We've been here twice for drinks and food. But this last time we saw a mouse run through the dining area and in between the booths, so we won't be back. Service in the bar area is usually pretty good but you're definitely not going here for the food. The games are a great time but health issues are unacceptable. I get that it's hard being connected to the mall but I can't see rodents running around while I'm eating. read more

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This arcade is cool, but it is so ghetto. The dining room area was so dirty and most of the games didn't work or wasn't working at the best capacity. You can tell the staff was over it. The food was really good and the customer service was really good. So that's why I'm giving them a 3/5 stars. I don't come here often because things don't seem to change often with this location even though it's in Columbia. read more

I visited Main Event Columbia for a teen's birthday party and had a good time. I wouldn't put the experience on the level of a well-run Dave & Busters, however it is a step above other children's entertainment centers like Laugh Out Loud, Chuck E-Cheese, etc.. The birthday party was scheduled in advance, however, it took a while before our designated seating area became available. Also, there was a delay in fulfilling the food order. Some of the food came out piecemeal, even as the party was coming to an end. The staff were polite, but I chalked up the deficiencies to the venue being short staffed for the day. The games were entertaining and the prize redemption shop (Winner's Choice) was adequate for children. Overall, an OK experience. I'll give it another shot if I have the opportunity. read more

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After falling in love with the Main Event in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Main Event Columbia broke my love affair. My eight-year-old daughter and I went around 4pm on a Saturday in February and left with a headache. Here's why: 1) Cost: We can't knock them on the price because we willingly paid, but it is expensive. To maximize our stay, we got a lot of credit for the arcade. Many of the games are rip offs. Your money is thrown at them. 2) Arcade: More than ten games were out of order. A number of them took our credit away and then didn't activate. We had to wait in a long line to get a staff member to help us out. 3) Lines: Despite having many staff, efficiency is NOT their middle name. We literally waited one hour to check out at the prize store. There was one worker despite another cash register and many staff just standing around. Each customer took around 15-20 minutes. It was wild. I'll never go back to this location, but I will return to the on in Grand Rapids. read more

Main Event Columbia - Bowling Near Me - Columbia, Maryland

(9/30/25) The experience starts from the phone call. I understand people speak negatively about customers in private. However, Terry failed to hang up properly and proceeded to make fun of my inquiry about an open lane. Upon telling the "manager" (who never shared his name) about telling Terry to be more aware of her actions. It was accepted as a minor issue, after he unnecessarily pointed out who Terry was as if I knew her personally. Bowling, this is an entertainment spot, don't take your score seriously. Yes you're rolling a ball on a floor at pins, but it's not a true bowling experience. Food was surprisingly food. I felt bad for the single serving taking care of the whole bowling lanes area alone. Her co-workers nor the manager could be bothered. This made food and drinks come SLOW. Granted it was a Tuesday evening, but it got busy. The team failed her, and I'm sure revenue suffered. read more

Main Event Columbia - Double bacon cheeseburger for the win. - Bowling Near Me - Columbia, Maryland

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When you first walk into this place, you'll be greeted with the overwhelming smell of weed. I was hoping it was just a fluke, but no matter where in the building I went, it's all I could smell. Went to the bar. Friend and I ordered a drink. Her wine was stale, and my espresso martini made me gag. It tasted like watered down milk. We left our drinks. My martini came out of a machine premade, so it wasn't the bar tenders fault. I decided to have some fun and put $60 on a card to play the ticket machines. That WAS fun until I accidentally dropped my card and this gigantic man with his family decided to pick it up and run off with it. They knew I saw them. They didn't care. Nice lesson for his children. Ugh. Columbia mall definitely has a rep now, but I was hoping this "family" place would feel safe. Oh well. It was a Friday night, so maybe that's why it was so bad. If I go back on a weekday, I'll update my review accordingly. read more

A huge shout out to Main Event for making my son's 10th birthday absolutely amazing! Our host, CJ, was wonderful. She was attentive, friendly, and on top of everything. At one point, a manager stopped by to introduce himself (I wish I could remember his name!) just to make sure all was going smoothly. Later, towards the end of the party, the Operations Manager, Soronia, also checked in to ensure everything went perfectly. The whole team was so accommodating and never once seemed bothered by a big group of excited kids or by a mom who wanted every detail just right. It was my first time at Main Event, but definitely not my last. I highly recommend them for any birthday celebration! read more

I visited Main Event to celebrate a special occasion, and unfortunately the night got off to a very rough start. An employee named Joshua told us that a coupon we presented was "false advertising" and claimed the email it came from was not actually from Main Event. I showed him that the same coupon was listed on the company's website, but he insisted it was invalid and something that needed to be discussed with management. It felt like he was trying to upsell us to a different promotion so we would spend more. I immediately asked to speak with a manager, and Phil completely turned the situation around. He confirmed that the coupon was valid and handled everything professionally, exceeding our expectations. However, shortly after we started enjoying our time, Joshua approached me again and asked, "Why did you play me?" which I found inappropriate and uncomfortable, especially as a female customer. I reported this to another employee, Madison, who was very understanding and empathetic. She promptly involved a manager again, and both of them apologized sincerely. After that, the rest of the evening improved, and we were able to enjoy ourselves and make good memories. I truly appreciate the professionalism of Phil and Madison, but the behavior of that one employee negatively impacted the experience and does not reflect well on Main Event as a whole. I am only leaving one star due to the negative experience with Joshua. read more

Main Event Columbia - Bowling Near Me - Columbia, Maryland

Not the best experience. So my family and I came here for my son's 16th birthday. He loves bowling and we hadn't been here before so we figured let's try something new. We were greeted by a friendly team member and given our lane. Once we got to our lane we noticed that there weren't any tables set up. We eventually got that corrected but it took about 20 minutes for our server to come take our orders. When she arrived she was super nice and attentive. The down side was 4 things we tried to order were unavailable due to the oven being down. And the 6 sprites that were ordered were just soda water. These things were not her fault, it just put a damper on our experience. The games are pretty pricey as well. So you can get a 300 credits for $60 but the fun games that you get kids want to play are between 10-19 credits. So two kids will play about 6-7 games a piece. Thats about $5 a game. Also my daughter order a burger and it looked nothing like what was pictured in the menu, she was super disappointed. read more

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Seven of us arrived and ended up waiting in a long line just to purchase wristbands and cards--it took an hour and a half to get through. The place wasn't crowded, but it was clearly understaffed. We then waited another two hours for our turn to bowl. On the positive side, the facility is clean and the food is good. read more

Main Event Columbia - Bowling Near Me - Columbia, Maryland

The store manager was a great guy, but god this place needs work. Better to go to Dave and Busters. We walked in and found throw up? or what seemed to be in the photo both. The screens are all dirty and little staffing which caused the laser tag and human crane to be closed. I wasn't expecting much for a mall but this was bad. read more

Great experience here! Took our students here for an attendance incentive and it was awesome. There are TONS of things to do here, and the packages are very affordable. We opted for the pizza for lunch and it went down without any issues. I would definitely chaperone a trip here again, the staff were very friendly and helpful when students needed support with games and the gift shop. read more

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8.10.24 Five of the machines (i.e. skee ball and photo booth) were out of order. When I went to inform the staff to get credit back, he informed me that the equipment was five years old. He said that he could look up which machines were out of order by looking at the details on my game card. My hubby said to me afterwards, that's not our concern. That's their issue and that they should repair them. At the very least they should put signs up to let patrons know. It was very frustrating and inconvenient. It makes us not want to return given the number of equipment that are inoperable. read more

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Came here for a group event. We took up 2 lanes with about 5 people in each lane. Shoe rentals are a little under $5 per person. Hubby and I ordered their pretzel sticks and fried pickles, which came out to approximately $24. What's hot - Layout. Pretty easy to find your way around from the entrance to the food court, to the arcade, to the bowling lanes. Each bowling lane is equipped with its own booth. Behind the booths are high tables and chairs with enough room to eat. This also allows you a place to eat after you've finished bowling. - Cost. Pretty reasonable shoe rental cost. Less than $5 per person. Cost of a bowling lane per hour was around $50 per hour and each lane can hold up to 6 people. - Location. Conveniently located at the mall in Columbia, which is helpful, because there are so many other amenities close by. - Food. Pretty good quality. The fried pickles we ordered were not too thin and not overly battered. The pretzels come with a cheesy dipping sauce. For $24, pretty good value for money. If you order food, you can also ask them to bring it to your bowling lane, which is helpful. What's not - Noise. It's very loud in here. They play very loud music. It's a large space, including food and arcade. However, it makes having conversations with those in your group very hard. Defeats the purpose of having a group event when the whole point is to talk to others, as well. This alone makes me not want to return. - Website. It's not very helpful, because it doesn't provide the price breakdown of cost of rental for shoes, the bowling lanes, etc.... Not very good customer service. - Customer service. I had called ahead to ask for a price breakdown for booking a group event, which included food catering from Main Event. Whoever I spoke to didn't ask me questions to help guide me and give me a better idea of what factors to take into consideration, such as cost of shoe rentals, price per bowling lane, making reservations, etc.... Furthermore, when we were there and ordered food, no one brought napkins and silverware when the food arrived. Not helpful, especially since the booths by the lanes don't have napkins and/or anything conducive to eating. Recommendations - Reservations. Definitely recommend to make reservations for bowling lanes, regardless of the size of your group, even if you plan on only bowling for an hour. This guarantees you a spot, including getting lanes next to each other for your group. Final answer Would be willing to come back, but not a first choice, especially because it's extremely loud inside. read more

Main Event Columbia - Bowling Near Me - Columbia, Maryland

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Very fun place to hangout! Me and my friends went bowling later at night and we had a group next to us and they were very rude. I went to one of the workers and they were able to move us to a different lane AND gave us more time on our bowling. Amazing customer service and we left much happier than when we got there. We didn't try any of the food but it smelled amazing! read more

Went on a Saturday afternoon and the place was crowded, but that is to be expected. After getting our fun cards, we played games. The games are priced high and a lot are broken. The skee ball has no balls in many lanes and the quick drop game also had no balls. I played the SpongeBob Game and even though I got the token through the pineapple hole, many times I was no awarded my bonus tokens. After playing we went to the prize area and it was a total mess. There were prizes all over the floor and the majority of prizes had no ticket prices. We left disappointed and didn't even redeem our tickets for a prize because we didn't know what we could get with the amount of tickets we had. 90% sure we won't be back! read more

Now it's sad to say, because the children were having an amazing time and what they were subjected to by Main Event staff placed a dark cloud over an otherwise super cool birthday gathering. While waiting in line for their 3:15pm Laser Tag reservations 8 children under my watch were blatantly ignored and side stepped to allow a larger group of kids to bypass them. The sad truth is, the 8 youth ( ranging from 7 years old to 13 years old ) were all black children and the larger group of youth who were allowed to totally jump the line pass them, were all white children ! ( Management was contacted and the corporate office is being contacted as well to address this matter ! ) read more

Thinking this place would have less of a wait than Texas Roadhouse, and to celebrate our kids birthday dinner, we came to this location. We arrived around 730PM. Nobody seated us, we had to seat and grab menus ourselves. Eventually a waiter took our drink orders, but that took a good 10min. The tables and seats were also not cleaned or bussed. Apparently the kitchen shut down due to an influx of orders from a birthday party and bowling alley, but we weren't informed of that on the restaurant side. My husband ordered a Sunny Side Up Burger, and the waiter later informed him there were no eggs left, so he requested a bacon cheeseburger instead. A friend's order arrived, then my and my son's order arrived around 20min later, along with a fried pickle appetizer. My daughter however waited over an hour for her chicken tenders to come out. Even then, her side was wrong. We requested to speak to a manager, and they said the best they could do was a 10% military discount....which we would have already received because we are military. They said that since we didn't send any food back that we couldn't get the food comped. Who would want to after waiting for food for a long time?? When I went to pay, I noticed there were options for coupons and gift cards. I asked if it was possible to add a coupon code or receive a gift card for waiting for so long. The manager said he couldn't input a coupon code, and that he would ask about a gift card. As I sit here waiting for him to check on the gift card, the table finally got busted 20min after we were done with our food. And I eventually left instead of waiting for the gift card because I was tired of using more of my children's birthday time sitting and waiting any longer. Our waiter was nice and the food was alright, although arrived a little cool. read more

Arrived during a weekday afternoon - not busy at all. Despite this, the row of front-facing machines were all beeping obnoxiously, apparently begging one of the associates at the counter a few feet away to refill the card dispensers. Every single one of the machines were empty. A minor inconvenience to the start of the trip - I walked around to see if there were any games I wanted to play anyway. There was a working card machine! Though, much to my dismay, many of the machines were out of order - or still running, and broken. Me and a friend tried to play the Guitar Hero - we should've known something was amiss when we noticed one of the guitars on the floor, and the handle broken for the other guitar. I couldn't play multiplayer - the second player guitar was broken, and my friend couldn't play single-player because some of the keys on THEIR guitar were broken. The claw games were lackluster; one of them was not very filled, and the duck crane game was broken, to my disappointment. The dancing game was broken, and a few other games that I don't remember were also in a state of disrepair and unable to be played. I found myself particularly irritated at the inconsistent labeling in the prize shop - why are some of the items digitally labelled, while others are tagged with a paper one? This is so inconvenient. I don't want to have to pull out my phone to see what this plastic tat is worth in epic gamer coin. A disappointing experience. read more

What a great way to spend New Year's Day! This was our second visit for our youngest son's 13th birthday, and Main Event did not disappoint. If we could give 10 stars, we would. Manager Jeremiah and his staff were professional, attentive, and made our birthday boy feel truly special. The food was delicious, and the service was outstanding. Thank you for another amazing experience--your hard work is appreciated! read more

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the food and service at this place is so terrible hah. only come for the arcade, which gets old after 30 minutes. the bar is probably the worst part of the whole place. bartenders really don't know how to do anything well. read more

They took advantage of my wife to force us to pay for a 20 child birthday party even though only 7 children showed up. Told her in email communication she needed to confirm the entire party for the event for pizza laser tag and arcade. Continuously stated that the whole party needed to be counted. Parents sometimes eat the pizza but rarely do the other parts. Made my wife DocuSign a contract for the 20 person party guaranteeing we owed for that amount of people, never explained to her that we could increase the number day of. When we showed up I verbally confirmed with the office that we had cancellations and we need to make sure we can pay based on actual attendance. Their responce was "absolutely". we proceeded and 7 children showed up. Along with some parents and our friends to support my daughter. 4 pizzas on 2 table in an area we had to share that wasn't ready for us inn time to prepare based on their "contracts" time line. The "party hosts" were unable or unwilling to prep anything for us, they just stood around not assisting. When it was time for the cake they brought a handful of plastic forks and a plastic knife. The spatula and pie serving utensils their contract promised was nowhere to be seen but we needed to be out of that area in 7 minutes according to the"contract" they kept flashing around. So an entire Costco sheet cake had to be served with a plastic knife. Once our time in the seating area was up then they finally went in back and washed a spatula and brought it to me. Laser tag had an uninterested dude press a button to play a video on the wall instead of giving these 7 kids any instruction. 9 total played. We muddled through and finally figured out how the equipment worked by the time our 15 minutes was half way done. Game time! They hand us 20 game cards that are supposed to have $10 on each of them. Our daughter is supposed to also have a VIP card with extra stuff on it. That one is missing and none of the cards are activated.....I tell the host this needs to be fixed, she looks at me confused..... Takes the cards and said she'll be right back. Comes back without any of the cards and hands me the bill...... To pay full price for a 20 child party... When I go in to discuss with the manager what we talked about right before the party, all that guy kept saying was that my wife signed a contract guaranteeing 20 people. So we were strong armed into paying over $450 for 7 kids to eat 4 pizzas, play some laser tag and then wait too long to have a couple of $10 game cards to be activated. And they expected a tip!! Don't waste you're money here.... Update: the response below asks me to provide further detail on their contact site but it doesn't allow any punctuation in the response field and has about a 300 character limit. So more detail isn't even possible there. Looks like it was an automated response to my negative review to make it look like someone cares. read more

Last time I was at Main Event, the games were great, food was good, but when I was getting prizes, the person serving me and my friend was so rude! First of all, when me and my friend was asking a question about how much points some stuff was, the staff said, "Ragghhhh", I mean, he sounded annoyed, but we were just kids. He was acting a little rude. Everything else was really fun, I had an amazing time. But after that employee, it just made me feel disrespected. The other staff was a lot kinder. To be honest, I might not come back after that. read more

I love to bowl even though I'm not a fan of it. I still love it! Best arcade ever made. Very fun games I love The VR ones. even though their not even a game really. read more

Main Event Columbia - Bowling Near Me - Columbia, Maryland

Took a group of employees there on a weekday - mid-afternoon. I booked this event. This was for bowling and lunch. We followed a huge student group that Main Event hosted. The staff quickly cleaned up post student group. They completed that task quickly and efficiently. The staff was welcoming and helpful. Our lanes were clean and staff was on top of all our needs. We received excellent service from all employees from the front desk to our servers. Our staff ordered lunch and each employee enjoyed his/her food. We did not experience any problems. I would return for a similar activity. Positive response from all our staff on this experience. I would not go on the weekend or evenings because I know this venue is absolutely packed during those times. read more

I took my nephew here for a fun day. This was not my first time to a main event, but my first time to this location. We arrived right at opening so the place was empty. The person at the check in was very thorough in explaining everything and made sure we had enough points to do all the things we wanted to do during our visit. We had some extra points at the end so my nephew of course wanted to visit the main event store. The person who worked that area could use a serious course in customer service. She never once said hello or even a have a nice day. My nephew wanted to check out on his own and she looked like she was very annoyed. It took everything in me to not ask for someone else to check us out. We had a great experience and the last thing that we remember is the way this person handled the customers. I would rather go somewhere else and pay for extra toys and candy then check out with the person who was working that area. read more

Main Event Columbia - Bowling Near Me - Columbia, Maryland

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I came here with a group of kindergartners for a field trip adventure. I like that it's a smallish confined space. We didn't loose anyone! When I saw all the games I thought no way were they going to be able to work most of these games aimed at older children and adults. They proved me wrong. I was impressed with their eye- hand coordination and skills at shooting the bad guys. The games they enjoyed the most were the race car ones and the aim and shoot type games. I'm more of a skeet ball kind of gamer. They had unlimited play. We also stayed to eat. They had pizza which they enjoyed. Teacher had a buffet which was pretty lame: McD-like nuggets, mini burgers, hot dogs I think, and cold French fries. Very much like standard cafeteria food. Overall, A+ from the kiddo side. C from the teacher side. It's not my cup of tea, but then I'm not eight years old. read more

Went out with a group of couples for date night. We had a great time. The food was great. The pool areas was nice , the service was great. The only thing that seemed to be an issue is that may the bowling lanes are uneven somehow? We all were having trouble bowing and typically that is not an issue. In addition to that, there were enough bowling ball options to go around, specifically size 6 , medium was absolutely not available. I looked everywhere. Other than that, we all had a good time. I love how they offer socks for purchase in case you don't have socks. I ordered the gluten free pizza with cauliflower crust, it was honestly the best I've had in a very long time, I was pleasantly surprised. They are short staffed in the food court area, which made things a little challenging but overall it was good. The servers did a good job. Although there were alot of children present at this location, it didn't seem overwhelming and still felt adult-like. We will definitely be back for date night again soon. read more

This place was really cool when it first opened, now it SUCKS. It seems like they turned over their entire staff and the few people you do see look miserable or straight up ignore customers. Arcades have to be maintained or they completely fall apart, which is what's happening here now. Half of the games are either powered off, put in some kind of service mode, or physically broken. The ones that actually DO appear to be working will just take your credits and never let you start playing. I went there with my girlfriend 2 days ago and one shooting game had a completely severed wire on one of the controllers, but it had 14 credits - 14 people swiped their cards (so far) on a game and nobody has even bothered to mark it as not working. read more

We love our local Dave & Busters, but decided to try Main Event after receiving a promotion for 30mins free game play- the promotion was a good time- they swiped a card, active for 30mins, which allowed us to try out the majority of the games (no tickets awarded for wins)- this was a delightful time to explore with our young daughter, allowing her to play & wander the woes.... the entire place smelled like weed, the bathrooms were absolutely disgusting, and many games were malfunctioning I really wanted to recommend this place to other parents for an easy accessible, low-cost good time to spend with kiddos, but the dirtiness made me uncomfortable. Back to Dave&Busters (also located within a mall, run by teenager employs but well maintained) read more

LATE REVIEW but NEEDED! Main Event went above and beyond for my daughter's 12th birthday. The host was helpful from start to the end. They accommodated all the kids needs even the adults request. They were polite and made the birthday party set-up seamless..I appreciate the managers that interacted me to ensure I had an enjoyable experience. I want to shout out Dania/Kimora, who have amazing customers service skills and made the party memorable. Also, want to give a shout out to entire staff, sorry I couldn't remember all the names but THANK YOU. I will definitely return and making my daughter and friends happy. read more

The main event is pretty cool, no matter where there located. The Columbia location is very nice. It caters to kids and adult. Nice and spacious facility. Great for parties for kids. The staff was really nice and facility was pretty clean. Will visit again. read more

Main Event Columbia - Bowling Near Me - Columbia, Maryland

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My niece was celebrating her birthday yesterday and our waiter Miguel was AWESOME!! Miguel customer service was outstanding. We had a lot of people with us and he took care of our needs with no hesitation. He made sure everything was taken care of. Miguel had multiple tables and he still remained professional while keeping a smile. Our food came out hot and tasty and the manager was friendly and professional too. I am not sure what type of recognition can be given to Miguel but he definitely deserves some type of acknowledgement. If you ever go to this particular location ask for Miguel, he is the best. KUDOS TO YOU, MIGUEL. Thank you read more

Horrible idea somebody call Gordon Ramsay the food and dinning section deplorable dirty tables, dirty bar, smash Burger it taste like sweet imitation cheese and jalapenos no reminisce of beef flavor what so ever, lemon pepper wings suck, drinks watered down, the fries were fake well seasoned cardboard, the pizza tolerable, the funnel sticks fries were the only tasty items on our 132.20 bill mind you mice running around the table and booth I told the attendant they laughed and said thanks. The final prize was my husband and son come home vomiting and all night. Just close the kitchen and get vending machine it might keep you doors open. Dave & Buster's is way better the food tastes like real food. We'll come back to play the activities and games but the dinning is a tasteless biohazard the food could at least be tasty if table and kitchen questionable. read more

Pretty shocked by the less than 3-star overall rating here. I had a good time at Main Event. The pricing and payment to play was reasonable and easy. The venue is large and manages to have an arcade section, laser tag, bowling, billiards, a bar, and tables for eating. During my visit, I thoroughly enjoyed bowling, playing pool, and playing random arcade games. I did not eat, drink, nor use the restroom and thus I can't comment on those things, but I'd absolutely be down to go back and hang out. read more

Epic dump Place is filthy dirty! Go in look at the floor, look at the tables and look at the leftover and piled up food everywhere. We went bowling which was fine, however this absolutely disgusting and horrible. Food was bad! Service was worse. Poor staff were overwhelmed Avoid read more

I took my students here for a trip. They had a good time for the most part. They enjoyed their 2 slices of pizza & drink. The only complaints I have is that I had to wipe down a table and throw away a few cups that were left at our tables before we got comfortable. Also, there were at least four malfunctioning machines. We came early in the morning. I was thinking that maybe they could've checked all of the machines before we got there. When I reported the first one customer service was pretty quick to get it fixed. The next few. We just heard I'll get to it as soon as possible. Which ended up being never. Two of my students was upset because they lost points on their card for no reason. I think the staff got a little overwhelmed. We were the only school there for the first hour though but maybe more tech staff on field trip days would help. read more

We were looking for a place to go before a concert at The Merriweather and this was an epic fail. Waited almost an hour for food, and the service was terrible. Sat at the bar and it was the worst service I've ever had. The food wasn't as bad. I had the double bacon burger and fries and it was good. The vibe here was like Dave and Busters, so lots of games and kids. Maybe it's because of the concert or a busy Saturday, but likely won't return. read more

This place needs some help. The bowling here is atrocious. There was no attendant when we needed help. Lanes are too short and have no oil so don't come if you can somewhat bowl. The rental bowling shoes are gross and way too old. I did not feel comfortable wearing these rentals. In fact they felt wet. All in all, do not come here to bowl. read more

Main Event Columbia - Short lane/ no oil #9 - Bowling Near Me - Columbia, Maryland

This is my second time here ... nice playground for all ages. I didn't get food this time but the kids had fun running around while we shopped ... they have bowling laser tag private party rooms and a bar and different eatery choices ... read more