I’d been running around all week, trying to meet a few deadlines, finishing up a couple of Ikea assembly marathons, and tying up a half dozen domestic loose ends the night before a multi-day ski trip when it hit me with a stab of panic: I forgot to do my ski laundry!

Then I remembered Jax (formerly known as the Scrub A Dub Pub), with its spacious basement laundry, its neon-lit rooms, stand-up video games, and its killer maple sriracha wings, and my worries melted away. I grabbed my emergency pair of clean base layers (pro tip: always have an emergency pair of clean base layers) and simply brought my dirty laundry with me.

On a ski town access road packed with a ton of fun pubs and unpretentious restaurants, Jax seemed relatively unremarkable until one visit to Killington a couple of years ago when I decided to extend my stay because of an incoming snowstorm. I desperately wanted to take advantage of the powder day coming my way, but I had used the exact amount of ski underwear I’d packed – and I won’t wear dirty underwear because we live in a society with rules.

My hotel didn’t have a laundry room, but the front desk clerk directed me to Jax and I loved the place as soon as I stepped inside. Arcade games such as Ms. Pac-Man lined a couple of the walls, inviting leather sofas congregated in front of a corner fireplace, artfully-arranged mirror shards crawled up the ceiling and spread out in patterns, and scattered neon lights threw an ‘80s-accented glow on the proceedings. The soundsystem was playing Jimmy Cliff before shifting to the Eurythmics, and I had the feeling that I’d been transported into the sort of place in which thirteen-year-old me hoped I might one day hang out. If Tron and The Secret Garden had a baby, it would be named Jax.

Jax advertises itself as a family-friendly pub-restaurant (before 10pm), and with the games, food, and laundromat below, it’s something of a community resource for anyone visiting Killington with (or without) kids whose lodging lacks laundry amenities. If you ski enough, having access to a washer and dryer is a necessity.

If all they offered was a place to drink beer and eat wings and let the kids run around while getting the sweat stank off of woolen socks, that would be enough. But the menu, while aggressively pub-style, has touches of inspiration and offers something for everyone, along with a beer selection that isn’t all double IPAs and farmhouse goses from six-month-old microbreweries. Live music starts at 9pm daily, and features a rotating cast of local musicians.