Purdue University - Nightlife

Chumley’s, featuring beers from all around the world, is the most overlooked bar in the area. It is located across the street from the Lafayette courthouse and can be reached by crossing the beautiful walking bridge. One of their selling points is the Passport. After signing up, you have an unlimited time to finish the 50 brews in the Passport, and upon completion, you get your name on a plaque and a free T-shirt.

Cox’s has decent food and a few pool tables in the back, but its biggest draw is its karaoke scene, which is active most nights of the week. The bar itself is small and kind of smoky, but still a consistently good time.

It is required that every student over 21 visit Harry’s Chocolate Shop before graduation. Founded in 1919, it is the oldest bar on Purdue’s campus, and the place most students hit first on their 21st birthdays. It sports over 30 different shots of alcohol, and students will tell you that the Chocolate Shop has the strongest drinks of all the bars. Students from all over the world and all walks of life come to celebrate and relax at Harry’s on the weekends.

Jake’s is a staple of Purdue barhopping. Its garage-style atmosphere makes it distinctive, and on the weekends, it gets so crowded that you can hardly move. On Friday nights, they give away free hot dogs, and every week they have open mic nights for karaoke.

Roxy’s, one of the newer additions to Purdue’s bar scene, features neon lights and a dance floor. It also sponsors euchre nights (a card game), and has several large televisions tuned to different stations. A fun night to check out at Roxy’s is their “40 Night.” That night they sell 40 ounce bottles of malt liquor for a cheap price.

The Wabash Yacht Club—which, by the way, is only referred to as either “the Yacht Club” or “Stacks”—never by its full name—is primarily a Greek hangout. The Yacht Club is definitely more about drinking and dancing than it is about food (though wings are cheap and plentiful). Expect your drinks to be a little expensive, but very strong.

This is one of the most popular bars on Purdue’s campus, thanks to the cheap (and huge) drinks, the large dance floor, and the piano bar ruled by the fabulous Bruce Barker on Thursday. A $5 cover charge gets you into the Cactus, $2 will net you a Cactus Cup (unless you bring your own), and $2 more will get you a huge drink. It’s easy to have a good night at the Cactus for less than $10. Bruce Barker’s piano bar is in a separate room from the dance floor and becomes extremely crowded. Hit there early in the evening (unless you want to stand in line for over an hour to get in), and join in the singing and karaoke.

Where Else? and the Neon Cactus are the locations where Purdue students head to dance the night away. Ladies’ Nights are a particularly big draw. Domestic bottles are sold for just 25 cents some nights. While the dance floor at Where Else? is smaller than the one at the Neon Cactus, this bar is still a staple for students on Thursday nights, and is closer to campus than the Neon Cactus. However, this place gets highly crowded on Thursday nights, so head there early—if you don’t want to spend half your evening standing out on the sidewalk waiting to get in.

You won’t get into bars without two IDs, so find a good house party with your friends. It’s easy enough to get alcohol if you want it.