A wave of new arcade bars and other quirky entertainment venues could be on the horizon for Toronto as the City explores ditching archaic rules governing bars, restaurants and nightlife.

The City's Planning and Housing Committee recommended new zoning by-law amendments to support Toronto's night economy on Thursday, signalling possible changes to rules on where bars and clubs can operate, and the type of entertainment they are allowed to provide patrons as part of a broader inter-divisional Night Economy Review.

Essentially, the City is trying to cut back on outdated by-laws established as far back as the 1960s, an era when Toronto residents were subject to restrictive rules (by modern standards) limiting how much fun a person could have on a night out.

According to a City report, existing regulations "do not reflect contemporary and forward-focused expectations around these activities," noting that aside from area-specific reviews, "this policy area has not had the benefit of a comprehensive review and consultation in decades."

Toronto has changed considerably over those decades, and the City's proposal aims to bring standards up to the modern era by stepping back from its traditional role as the fun police.

The report recommends the adoption of new by-law amendments that would open many new doors for establishments, increasing allotted entertainment space and slashing poorly-aged restrictions on arcade and other amusement games inside bars and restos.

Some of the changes proposed include increasing the permitted entertainment area inside restaurants from 6 per cent to 25 per cent, permitting nightclubs outside of downtown in select commercial areas, reducing restrictions on arcade devices and removing limits on amusement devices entirely.

My God, my God: if I'm reading this right, Toronto is considering ending its byzantine zoning rules against having more than 2 arcade games or pinball machines in a single restaurant or bar. https://t.co/YrdURqO2K3

— John Michael McGrath (@jm_mcgrath) November 30, 2023

One by-law up for amendment is Zoning By-Law No. 438-86, which specifies that "only two pinball or other mechanical or electronic game machines is permitted in a 'restaurant' or a 'place of amusement.'"

This specific by-law was responsible for Toronto's first-ever pinball bar having its business licence revoked in 2012.

Such bars have since carved out a niche in the city, but the process of opening one is an often perilous acrobatic performance through hoops of municipal by-law fire.

The laws on arcade devices are a holdover from a time when games like pinball were subject to strict legislation. Pinball, specifically, was prohibited in much of the U.S. and Canada, considered a risk of corrupting the youth of the era.

Just a note: the Vietnam War and indoor smoking were totally cool by that era's standards, but pinball? Think of the children!

But Toronto's complicated relationship with pinball goes back even further. The game was banned in specific municipalities like Forest Hill (now incorporated into Toronto) in the 1940s, while others opted to limit its play to specific hours to safeguard the public from some nonspecific evil.

By the 1950s, the Supreme Court had stepped in, classifying pinball machines as "illegal gambling devices" and perpetuating a stigma that lasted for much of the 20th century.

Times are changing, though, and Montreal axed one of its last holdout pinball by-laws in 2017, voiding a 1977 ban on "amusement machines" in drinking establishments.

Now, Toronto could do the same.