Don't get me wrong. I love video games, and it's a great concept but - nothing really stands out about this place except for the convenience of being located right in the mall.
I have had the chance to visit a few times and the first couple times I was here it was great, but it seems to have declined in recent months.
The staff is generally hit or miss, once they have your cash it seems they don't care about the experience. They cram as many people in here as possible, which I get because they want to be as profitable as possible, so it gets unbelievably hot. I don't know if the mall is responsible for the air conditioning or the business, but one big fan in the back corner won't cool the whole place down. (These were things you would overlook the first few times as they were just starting out as a business, but how long does it take to get the A.C. working?)
I'm sure many people appreciate the lower price (I believe it was $20 before and now it's $15) but for five more bucks, I would pay it if they were able to hire more technicians or staff to repair the cabinets. (Again, to be fair I am sure finding people with that particular skill set could be difficult...) But- If I had to estimate, the day I went about 1/6 machines were not working, worked with limited functionality, or were being serviced.
These are, of course, the more popular games you were hoping to play. (Such as Duck Hunt on the arcade cabinet, and the VS Mario Bros cabinet which I was hoping to try) It would even be reasonable if they just had a "This machine is out of service" sign or unplug it/power it down so people don't waste time trying to play a broken cabinet.
On the same token (enjoy the arcade pun)- after asking staff for some help to either reset a game/cabinet they seem so annoyed. "These are old games, what do you expect?" There is no reason to be rude to customers, at all, at any point. As the saying goes, you had one job.
The unlimited play concept is great in theory- but some of the games have difficulty with that (e.g. Ninja Turtles arcade) which is great if it were running on token system or even time limited. Someone gave all four characters basically a ton of lives by hitting the buttons below the control deck a lot and it wasn't possible for my friend and I to really play one of our favorite games as a result. It also leads to many people hogging/monopolizing particular games for extended periods of time.
Lastly, in all fairness - the first few times I visited the arcade was impeccably clean, but again the last visit left much to be desired.
Some customers were coughing, sneezing and smearing boogers and snot on the Pinball machines glass tops which just grossed me out. I can only imagine what was on the arcade cabinets. Thankfully from what I could tell, food was not allowed in or it may have been worse.
I'm not going straight one star on this place because it did start off great but I think the quality of the experience has declined significantly. read more