video DJ's will take the stage on weekends, pumping beats through the lounge's state-of-the-art sound system.

Elaborate fiber-optics connection should unite Insert Coin(s) gamers with each other and the rest of the world. And, of course, affordable bottle service will keep the good times flowing.

It may sound like the vision of a mad man — or a concept ripped from a science-fiction novel — but LaPorte is set on making Insert Coin(s) a Mecca for casual and hardcore gamers alike.

The future is now.