Bo Counts poses in the bar he owns, Pinpoint. It is decorated extensively for holidays, including the Nightmare on Block Street that celebrated Halloween. | Photo credit: Karyk King
Bo Counts, like a pinball machine, is a theatrical display that combines his elaborate personality with his lifetime of acquired skills. He relates himself to his pinball machines and the complex things they bring together to make up their flashy packages.
Counts’ story in Fayetteville started after graduating from Springdale High School and going to the University of Arkansas, where he found himself falling in love with the town.
He helped start KXUA 88.3 and worked as a station manager for a few years, where he found many new interests being sparked. He found himself immersed in entertainment above all else.
Counts tried a standard life in IT after accumulating three degrees from the University of Arkansas, but it didn’t cut it for him.
“I did that thing where you go into a job right out of college because you think that’s what you’re supposed to do,” he said. “I had my name on a door, a business card, insurance and benefits. All these things you think you’re supposed to have, and I was miserable.”
Counts wanted to escape from a life of desk job monotony, so he took action. He started Art Amiss – one of the first art nonprofits in Fayetteville – and threw art pop-ups, concerts and fashion shows, he said. Counts found himself loving the hospitality element of that work more than his desk job.
In 2014, Counts met Jason Suel and came onto his late-night show “Later with Jason Suel” as a co-host. Since then, Suel has witnessed Counts’ ethic in many different roles.
“I can count on one hand the amount of times [Counts] has told me he can’t do something,” Suel said.
Through a series of yeses and an open mind, Counts found his way into film production. Counts is known for wearing many hats and throwing many parties. He kept working in the industry “never asking how much it cost or how much [he] was going to get paid.”
“I was really good at it, and it was enough to where I decided… I could do this all the time,” he said.
He figured out he could work with film and events while making enough money to no longer rely on his desk job. Counts quit his IT job and took off to make it the way he wanted.
He said it was really scary, but it also fueled him with feelings like he could do anything if he focused on it. There was no turning back.
This new ambition gave birth to his Pinpoint project as something he would put his life savings on the line for.
Counts met the owner of the building, Brian Reindl, while doing audio work for the 2016 movie “Greater” that Reindle was producing. Counts had the connection, so he asked about the old, abandoned basement.
“‘Hey man, this old, abandoned basement you got on Block Street. I got an idea,’” Counts said.
After about a year and a half of remodeling, Pinpoint held a soft open April 2017.
Counts has been running the bar successfully since, hosting events for guests of the town and regulars from the community.
After the success he found with Pinpoint, he felt driven to try out running a restaurant.
“I can throw events all day long and do art shows all day long and make a movie, but I’ve never run a restaurant,” Counts said.
He wasn’t going to let his own inexperience in the food business hold him back either.
“I wasn’t gonna let that stop me, so I partnered with a guy who knows it a little bit better than I do,” he said.
With help from his partner, Counts went on to open Muselet, a champagne bar and restaurant in Bentonville, in September of 2025.
As of October 2025, Counts has found it getting harder.
“Real talk, it is getting harder. Really, really, really, hard lately to keep that spirit alive.”
Even if those endeavors feel like the life of the party, it’s never easy. Creating an experience for people is one of the most challenging ways to make a living It is “often thankless, not very profitable, and very, very expensive,” Counts said.
Counts said his landlord is looking to increase his rent by about $2,000.
For Pinpoint to compensate for the increase of $2,000 a month, it would need to sell an extra 1,500 Miller Lites each month, or about 50 more a night.
Counts talks about the future realistically, and how he plans to keep his business’ doors open. People see a busy night and assume the general health of the business when at the time of the interview on a Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. the bar had maybe a dozen guests.
“You gotta factor that in,” he said.
Counts sees the events he hosts at his business as something for the community, but as a business owner he is still thinking, “How am I going to get more people in here spending money?”
Not out of greed, but for survival.
“Because I have to. Otherwise, if you look around downtown, businesses are shutting down left and right,” he said.
Counts talks about the hospitality industry like it is theater, saying any person that’s been in this business long enough knows that it is showtime when they unlock and open the doors.
For Counts, it’s the love he receives back from guests and the community that keeps the show running and him invigorated to keep opening the curtain to the stage every day. It’s the moment when guests write reviews, take pictures or express their good time that makes all the other stress make sense for him.
Counts believes in third spaces as a place everyone should be able to go in life to get away from work or home and feel a sense of community, and he feels that they are struggling.
He loves the community where you can go to a spot downtown where you can enjoy a drink with friends and share the experience with others. He takes pride in fostering it.
Counts finds his pleasure in being the source of the party and a conduit for its energy. The event and entertainment work he does with the community gives him support he felt a lack of in the corporate world.
Counts has learned many skills and had many jobs as a lifelong learner and someone reinforced since youth to persevere and try. Counts is unafraid of failing and feels it gives him the armor he needs to push forward.
“They’re like, well, someone’s got to show me how to do it. And I’m like, ‘No, they don’t.’ No one showed me how to do this.”
Counts is instead known as the guy that shows people how, putting maximum effort into everything he touches along the way.
Counts is one of Fayetteville’s unique personalities who puts his all into our community as a host and creator. No matter how people know him – bar owner, cocktail specialist, icy road reporter, DJ or show host, Counts is driven to entertain the community.