Service industry workers who keep the Lawrence bar and restaurant scene afloat had the tables turned on them Monday when a refreshed pubcade and pool hall served them a night of camaraderie and billiards.

Empire Pubcade & Venue is the new concept from owner Chad Landis at 925 Iowa St., Suite P. He operated longtime business Empire Bar & Billiards at that spot before upsizing the watering hole to a new location at 1527 W. Sixth St.

Landis wanted something both fresh and familiar to fill the Iowa Street locale. He opened the pubcade in March, marrying a classic arcade, bar, pool hall and event venue in one basement.

Although Landis has brought together countless pool leagues over the years, Monday was the first night he and his team facilitated a service industry pool league.

McKenna Dick helps out at Wayne & Larry’s occasionally while also working in retail. They joined the Wayne & Larry’s team Monday.

“It’s trying to meet new people that have a similar mindset of just the hourly work and working and especially the dealing with customers all the time,” she said. “It’s something unique to deal with the common populace sometimes. So it’s good to meet people that also understand that, and knock around a couple of balls, drink some drinks.”

Landis hoped that the pubcade would attract younger patrons like Dick, including people who might otherwise be isolated behind phone screens. He started kicking around bar culture in the 1990s, when it was more common to head out to a bar after school or work to socialize, line up dates and unwind. 

“People, I think, are thirsty, super thirsty for that social interaction and that real world, you know, in-real-life stuff, and it’s hard to just walk into a bar anymore,” he said. “It’s awkward, it’s just everything has become awkward. … So if you have a reason to be somewhere — just come play video games for an hour, or play darts for an hour, play pool for an hour — it’s something that you’re not just sitting in a bar all awkward, waiting around.”

This is Landis’ first arcade rodeo, but he’s been using pool leagues to bring folks together for years.

He got into the billiards hall game “purely by accident,” he said. When he was working in the local bar industry in the ‘90s, he met the then-owner of Astro’s Billiards & Bar, another big name in local pool circles. Landis ended up running the joint for 14 years after the owner died, before he opened Empire.

“It’s just a weird dichotomy of people coming together,” Landis said. “… You’d think it’d be like all roughly the same walk of life, but it’s everybody, so that’s kind of cool.”

He’s seen one team convene an attorney, nurse practitioner, marketing executive and four bartenders, while other groups have included construction workers, college kids and doctors. He said some folks drink, some don’t. Some are really into pool and some simply want to hang out with friends.

“People want to have a reason to leave their home and be around other people for a purpose, but not work and not school, just a purpose,” Landis said.

In the winter, Empire sent four of their league teams to Las Vegas for a national championship. Thanks to the teams’ success at regional competitions, they got funds to cover their hotels and airfare so they could play pool in Sin City for 10 hours a day.

“It’s super local, and then it kind of branches out into bigger things,” he said. “People really get into it. They’re chasing that Vegas.”

Landis said that league teams, including those gunning for Nevada, aggressively recruit inexperienced players. The pool leagues function on what is called a “handicap system,” where teams with skilled players have to offset their experience level with greener players in order to compete on a balanced playing field.

“It sounds silly, but if you’re not very good, you’re the most sought-after player,” Landis said. “… The most valuable people, believe it or not, are the people that are not very good at a pool, and that’s kind of the fun of it.”

Stephen Tesca didn’t have a lot of pool experience when he joined service industry night as an employee of Louise’s Bar Downtown.

“I’m terrible,” Tesca said.

He decided his job was to be the “hype guy” and the team glue. Even if he wasn’t a pool pro, he said he enjoyed getting to take a load off and hang out.

“You’re gonna talk to people I wouldn’t have otherwise met, which is a really cool thing, in my opinion,” he said.

Sid Johnson and Caleb Schmelzle started playing pool as a relationship hobby before competing in tournaments. Johnson is a University of Kansas student majoring in exercising science. She also works with Iron Rail Brewing in Topeka and drummed up a team for the pubcade league tournament.

“We’re all tired,” she said of service industry workers. “We deal with similar tendencies and pressure … and this is a nice way to relax.”

She said other pool leagues are stricter, and the pubcade gathering offered more laid-back competition.

Landis and his team are working to net sponsorships to send service industry league winners on a trip to enjoy a new city and meet alcohol suppliers or other bigwigs in their profession.

The league is a microcosm of Landis’ mission to get folks gathered for face-to-face connection.

For those who don’t find pool tantalizing and are a little rusty at Skee-Ball, the venue has a second bar and event space attached to the main hall that will host weekly open mics, trivia, drag events, nonbinary DJ nights and, if possible, karaoke.

Landis and the team are still open to hearing from interested acts and folks who want to book the space. Those people can reach out via their Facebook.

Learn more about the arcade bar on its website, and the Sixth Street billiards hall here.

Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter and news editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since May 2025. They can be reached at wulfe@lawrencekstimes.com.

Read their complete bio here. Read their work for the Times here.

Nathan Kramer (he/him), a multimedia student journalist for The Lawrence Times since August 2024, is a senior at Free State High School. He is also a news photo editor for Free State’s student publication, where he works as a videographer, photographer and motion designer. See more of his work for the Times here.

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