How I Almost Won All These Sandwiches at Arcadia in Portland

Every Sunday after Thanksgiving, Arcadia in Portland holds a pinball tournament where the winner gets a gigantic turkey sandwich. For the second time, I almost won it.

Arcadia

If you've never been to Arcadia on Congress Street in Portland, where the former Port City Music Hall was located, you should go in to take a look.

Arcadia has a little something for everyone. Its large bar offers about every drink you can imagine, its kitchen can whip up delicious pizza, and its massive arcade covers two floors and includes classic video games, pinball machines, Skee-Ball, and redemption games. It's a ton of fun for adults because you gotta be 21+ to enter.

The Thanksgiving Leftover Pinball Tournament

Every Sunday after Thanksgiving, Arcadia hosts a pinball tournament where you can win a giant turkey sandwich. This has been an annual event dating nearly back to when Arcadia opened in 2010.

I have played in this tournament several times and have always had my eye on that giant leftover turkey sandwich, yet it continues to be out of my reach.

The Giant Leftover Turkey Sandwich

The Giant Leftover Turkey Sandwich has evolved since the tourney's inception. It started as a full-on turkey sandwich, but that became a bit too much to handle. Imagine a turkey sandwich that you cut like slices of cake. That's how big it was.

The 2024 Giant Leftover Turkey Sandwich was much easier to handle as it was several regular-size sandwiches with some small pies for dessert.

It came down to one game between me and Arron Gunn, who just so happens to be a chef. One game would decide it all. First place took home the giant platter of sandwiches and second place got a smaller sandwich.

Several years back I finished in second place and this year it was a repeat. Second place...again. But hey! I did get a sandwich. I took the one in the bottom right corner. Arron shared the rest with everyone else because that's what pinballers do.