The question left hanging when Joystick Gamebar closed its Edgewood Avenue doors earlier this month now has an answer. The arcade and cocktail bar is heading to East Atlanta Village, taking over the former East Side Lounge at 485 Flat Shoals Ave., directly across from The Earl, with a fall 2026 opening planned.
Co-owner Johnny Martinez says the move was years in the making rather than a snap decision. Sales never climbed back above 85 percent of where they sat before the pandemic. Costs went the other direction, including a power bill that doubled and the added expense of hiring security. And the Edgewood room was capped at 98 people, which meant a hard ceiling on what a packed night could earn while nothing capped what a night could cost. With the lease expiring in February, the math finally resolved.
Most of what made the place work is coming along. Expect the same mix of classic arcade cabinets and pinball machines, with Martinez floating the return of a cult-favorite Dolly Parton table. Gaming consoles graduate from occasional to permanent fixtures, tournaments and co-hosted events continue with partners like True Fire Tactics, and the bar stays focused on quality beer, wine and spirits alongside a revival of house cocktails developed over the last decade.
The genuinely new element is a third partner. Kysha Cyrus, who worked behind Joystick's bar for years before opening Mambo Zombi with Martinez and co-owner Brandon Ley above their Edgewood beer bar Georgia Beer Garden, joins the ownership group and takes over food. Both of those earlier rooms have since closed.
Cyrus is opening without a fryer, because the permanent grease trap will not be installed until after the doors open, and Martinez says the priority is getting open fast rather than waiting on infrastructure. The workaround reads as a feature: potato chips buried in melted blue cheese, grilled cheese waffle sandwiches dressed with bacon jam. The fryer-dependent dishes arrive once the plumbing does.
What Martinez wanted on the record was that the departure is not a verdict on Edgewood. He served on the city's Edgewood Security Task Force representing small business owners, and he points to Our Bar, Church, Lore, Pisces and Edgewood Pizza as operators who kept the corridor alive through the hardest stretch. Renovated apartment buildings, new retail and new tenants are still landing there. Plenty of people, he says, are still betting on Edgewood's future.
Original reporting: Rough Draft Atlanta (July 20, 2026)