M wanted to play some "Pin Ball"...hum...I checked Yelp and low and behold there was a place on Higuera St. ah...I hadn't seen that one. So we went over today, then get some dinner once we were played out. There is some food on the premisses. M had spotted a Taco Tuesday deal $3 for 3 with an alcoholic beverage purchase....lets see what else is on the menu...ah... I'm not going any further with the cuisine, I'll say its not my kind of place to eat. However Pin Ball is defiantly the game and there are plenty other games too. Pool x 4 tables, Air Hockey, driving, shooting, grab a prize, photo booth, cotton candy. basketball, no skeet ball, and the rest. Beer, wine and sodas are available. Sound is plenty good a giant fan helps to take the heat off you. No screens to be seen. Minors are subject to certain days and times, this is ideally an adult escape. See ya kids foodguy-Martin read more

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Had a blast playing games that are reasonably priced(need to use a game card) while sipping beer. They have fun event nights like poker on Wednesdays too. Have billiards if you are a pool shark. Bathrooms were clean. Service was a little all over the place, but nice. For example, place was empty and still waited at the bar every time. I would be here all the time if I lived in SLO and will be back. read more

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Awesome place! The vibes are great, the games are a ton of fun, and the drink I tried was really good (it was some sort of play on an alcoholic Baja Blast, very fitting for an arcade). I really loved playing their basketball game in the back, along with their air hockey game. read more

I'm a 60 year old kid that loves pinball and old video games; oh, and beer. This place was awesome. You buy a game card that operates the machines, like a tap card, for $5 ( no big pockets of quarters ) and you play 20-25 games on it. Nice selection of regional and domestic beers on tap, friendly, safe environment where most of clientele was less than half my age. Fun place to spend an hour or two read more

Such a fun place to spend some time. We loved all of the pinball machines and retro games. There use to be more but looks like they got rid of some for some... claw machines and whatnot. There are plenty of places to sit and hangout. They have beer on tap and other drinks as well. There are restrooms available. read more

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A "bar arcade" is a great way to please the parents & keep the kids happy, too. A good spot in the middle of downtown SLO to spend 1-2 hours. They have pool tables, air hockey, karaoke, pinball, and a mid-size selection of arcade games including the most popular old-skool choices. They serve beer and wineonly with a selection to choose from. The bathroom is clean, the service good & people friendly. Sunday now is a perfect night for locals. No parking mess to contend with. I haven't tasted the food either of the 2 times I've been here, the reason for the 4 stars. Kitchen closes early. Will update once I've tried the food. read more

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I miss having an arcade close by and this is doing exactly that and now that I'm an adult I can drink too, what a steal. Love the variety of games and particularly all the pinball machines is my favorite to waste my time on. Wish their was a few more modern games but what's in there is also fine with me, it's still a good time read more

Great place that takes you back into great times with arcades. Bartender was friendly & so was staff

Highly recommend the cream soda beer it was tasty. If you like sweet beers you'd love this. The bartender was super nice gave us a sampling. Came on trivia night which I thought was karaoke. The place was packed but no one really buying drinks or playing games. Seems like just a place for college students to take up space. Seen a lot of barcades fail in college towns. You need to have a drink minimum. I like the decor and the selection of games. I was kind of disappointed with the dance rush stardom. The bar music was so loud I couldn't even hear the games music. The tech needs to adjust that. I think if you're a real collector you'd be a little disappointed with all the crt conversion but it makes sense business stand point. They also had crane machines and great selection of pinball. I like how clean the arcade is. It's a coin arcade so bring cash so you don't have to use the atm inside and pay a fee read more

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Overall a really cool arcade with lots of games. We didn't eat or drink. The place was a little stuffy but they had a poker tournament going on. Reasonably priced games and a game card that gets you more plays the more you spend. I'll probably be back especially if they rotate their games. read more

A new business in downtown SLO that is a retro throwback to the 80's! BA Start is a video arcade lounge with pool tables, bar ( beer and wine), stage and tons of old school stand-up arcade games. At 8 pm it's 18 years and above for a more mature crowd. They do have a small kitchen so you can eat while you're gaming. You play with tokens, there are monthly tournaments with prizes. They'll let you rent out the entire place for events, birthdays or parties. I showed up just before farmers market and the place was bouncing. I brought a Linkin and he was allowed no problems. What a fun place to hang out! The decor is a work in progress, it truly feels like the 80's Regency Game Palace. Music is playing, the place isn't brand new, where else could we enjoy these iconic video games but here. Update: I recently went in to play pool and video games. I still feel like this is a different place, it's not Boomers or CC, parents should expect an 80's vibe in here. Everyone that works here is friendly and they truly want to make this place work. My only snark is the kitchen, I'd focus more attention on updating or making it "self-serv," but then again, maybe people don't mind as much. Overall B+ read more

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We popped in there after dinner for something to kill time. There is a bar and games to play. We know summer is SLO is pretty empty so the place didn't really peak up with the crowd, which was fine as we didn't want to be around crowds as we were just visiting the area. The cool thing is this place is dog friendly! Not sure about night time when it shifts to more of a bar style place. The games were pretty basic and a good vibe! read more

This was our first time at BA Start, although we'd been curious walking past it many times before! We ordered a pizza which was quite tasty...a little sloppy so it required some utensils but no biggie. They have a great selection of local beers on tap as well as seltzer and cider. We had a blast playing games with the kiddo and wasn't too crowded on a Saturday afternoon. Filling up a card with tokens was a convenient way to pay vs. coins. We will be back! read more

A great hangout place for friends, families, and significant others! They have a variety of games such as: giant jenga, ping pong table, air hockey, pool, etc! The bartenders are also very nice and quick with drink orders! P.S. Go on Thursdays because starting at 9 pm, drinks are $2 and goes up $1 every 10 minutes until 10 pm! read more

really diverse selection of games, plus pool table, air hockey, photo booths, and a karaoke stage! super cool atmosphere with the decorations and music. a great time for a night out, and plus it's one of the few places open past 6 in downtown that isn't a club! read more

Bought four dollars worth of tokens earlier this year only to return and discover they implemented a contactless payment system. Spoke to the attendant and was told they could not exchange the tokens for any kind of credit.Didn't seem reasonable or fair to me considering I payed for them. read more

This place is pretty sweet. Here with my girl and our 9 year old son. Played a bunch of games and had some decent beers. Lots of fun. Still early, but the crowd is welcoming. Bartender was cool too. read more

We were excited for the arcade to open. Here on a Sunday afternoon at 3. Guess today is the second day they have been open. I hate leaving bad reviews but this just didn't sit right. The food: Got the panini. Cheese wasn't melted and the side salad was a few pieces of Lettuce with no dressing. Pretty disappointed but I guess it's the same as bowling ally food. The female bartender really needs to learn what attire is appropriate around children. Her shirt dipped almost to her belly button and her breasts were falling out. Multiple people were commenting on her attire. Wear something over the shirt until the 8pm 21+ starts. There are children as young as 4 here playing the games. The games were fun. The water container was empty the entire time we were there. The mens bathroom had completely inappropriate artwork for children to be seeing. A little boy came out talking about the guy with bloody hands.. come on guys.... really ??? .... the women's restrooms artwork was just as bad and not appropriate If it was labeled as an adult arcade I can see where these things are okay but the over 21 doesn't start until 8pm. The two stars is for the beer list and the nice guy helping us at the bar. We are pretty disappointed. Great concept but things really need to worked out if you are bringing your child here. Updated...we finished our tokens and multiple games we played didn't work properly including pinball. read more

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Super friendly staff, games all amazing, shows are awesome. I love this place. Owner is super chill too, if you beat him in street fighter, you go on the street fighter list, lol. Nacho challenge is cool too. read more

Had a fantastic time out with coworkers, excited to come back and bring my husband for date night! They've got a wide beer selection, reasonable rates for games, great customer service, and one of my coworkers got a high score on a game! At one point we loaded up a versus racing game and the game didn't load right, staff reimbursed us our tokens and immediately fixed it and got it up and running again. Can't wait to come back for Pint Night or Thursday's Power Hour read more

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This used to be a fun and affordable place we would come to for Date Night. We're here tonight after a few month hiatus and we are extremely disappointed. All the tokens we paid for in the past were not able to be honored so they got free money. They increased the prices of drinks and the credits for the games now are ridiculous. We used to be able to play all night with $20 in tokens. Tonight we were able to play about 4-5 games with the same amount of money. Just one game for the both of us took almost 100 credits alone. We are very sad that their greed took away from a fun and affordable night life activity out here. I can't imagine how college students are able to afford going here. I hope they reconsider their prices. read more

Great old school games, good beer selections and chill crowd. Will be back for sure.

Nice addition to SLO, but the games are dated. They recently upgraded to card readers and everything is 50% to 100% more expensive. Additionally, they wouldn't let us trade in the token we bought just one month ago. read more

Super fun and GREAT pulled pork nachos. Hope they make sure Pac-Man is never down. If you're going to be an 80's place you gotta pac. They should add Frogger too. My husband loved the basketball thingy. read more

If you want to deal with belligerent adults and an unsafe environment for children, this seems to be the place! Came into play pool and within 5 minutes was being threatened and accosted by some random dude at the pool tables. I came here to teach my girlfriend how to play pool and really regret thinking this was a business where staff would actually step up and help when an altercation or argument occurs inside. He simply walked up and started claiming I was "talking s***" when we had quite literally just entered and got change to play pool. His demeanor got more aggressive and he would not leave us alone. This random guy, who continuously yelled and threatened both of us and attempted to taunt me into a street fight, was able to stand at the front door of the business for almost 5 minutes, yelling and cussing. This is not an exaggeration. He stood in the doorway while slinging threats and insults for as long as he enjoyed, since there was no staff response he knew he could just continue to do so with zero repercussions. This was at 7 pm on a Saturday night and apparently the business finds no need to have floor staff available at this time. Children were still present and running around the arcade at the time as well. Staff didn't seem to care about them either given their non-response. I eventually had to start yelling "Leave us alone!" "You need to leave!" "I'll call the cops right now!" The only person to come and even help was one random patron. Once this guy spoke up and started almost pushing him out, he finally gave up and left. No staff attempted to come over or help, even while I was yelling for help and waving my hands to get their attention. They continued to stand behind the bar and just watch as my girlfriend and I were being accosted by someone who clearly shouldn't have been there. They did not come over or attempt to rectify the situation. I had to be on high alert for the rest of our game, not knowing if he would just come right back inside to threaten us again, since there was no staff attending the door. Imagine this happening to your child or your child witnessing a belligerent man just threatening and trying to fight actual customers/patrons, while staff sits idly by. Does that sound like a kid-friendly environment? There was a definite "bystander effect" going on until one other person decided to jump in and help, since there was no staff stepping up. Its not the job of other customers to have to step up. All it takes is one person who works there to come over and tell them to leave and ask what is happening and it could help ALOT. Not a single word was spoken to us by staff afterward either. Was hoping to like the place but feel extremely letdown by the lack of care from the staff and the lack of security, which should be available when adults are drinking for extended periods of time in an establishment. Wouldn't be surprised if this business got dinged in the future for overserving their customers since they seem to have poor control of their premises and staff. Edit: This was not a month ago, as the owner has tried to assume. This occurred on January 6th (Saturday) around 730 PM. I quickly made a review within a couple days so that the details would still be fresh in my mind and was hoping for a more respectful response. Instead, I am being told a completely different story from another date (how often is this happening that you are mixing up my bad experience with another?). To reiterate, I was only with one other person (my girlfriend), not a group. I specifically asked the one random patron that helped us "Do you work here?" to which he shook his head, said no, and told us he just saw what was happening and decided to help. I am disappointed that instead of being inquisitive and concerned, the owner seems to not want to take any responsibility for the attempted battery that very nearly occurred inside the establishment. This person was clearly intoxicated or waiting to pick a fight, and had been hanging out inside before we even arrived. Not impressed with response by the owner, as it seems like an attempt to shuffle off any possible blame. read more

Came in with some buddies and had an amazing time. 95% of the games were up and running and the token exchange rate is very fair! We ended up playing a ton of TRON and air hockey. Can't talk much on the food but ping pong is free and the have pool tables for those looking to do activities as a group. read more

This place is good for some games like pool and air hockey, but a lot of the arcade games are not for kids. The food is horrible. We ordered the pizza bagels and it was soggy and probably cooked in the microwave. I would not even make something like that for my kid at home yet alone charge some for it. The fries were also soggy and obviously not cooked in a fryer. I do not recommend wasting money on food here. read more

BA Start - Pizza bagel - Arcades Near Me - San Luis Obispo, California

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Really fun spot to spend a couple hours strolling memory lane. Some classic games here, like off road and Simpsons. The pinballs are cool too. I like you can get a beer too. I've been here maybe 10 times and it's always a good time. read more

I have all the high scores on all of the machines. Don't even try coming here. XO. Staff is amazing. Drinks are fairly priced, atmosphere is perfect, DJ bumping read more

My wife and I escaped the kids for a few hours on my birthday (they're too young for an arcade, I'm not *that* mean) and went here. I love pinball, but even growing up in the late eighties and nineties working machines were few and far between. This place has a big row of them, all but one working. Game prices are very reasonable given inflation (most pinball games are $1, one is 50 cents). They have a ton of other great old arcade games too (I didn't see Gauntlet, police trainer, or Area 51, but I didn't look very hard and they do have the star wars trilogy, metal slug, some Atari classics, several other shooter classics; but really with so much pinball everything else is gravy. The bar has great prices, but beer selection skews towards ipas, alcoholic seltzers, etc., but that's unfortunately pretty standard for California (I'm a Porter and sours guy). They stock tin city cider and alcoholic kombucha which is a win, though. Great fun all around! read more

this place should literally have five stars because i've never had a dull time in this place. truly an underrated spot in downtown SLO. i know it may be very easy to oversee this place as there are multiple other bars around it, but the experience you get here cannot top what you get anywhere else. Yes, you will have to spend a little extra money to play games, but if you go in a group and split the games evenly it is not bad at all. I will say the "worst" thing about this place is that they have no hard liquor, but if you come with good spirits (or properly pregamed) this is always a blast. They also always have free water available and karaoke on sunday night which is definitely worth checking out read more

Best retro gaming and fam spot in slo food drinks and the games. couldnt ask for more for a better night out. Bring the fam and have fun with every one. The food is great quality and the staff their are ready to serve. I recomment this place if u have kids. The music is off the wall.. read more

BA Start - This is the view from the entrance - Arcades Near Me - San Luis Obispo, California

Moved away from SLO 7 years ago and was so happy to see BA Start here! Games were so much fun! If we had any troubles with a game, there were people walking around to help us or the bartender was available to help. Jamie, our bartender was amazing! She was very helpful, suggested great beers and very attentive! It was also my sisters birthday so she made sure to make her feel extra special. We will definitely be back soon! read more

Poor services , the bartender was rude obviously does not like his job should not be working there, half the games where disconnected or out of service only thing seem to be working where the pool tables. Save your money read more

This place is awesome! I've toured numerous retro arcades all across the state and stumbling upon this one in slo was one of the the best ones I have ever been to. This was the only legit arcade that was nearby and it sure delivers. Everything from the games, employees, awesome nightlife, atmosphere, it all blends in and transforms this place into the best hangout spot. Obviously being a new place there's still more that needs to be done, I did hear new games will be added as well! This place is a true definition of what an arcade is about. Loved every second being here. 10/10 would visit again. read more

BA Start - BA Start Arcade In SLO! Awesome place! - Arcades Near Me - San Luis Obispo, California

Talk about nostalgia. Takes me back to a time and place where the world was so much more innocent. That feeling of freedom on a weekend after along week of school. Man I missed arcades. Glad to have one back. read more

Games are great. Inexpensive. Good music for older adults. Great place to come with your kid. They also have beer which is nice. Happy to have in the neighborhood. read more

I had the great fortune to play some St.Patricks Day music for the fine folks at BAStart Arcade and Taproom, San Luis Obispo, 647 Higuera St., and you have got to go in for a cold one and try the kitchen out, the whole band was raving about the grub!! Owner Ron and the crew have got a great Family friendly spot, go there! read more

Dang I was so excited to come here and check it out, but the games were SO expensive, we wanted to play some pinball and was mind blown at how much for just 1 game...ambiance was a super cool vibe and great beer selection (love that they serve our local brews) but they MUST change the wall decor in the bathrooms if this is a "family" place, my kids are grown but if I had little ones I'd be disturbed. I've been to many fun spots in bigger towns with creative and funny bathroom prints hung up but these were not funny but just tasteless, definitely can do better than that. Hopefully they will change the pics and offer an unlimited game day or even half day for a single price read more

Nice fun environment, but I'm but I'm super surprised they don't serve pizza and wings like every barcade does, panini sandwiches are kind of weird for the place, and the bartender was shitfaced pouring drunk all night which isn't ever a good sign cause that usually means everyone else is running the place drunk. Other than that it seems like a work in progress but i hope they get the help they need to be able to run it for a long time. read more