Invader is a pop-culture and gaming bar in the Écusson, Montpellier's historic core, at 34 rue de l'Université — and it claims, plausibly, to be the first of its kind in France, let alone in the Languedoc. The décor is retro-futurist, pitched somewhere between Back to the Future, Star Wars and Ready Player One, which puts it at a deliberate distance from the more conventional evenings on offer around the Saint-Roch station or the place de la Comédie. There are three air-conditioned interior spaces totalling 100 m² and a thirty-seat terrace outside, and the doors open seven days a week — for a beer after work, a birthday with friends, or an entire evening spent losing at Mario Kart.
The games are the reason to come, and they are free. Arcade cabinets and touch tables are all built in house, each installation unique, and they run the canon of the nineties and two thousands: Mario Kart, Street Fighter, Pac-Man, Super Smash Bros., FIFA, Tetris, Sonic, with authentic Super Nintendo, Sega Mega Drive and PlayStation hardware alongside them. Beyond the free play, the week is punctuated by themed and musical nights, blind tests, quizzes, tournaments, and big-screen broadcasts of major sporting and e-sports events.
The drinks are a good deal more considered than the format suggests, and they lean hard on Occitanie. Alaryk's organic craft beers pour from the taps — blonde, IPA, ambrée and a red-fruit version, from €4 for 25cl to €8.50 for a half-litre — beside an organic brut cider from Fils de Pomme, with Corona, a pear cider and an Alaryk alcohol-free bottle for those wanting something else. Soft drinks come from the same neighbourhood: BB Kombucha from the Hérault in hibiscus-pomelo or mint-lime (€5.50), artisan lemonade made in Pézenas since 1876, plain or raspberry (€5), house iced teas, and a French-made ginger beer and energy drink. Wines are regional and short — a red and a white from Petites Balades in the IGP Hérault, a Jean Dellac sauvignon from the Pays d'Oc, a rosé from Le Mas des Cigales, and a prosecco for aperitifs. The cocktails, inevitably, are named for the culture on the screens: The Mask, rum with banana, pineapple and lime (€13); Pensine, amaretto and Cointreau with peach purée and lemonade (€12.50); Central Perk, a vodka-espresso-caramel sitcom in a glass (€10.50); La Belle et la Bête, Dark Trooper, Diablo and Lara Croft (€10.50 to €11.50). The alcohol-free list is treated with equal seriousness — Wakanda Sunset, Princesse Peach, Rondoudou, Pac-Man and Arcane, from €8 to €9.50 — and the shooters are €3 apiece under names like Mario, Luigi, Sonic, Knuckles, Tails and DK's Brain, or €25 for a round of ten surprises.
To eat, everything is designed to be picked at between rounds: charcuterie and cheese boards (€13 each, €15.50 mixed), mozzarella sticks, nuggets, cod accras and falafels at €8, Catalan fuet, a hot dog with optional crispy onions, chips in a metal basket, and local spreads from Rue Traversette in the Hérault — houmous, pan con tomate, or an olive-and-quinoa tapenade — served with bread. Pudding comes from small makers too: cookies and brookies from Mon Shop à Cookies, artisan vanilla or strawberry ice cream from Maison Antolin. Retro-futurist, resolutely local in what it pours, and generous enough to let you play for nothing, Invader is where Montpellier's Écusson goes to be sixteen again for an evening.