And so it happened, on December 29th, 2014 - my friends and I (seven in total) finally made good on our vow and took a pilgrimage to Funspot to spend a day basking in their arcade museum. We came from various locations (Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York) and arrived between ten and eleven, prepared to game ourselves silly until they chucked us out of there. There are plenty of attractions at Funspot - miniature golf, bowling, "skill" games for prize tickets - but we had little interest in those, so you'll need to find another review for that information. All we cared about was the arcade museum and some food to keep us going. I can't lie: our eyes popped out of our skulls when we made our way to the top floor where the vintage cabinets are kept. There are other pockets of arcade games scattered around Funspot, but this was the heart of it all. Vintage gamers will likely spend their first hour just gazing at all of the cabinets, marveling at the incredible selection and feeling so many memories bubble back to the surface. Funspot's collection of games - from the famous to the obscure - is very, very impressive. What was less impressive was the state of some of the cabinets. I don't expect every machine to be in pristine condition, obviously - the combined forces of time and daily use can wear out the sturdiest cabinet. But there were problems everywhere. The firing button on the Galaga machine was gunked up. The Raphael coin slot on the TMNT machine was jammed, keeping us from getting in a proper nostalgic four-man romp. Donkey Kong 2 was completely fried. Even Pac-Man, the great legend, was out of sorts - there was no audio and someone had monkeyed with the DIP switches to change the default settings. I managed to fit in a few dozen games that were in working order, and had a great time, but my crew had way too many 'Game X isn't working right' stories for my liking. If the place wants to pride itself on being a museum, it should act as one and work hard to preserve the exhibits. It's the Internet era; parts and technicians are available. Given that the vast majority of the young customers were only interested in trying to win prize tickets downstairs, maybe the arcade has become a secondary concern. Complaints aside, I enjoyed many hours of vintage gaming bliss. The food, on the other hand, was much more problematic. We had lunch at the Braggin' Dragon, which is little more than a modest-sized cafeteria. The menu is absurdly limited - nothing but pizza and a handful of fried finger foods - and the cuisine is staggeringly mediocre. As advertised, their best offering is their pizza, which is perfectly fine for an arcade and you get a 17 inch pie for $12, which is not too shabby. Everything else is freezer aisle quality. My buddy got a chicken finger 'fun meal' for about six bucks, consisting of two bland chicken fingers on a bed of so-so fries. Not great. We decided to try our luck with Funspot's other eatery, the D.A. Long Tavern, for dinner. We got the menu and just laughed - it was the exact same stuff they had in the cafeteria, plus alcohol. There were eight items total on the menu, and two of them were scratched off. I don't get it at all. I don't expect a five-star seafood restaurant at an arcade in rural New Hampshire, but I would think that a destination family place could support a decent restaurant with a proper menu. At least throw us a chicken sandwich, or a hamburger, or SOMETHING. I highly advise going off-site to eat if you plan on making a day of it at Funspot. Still, I got to play Q-Bert on a proper cabinet. I played a real Mr. Do! machine for the first time in my life. My buddy and I fulfilled a decade-long dream to team up for a game of Smash TV. Those are some great times and memories that I won't soon forget. I think that's my true beef with Funspot: it could be paradise, but it seems to settle for passable. With some more diligence and a proper eatery, it would become a gaming destination I would recommend to just about anyone. read more

Def. A fun place for the kids. Place is HUGE ! My son's favorite part is the little racing track/bumper cars the have for younger kids. It is an older place but still fun. read more

If you are a fan of classic arcade games- this is a must see. They have just about everything- Donkey King to Defender, a classic sit down Star Wars, Frenzy, PAC Man, Pong and so much more. Great place to spend an afternoon read more

Ever since I had seen the 2007 documentary: The King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters, I'd been researching the arcade known as Funspot. I live near Cleveland, Ohio and found the rising price of gas and the 663 miles separating me from a visit too great. I was 12 in 1982 when Donkey Kong was popular. Like a lot of people, I always end my life on the elevator board. It's never been a wish of mine to go farther or set world records. Kong is not my favorite game. My time spent in arcades was an escape for an otherwise awkward puberty. The first time I owned a home gaming system was a PS2 in 2002. I played Atari in Sears, but I preferred the arcade. Since then, I've tried to play at home occasionally but I found every substitute lacking. Some of my favorite games had unique controls and I wasn't satisfied with greatest hits collections for Playstation or the emulators and ROMS available from the net. There's a real lack of physicality if you're not standing there toe to toe with the real machine. I own a Playstation 1 and a third party track ball controller just for Marble Madness. I own an Atari 5200 just to play Food Fight. I find controllers where you use your thumbs to be... very clumsy. The skateboarding game known as 720 had a joystick unlike any other game before or since. When I saw that Funspot had all 3 of these machines and many others, I was very interested in a road trip. I went the first weekend in November 2011 during the daylight savings time adjustment. For a 12 hour drive one way from Cleveland, this extra hour was valuable. Summer tourist season was over and most of Weirs Beach was abandoned. The bingo hall next door is more than half of the attendance on a Friday or Saturday night. I was there from 10 AM - 10 PM on a Friday and I'll bet I saw less than 20 people walk thru the arcade all day. If you don't want snack bar food, the drive back to downtown Laconia is only 15 minutes. A greasy spoon called Deja Vu had decent food. Saturday was busier but it was mostly couples on a date or parents walking through and not stopping long. Most of the young children never leave the first and second levels where there are redemption games, bumper cars and bowling. The bartender told me that this was their slow time of the year. She also added that on a rainy day in the summer, you cannot move. I had gotten a room at a Super 8 in Tilton twenty minutes south of the arcade because there was an outlet mall and some chain restaurants. As I suspected, there isn't much to do in Laconia. Don't take your girlfriend unless she plays often. Don't expect to see a lot of jaw dropping high scores on most of the games. A lot of the games reset them themselves daily. I was #1 on Joust (cocktail) with a modest score of 133,000. The documentary and the arcade itself are two different things. The arcade keeps records but the Donkey Kong machine doesn't have anything on it that mentions the Kong documentary. Don't expect every game to be in perfect working order. The crew there does a great job as there are probably dozens of things that break there every day. The museum takes donations they have dedicated techs maintaining and refurbishing the games. Overall, I'm happy that I went there. I knew the gas and hotel expenses were going to make it completely frivolous. I also had no way of projecting of how much money I would spend on tokens. An online coupon can be duplicated as many times as needed. However, with just one coupon you can get 150 tokens for $20. It's like carrying almost 4 rolls of quarters. I looked at the list of games at Funspot online regularly and tried to project how much time I'd need there to feel satisfied. I knew that some games hadn't aged well with me. I played Sinistar, Star Castles and a few others at a privately owned arcade in Pittsburgh (PAPA.ORG) and noted some games that were a challenge when I was 12 weren't very interesting anymore. I would encourage anyone to take a long look at the Funspot list and note that there are a lot of games you've probably never heard of. Do you know the difference between Astro Fighter and Astro Blaster? Ever heard of Frisky Tom, Radical Radial or Cheeky Mouse? This arcade is a museum. The games I'm mentioning are rare. A euphemism for unpopular. Consider how much time you'd spend with each machine before driving up there. Will I haunt this place when I die? No. But the experience provided by a small but dedicated staff made for some great time travel. read more

I stopped by yesterday. Lots of games were out of order and there aren't any new games with exception of ticket games. I loved this place when I was in high school. It's sad to see that it's so run down now. read more

I was wondering if Funspot would be an okay place to take my barely 3 year old niece. I wasn't sure if there'd be enough to do. We found lots for her! There are plenty of little mini rides, including mini bumper cars. My niece also enjoyed pretty much any game, whether she was winning or not. Jacob at the prize counter was a champ--by the time we got there my niece was just about to go into toddler meltdown mode, but he took our ticket slips and got the prizes super quickly so we could get out of there. Great experience. read more

This place is awesome!!! Dave and Busters is awful compared to Funspot. You get lots of game time and the price is reasonable for a family. Highly recommend a visit read more

This is a fun place to go, however its SO DIRTY! Every time I go there, I feel like im going to catch something. I have a 2yr old and i literally feel like I need to carry around wet-ones and hand sanitizers, its so gross. For as much money as this place brings in i dont understand why they dont update it and make it at least smell clean. It would make for a much better experience. It would also make me feel better about spending money somewhere where the owners actually care about their business and customers. read more

Going to the Funspot was something I wanted to do since I first heard about it, and we finally made it. We went in October so I imagine the crowd was much smaller than summertime. They use tokens, most of the video games take one, most of the pinball machines take two. Five tokens for a dollar, so I paid 5 cents less per game than I did in the '80s. They have a large collection of games, and it was nostalgic playing some of my favorites from back in the day, and seeing and playing some I had forgotten about. The place is very big, three floors, and besides video games and pinball, they have skeet ball, air hockey, indoor mini golf, kiddie bumper cars, kiddie rides, bowling alleys, about the only thing they don't have is pool tables. They are family orientated, so no bullies hanging out at the cool games, and no smoking paraphernalia like the old arcade I went to years ago. Now the downside. Not all the games worked. Some just ate the token. Some the controls were worn, or didn't work at all. Some pinball machines had no sound, and some had wimpy flippers. We played two player on a game, and when it was my turn, the screen went upside down, like a table video game would. We got a good laugh on that one. I didn't know what to expect when we got there, and if I was paying a dollar or more per game I would have been disappointed. These machines are originals, not refurbished, and many showed their age, but for twenty cents a game I can deal with it. Like I said, the place is family orientated, not some upscale boutique. It is what it is. All in all, I would go back again, probably will. And with all it's bumps and warts, it really is a fun spot, and everyone there had a smile. read more

Funspot is where I learned to drive a standard, first gambled, and learned what an ace is on the golf course. Yep, they've got car racing games galore. Back in the day they had a game with an actual clutch, it was probably the hardest game I've ever played because I kept stalling. It was the most realistic arcade game ever. Then they offer Bingo in the bingo hall across the parking lot. Get their early or the old ladies will have taken over all the tables with their silly trinkets. And even if you're a smoker, sit in the non-smoking section. Because the smoking section made my eyes water constantly, and it was hard to see the TV screens because it was so smoky. I won $60 there one time, but that was when I went every week. And they also now have an indoor golf course, which is obviously simulated. It's neat to be able to tee-off, though. Not that I'm any good, but I did get a hole in one.... once. read more

Kind of a New England institution, the kids will enjoy. I did notice that maintenance is not their strong point, maybe they have TOO many games to maintain, half of them eat your tokens or are just out-of-order. read more

This place does have a lot of games, but I have 2 major complaints: - LOTS of games were not running, and some that were running had issues. You'd think a place like this would have a dedicated tech to keep these machines up and running. If they do, they should fire him. If they don't, they should have one! - NOT ONE Street Fighter 2 machine in the place. You'd think the "largest arcade in the world" would have at least ONE Street Fighter game out of the dozen or so variations that were released, especially since it was THE game that started the huge fighting game genre back in the 90's. Nope. That's just odd to me. read more

There's alot of fun and games there. Its also a very clean environment and usually everyone's friendly that works there. There's been times that my daughter would get her tokens either stuck or her tickets and they'd fix it within a few mins either giving her a bunch of new tokens or by fixing the machine that was giving us an issue. The food isn't too bad either just a little pricey. But nor that worst. I wish the bigger prices could be a little more reasonable and getting.. Especially if its a kid trying their best to get it. I get the profits and etc but still. They should come back with the every $20 spent you get 50-100 tokens not 15-20.. Makes it worth it more and more time consuming and giving the kids more tine to hopefully get the big toy or stuffed animal they're aiming for. read more

I've been going here multiple times a year every year for as long as I can remember. Not only does it bring back memories but it's a good time. I have fun; my daughter loves it. There are tons of games. I can spend hours on end there. They have mini golf outside, a driving range, and there's a new place called Monkey Trunks next door. You really need to make sure you bring a coupon though because they never have them there. read more

Must visit. Clean, good fun for kids and adults alike. Appreciated the wide variety of activities available - we bowled and played arcade games. Didn't sample any of the food, but pizza is available for delivery to your lane. There's also a tavern available for alcoholic drinks and light meals. There is literally tons to do. Kids had a great time. read more

Open 365 days? WRONG! After checking online the day before we drove up- an hours drive. Got there and they were closed "due to inclimate weather". The weather was FINE. read more

This is not the biggest video arcade in the US.. maybe in New Hampshire but not the USA. When I was there, the repair crew was fixing several old coin-ops.. several of the game reset on you when press a button.. I was expecting this place to be better than DisneyQuest but it wasn't even close. It was sad to see that they removed all the classic laser-disc games. Las Vegas has a few arcades that have double the machines.. read more

I LOVE FUNSPOT. They have such a great selection of old arcade games & they truly care about them. They're always fixing up the out of order ones. If you go there one time and your favorite game is out of order, you can usually count on them to have it up and running by your next visit. The staff seem very friendly and helpful which is always a plus in my book. And not to mention their hand soap in the bathrooms smells like candy! My husband and I go there a few times a month and we live in Mass. It's just such a good time. I'd choose this over a casino any day! read more

All you need to know: biggest classic arcade game room ever. I mean, they have it all. If you want to have the time of your life pretending you're a kid again, and cellphones don't exist, and mom dropped you off for a couple of hours to classically nerd it up. Best night ever. Then there is the bowling, the skee-ball, air hockey for days, little rides for the munchkins, a mediocre indoor mini-golf course. Turn in tickets for prizes. I would go somewhere else to purchase your food and drink because it's not of the greatest quality for the price but that doesn't change the pure awesome of everything else. Plus... Classic arcade game heaven! Again. I'll continue coming here for years. read more

Funspot, squeaking by on mediocrity for decades. A lot of broken machines. Good collection of oldies, but it like games from after the 80s up to recent ticket scammers never existed. Pinballs are dwindling. Staff is a 50/50 shot; some of the kids will fix your game a give you a few free plays for your trouble, some will ignore you even if you're taking right to their face. Prizes have reached an epic new low; half what they had in recent years (cases maybe 1/3 full) and the quality is the absolute lowest quality garbage. Low end: not even a rubber bouncy ball. High end: 10,000 tickets for a $12 Amazon knockoff drone the size of my thumb. It's getting harder and hard to justify the bother. Maybe they're still the biggest, but hardly the best. read more

This place sounded kinda lame to me initially...I'm not gonna lie. But when I got there, it rocked! I had way more fun here than I should have playing old skool video games...just like I was 12 again! Woot! The coolest...now, where is my Coleco-vision anyway? LOL Anyway, hit this place up on a rainy day and enjoy the games galore. But stay away from the air hockey...unless you want me to show you how its done! read more

Funspot is an incredible place, and since first visiting a few years ago I've tried to make the trip up from Rhode Island to Laconia at least once a year because it is such a great time. It's the rare place that truly is fun for my whole family - classic video games and pinball, modern games, skee ball and all manner of ticket games, mini golf, bingo, bowling (candlepin and Ten-pin), decent little bowling alley bar and a snack bar (though I'd avoid the snack bar). The American Classic Arcade Museum on the 3rd floor is the real draw for me (something like 250 games from the 70s and 80s), but we generally cover most of the place when we go. It can lead to some serious sensory overload when it's crowded, but if you go on a slower day, man, it's just amazing, particularly if you came of age in the 80s. read more

So awesome. Vintage Pinball, as well as arcade games (sadly I only noticed Tetris just as we were leaving), bowling (both kinds), a little food area with the expected pizza and fried treats offerings. It's cheap, clean, and was surprisingly uncrowded for a weekend afternoon. Did I mention _PINBALL_?! YAYYYY. Some of the machines were out of order, and a couple ate some of my tokens, but honestly, it's crazy inexpensive and the machines are sometimes upwards of 50 years old, so a little patience is called for. My friend said the staff were quick with the token refunds, too. I didn't even bother - they're that cheap. read more

Great spot, needs a little "love". Of course it's a classic in any Weirs beach vacation and you don't fix what ain't broke .. But there was a lot of fixin to be done. 6 of the games we went to play were broken and took our tokens, and those weren't the ones with signs already on them. Your guaranteed some good old games at Fun Spot but the wear and tear is really starting to show its age. read more

Fun spot has been around since I was little and I watched it grow until it was the largest arcade in the world. I go at least once a year with my kids, but never when it's raining! There is always way too many people there when it rains. Overall great value, lots to do, many options including bowling and indoor mini golf. The only thing keeping it from getting five stars is that, often times, games break down and eat your tokens and trying to find an employee sometimes takes a while. read more

This place screams nostalgia. Plenty of things to do here. Fun for all ages.

Funspot is the greatest place in the universe! It is heaven for middle-aged guys like myself. Funspot is very clean. I really appreciate their clean bathrooms! The members of the staff are accommodating. The little restaurant is nice and clean and not too expensive. The prices for the arcade are very reasonable. You can get a discount coupon on their website if you buy tokens in bulk. The only issue that I have with the place is that the lighting over the pinball games could be a little better. Funspot is huge. It has everything. As I remember, they even have candlepin bowling. What more could one ask for? read more

Fun times had by all! It's a total throwback to 1982. Games like Donkey Kong, frogger, pacman, space invaders, and centipede bring back fantastic memories. Staff super fun. read more

Very reasonable prices for tokens and tons of 80s games that is fun for all generations. The staff is friendly and on top of any issues that came up during our visit. The prizes weren't too bad either. 3 floors of games, bowling, food, and mini golf to keep you (and your child) busy for hours. read more

Funspot has a lot of arcade games, but there are two huge reasons why it only deserves 2 stars: 1) Literally, half of the arcade machines are either out of order or they are broken. You put your token in, and it eats the token, or the buttons don't work, or the game crashes. Yes, crashes. The machines are not taken care of at all. 2) The place is filthy. No one takes care of the place or vacuums. So much potential, but in the end, you end up wasting your money on broken machines in a dirty arcade. read more

Blast from the past!!!! Awesome and we'll kept arcade!!! Huge selection of retro games and a bowling alley!!! The staff is very helpful if a token gets eaten in a game they replace it no questions asked!!! If your ever in the Laconia area stop by and have some fun at funspot!!!!!! read more

Three floor of more arcade games than you can imagine. Not to mention a full bowling alley. And for the adults? Let your kid run around... theres a bar there to relax at. read more

Funspot was quite the spot o' fun. The games were great, the prizes were cool (mostly candy). But there was one spot that wasn't fun: the bathroom. The pizza gave me crazy amounts of the runs. I was in there for three hours! The good thing is that I had swallowed a token but it came out and yes it still worked! The tokens have great quality. read more

Our entire family enjoyed our visit. There were a lot of different games and activities that would suit a range of ages. We thought the cost was really quite reasonable. We didn't play the golf or eat there, but definitely had fun playing games. read more

This is an amazing arcade. Tons of options for kids and adults! I spent 20 dollars and was there for over an hour. Will definitely come back. There third floor was filled with tons and tons of old school arcade games. Definitely worth the drive! read more

I can't see this place not having a five stars! The amount of games they have to offer is amazing! This place even has bowling and mini golf!! There are a few workers as to this place being all self service and each one was so nice! They even have games where you can win some tickets. We had over 1000 tickets( lots of tokens spent) this will be another go to place when we come back to New Hampshire! read more

Went here with the family during a recent vacation in the area. For twenty bucks plus a coupon we got 150 tokens which kept the four of us busy for just the right amount time in my opinion (my wife would say they lasted too long and the kids would say thay didn't last long enough). It was exciting to see all those familier video games but after a while I came to a somewhat disturbing realization: Most of those 80's games are pretty darn boring. Maybe I am really getting old (39). I guess the lure of getting the high score is just not enough to keep me playing anymore. I ended up playing the more modern racing games because there you can actually win, or lose which is more often the case for me. My wife only likes Ms. Pacman and that only held her attention for 10 min. or so. My daughter was into the ticket producing games and my son was into it all. This was a really good couple of hours entertainment for 20$! read more

My 10 yo Granddaughter wrote this about our trip yesterday. Monkey Trunks: Monkey Trunks is a cool place to spend time with your family and friends. There are zip lines, zip trek, and an adventure course. Monkey Trunks is very challenging and there are three different levels. The first level is the easiest, the second level offers more challenges and the third level is the hardest. I didn't get to the third level though. The second level is in the middle, where I spent most of my time. Ground school: Ground school is were you taught all the rules and how to use your monkey paws. In ground school, you go through little obstacles and then a short zip line and finally you learn the "all clear" signal. Additionally, you are taught the "Three-Two-One" rule. This rule states "No more than 3 people to a platform, 2 people to an obstacle and 1 person on a zip line" Your Monkey paws Your monkey paws help you latch on to the wires of zip lines and obstacles so that you're safe. If you fall your harness will catch you and you won't fall to the ground. Obstacles: The obstacles all shake, turn or move in some sort of way to make it more challenging. The obstacles are hard and scary at first but once you do them a couple of times you don't think there as scary as they were the first time. On one of the obstacles I did there were rectangles that were positioned so they make a line and when you step on them they turn and roll under your feet making it harder to walk. Another obstacle has tires that you have to walk across to get to the next platform. One obstacle has lily pads that are made out of hard plastic lily pads. you can walk across them and attached to each lily pad is a rope to hold on to. Zip lines: The zip lines are awesome. First you attach your monkey paws to the zip line wire. Then you sit on the edge of a little rectangular platform and slide off and zip through the air, let go of the harness and fly hands free. At one point I felt comfortable enough and I let go and just zipped through the air. It was so much fun. The swing: The swing was awesome, but very scary. At first the safety instructor hooks your harness onto the swing, then she verifies that the ground is clear. Then she says "Three-two-one, have fun" and gives the rope a tug, then you fall about one or two feet and the rope catches you and you swing in the air really high. When I was on the swing, it felt like I was going to drop to the ground but I did not. I felt like I was going to hit one of the second level platforms as I swung back, but I didn't. When I was on the swing I tried to scream but when I opened my mouth nothing came out. It was really weird. Monkey Trunks is awesome! read more

I'm a big fan of it. It has many kinds of games, video and non-video games. It's a fun place for both for kids and adults. It's relatively cheap. It has one of the largest collection of classic 80s arcade games that I've seen. I was disappointed though that some of the arcade games were not working. I was also disappointed that the staff didn't do a good job of protecting the video machines from aggressive and destructive players who were bashing on them. Some parts of the place seemed rundown and need renovation. The video playing gaming experience would have been better if the ambience for the classic 80s video games resembled the 80s with the lighting (Miami Vice theme colors) and more 80s music. Overall, I still had a great time and I strongly recommend it. read more

Disappointing pinball selection, lots of machines down. Still loads of electronic games. Private bathrooms. Mini golf used to be indoors and out - now it's only indoors (good for rainy days). Lots of ticket games, good air hockey and skeeball. Typical pizza, burgers, and dogs joint attached. Can't speak for bowling or party services. read more