I've waited till several visits to review this place, hoping it would get better. Unfortunately it hasn't. Of all the places I've gone to in the Tempe area, Main Event is the worst, esp. when it comes to customer service. Two birthday parties, company functions, and just time with my lady. Young, inexperienced, and just clueless. This relates to the management as well. I don't mind the higher prices, it comes with the type of place it physically is. I just cant deal with bad leadership, who is only looking at the bottom lines. The reviews should be very concerning to the ownership... read more

We visit Main Event multiple times a month and absolutely love the atmosphere! I have three kids ranging from 6 to 13, and there's something for everyone--from arcade games to bowling to laser tag. It's become our go-to spot for family fun. We go so often that I've joked about starting our own bowling league! The staff is always friendly, and the place is clean and well-managed. Highly recommend for families looking to have a great time together. read more

I've been here many times. My friend gave me a summer pass to play bowling, laser tag and more. I like to bowl with my new bowling shoes. Lanes look cool all light up. Food is decent. There wasn't enough servers last time and one girl was serving all the lanes. She was great. It was empty on a Sunday morning. Got busy later on. I've also been here for company events. This place can get loud for anyone who is sensitive to noise - this would be the place for earplugs. Games are more fun to play with a friend or waste a hot afternoon. read more

We love main event. Someone that is probably new was being a bit challenging to communicate with, but Destiny came in and made everything right, with a smile and her positive energy our server Freddy was the ONLY server on in the bowling area and he CRUSHED IT they north deserve a raise! read more

NEVER COME HERE!!!!! HORRIBLE HORRIBLE SERVICE!!!!!!! The manager "Jon" interrupted us to tell us what we were complaining about was a "LIE"!!!! I'm filing formal complaint!!! We weren't even there 30 minutes and we come to them with a complaint for him to say our complaint is not accurate To Jon, Destiny and Kelsey---- horrible disgusting horrible service!!!! You should be closed!!!!! read more

I come here often because I live about a mile away and my daughter has a blast playing games. Each time is a dropping 300-500 $ to have a good time which I don't mind at all..The place is lots of fun and it has a good layout. Arcade games, bowling, laser tag, ropes and prices. I just don't like the service. Everyone is always a little rude. Tonight only one person was nice. I wish they did more improvements on costumer service. Maybe some Classes? Some training? because that's really important to me. People treat you like they don't care. Food is pretty decent, I totally recommend the pizza. Is good. My margarita has been good too :) read more

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I came here for bowling with friends on a Friday night. First, the place was very dirty, the women's bathroom was gross. Second, our bowling lane was messed up and kept giving players strikes and spares without us even bowling them. Third, our server rarely checked on us so we had to start ordering two drinks at one time because it was taking forever. Fourth, the food was overly priced and not even good. My nachos came out cold, and when I asked if I could get more cheese that was actually hot, the server brought out more cheese that was still cold. It was a very disappointing bowling night! read more

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Came in today and Kivy helped me out she was so fun and bubbly I had to mention her since her customer service skills were amazing!! She made my day being that I was her for my daughter and her friend read more

Great place for team activities! We started early in the meeting room, then had lunch in the same room. After that it was a fun time. We did team bowling, laser tags, and arcade games. We left happy and enjoy each other company. read more

It is conveniently located off 1-10, close to Costco and IKEA in Tempe. It offers a variety of games, gravity ropes, laser tags and "modern bowling". We have a 3-hours time card for the games and participated in the laser tag game. It also has restaurants that provide food and beverages. Basically, you could spend a good whole day over there exhausted. They had many things to offer and it was hard to pick where to start. So I would describe what we did there as an example. On Sunday, we went there at 10 am (open time) to attend a kid's birthday party and the restaurant staff already have the table prepared. They offered hamburgers, french fries, and fruit cups for each one in our group. Later on we added oven-baked pizza and chicken wings. The kids then went to laser tag together after the meal and birthday cake. I did not go in but according to the feedback it was fun. Each of us was offered a 3 hours time card to play with the machines, thanks to the host. I am not a big fan of the gaming machines, they were very loud and caused my headache, lol. Our 7-year-old was really enjoying the gaming machine. However, our 3-year-old started to act up and became cranky not long after, and it was terrible. My advice: If you would bring kids younger than 3 years old, please please bring a comfy blanket with a stroller or wagon where they could fall asleep. I personally would never ever bring any kids under 1 year over there. Hope they could turn down the volume of the background music but maybe it would never gonna happen since psychologically, loud music would potentially encourage ppl to get in and out of the eating place more quickly. All in all, it's a good place for family and friends to get together for birthdays and have fun. This is a very NOISY place so be aware if you prefer quietness. Not ideal for small kiddos. Food is average, nothing special. Service was ok, but since there were so many people and was so crowded, do not expect the servers would treat you like VIP. Prepare to do more legwork by yourself. read more

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Last night was mine and my boyfriends date night we arrived @8:56pm to bowl we were given our shoes the lady at the front didn't welcome us just looked at us in confusion, she didn't say hi how are you or anything i approached her as if i worked there. i asked if someone would be by to serve us she said yes. about 9:15 i noticed no one came by to ask us if we needed water or were going to order food. @9:30 we finished our first round of bowling and still no one had came by. i was furious told my bf told him we needed to leave this isn't how we should be treated, mind you the place wasn't busy and let me just say three other parties showed up to bowl they were served within minutes. i walked past the serve looking very mad and she knew exactly why! poor service and a rude staff we been here before never had a problem but tuesday march 3rd 2026 was not a good night we went to have dinner at a restaurant near by and enjoyed the rest of our night being treated the right way. we are good tippers i even left the bar server $2 bc we asked for water but decided to leave. at the time i didn't ask to speak to a manager bc i would go off on them. i am someone who works in customer service and i would never treat my customers like this any of them! the management obviously doesn't care bc they didn't come by to check on anyone bowling as well. read more

Currently sitting in Main Event and I am completely shocked at the exchange I just had with management. My food was served on top of dirty, crusted tray with a sheet of wax paper to hide the filth. I was sure they must've grabbed the wrong tray to serve my food on, but apparently this is standard procedure. I pointed this out to the manager who said that happens when it goes through the oven, but what I ordered doesn't get out in the oven. Why is my food being served on cookware?? You could feel the dried and charred food and oil on the pan. The manager claimed they couldn't feel anything nor see the food flaking off. Later admitted they did indeed see it, but only after I collected it on my finger. I'm leaving this review not necessarily because I was served food on a filthy tray, but because no one seemed shocked by this. It's either the norm or I'm being gaslit. Either way, food safety and cleanliness doesn't seem to be too high on their priority. read more

Main Event Tempe - Filthy serving tray - Arcades Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

Love the service Mainevsnt is amazing shoutout our server Claire. Very personable and kind. I've been here for many occasions but have yet to have to have the I've had today while staff included. read more

Horrible service completely ignored for 30 minutes. Bar tenders don't seem to know how to make drinks or take orders and manage their time appropriately, manager looks to be a teenager. read more

**Disclaimer: I took the time to use the contact form that was mentioned in response from the business but no one ever contacted me back - this place does not care about its customers** I am writing to share an absolutely horrible experience that my husband and I had the Tempe location. We went in Saturday the 19th to use an unlimited season pass we purchased and have only used 2-3 times before. We arrived before 5pm and we're told there was a 15 minute bowling wait. We gave our name to be placed on the list along with the phone number to notify us when the lane was ready. We then purchased a play card to try and pass the 15 minute wait quicker. During our gameplay one of the machines was broken but had no sign so it took our money anyways. We had to spend time trying to track someone down to get us a credit and notify them of the broken game. The worker seemed annoyed they had to deal with it. They gave a credit for the amount the game took but didn't even place a sign on the machine, they just let people keep using it even though it was just taking their money. After about 40 more minutes passed and we still had not been notified of the lane opening, we went to check and we're told only 4 more people in front of us and told "15 more minutes". We waited another 30+ minutes and still nothing! We stood back in line to inquire about what was going on since we were now well over an hour waiting when we had been told 15 minutes when we arrived. When we got to someone, we were told by that person we were looking at a few hours! What?! A few MORE hours after being told 15 minutes originally and waiting already over an hour? We were obviously not happy and had planned to get dinner after bowling so we're growing hungry. The lady at the desk said if we wanted to go get food we had plenty of time. We ended up going to eat, however, we were NEVER notified that our lane was ready. No text ever came so we ended up going home - it should be noted we never did get a text even after going home. An entire Saturday evening was wasted. Time and Gas to go use a season pass we paid good money for but weren't even able to use. I am beyond upset. I feel scammed. How can you sell unlimited passes but then string people along who come to use them, waste their time and not let them use them. Why were we told over and over extremely different and inaccurate times? The experience felt fraudulent. I still cannot believe that this happened. read more

Main Event Tempe - Bowling scores - Arcades Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

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I had a really fun date at this place! But, I'm only giving it a 3-stars for now, because 1) I really can't say I had the full experience, as my date and I had food & drinks elsewhere 2) I didn't like how they didn't have a package for the arcade & activities, their packages were for 1 or the other (I mean you could've purchased both, but it wouldn't have been discounted for doing so; we choose the arcade option 3) It was kinda expensive, we spent about $85 for the both of us 4) they didn't have Guitar Hero or Rock Band which was a super bummer. But, aside from that, I think this place has 5-star potential! They had a lot of shooting and driving games, which is fun and all. But, I definitely would've enjoyed seeing more games like Connect 4, Jeopardy, The Price is Right, and etc. They had a few Air Hockey boards, but I don't remember seeing any pool or foosball tables. That would've been a nice addition. And, if you're like me, that enjoys playing more interactive games, you can forget about cashing your tokens in to get something cool, because you'll probably be only able to afford candy lol Overall, like I said, my date & I had a really fun time, and we'd definitely return! I for sure wanna try out their food & drinks, and I'd like to try their activities. read more

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Where do I start? My family (all adults) and I try to find somewhere new each month to dine at and for some insane reason, we chose Main Event. We arrived at 11:25am so it wasn't busy and Charise to sit at the bar. The bar tender definitely lacked training, but was very nice. My broth and son each ordered a handheld sandwich and I ordered the kids Mac and cheese as I am vegetarian. After about 20 minutes, the sandwich's arrived. Of course you would think that my Mac and cheese would follow right behind. NOPE!!! SEVENTEEN minutes went by and still nothing. Now, both sandwiches are cold as my family waits to eat until the entire party is served. I finally told the bartender to forget about my meal so that as least my family could eat their now cold sandwiches. I was then told, "don't worry, I'll take it off your bill". I would expect that if I'm not receiving my meal, that it should be removed...DUH!!! So, I had what was in front of my for my meal...a small draft beer. THEN, we had to wait another 10 minutes for a manager to "remove" my meal (that I never received) off my bill. The manager that corrected my bill never even approached us to ask what was wrong. This place is AWFUL!!! We will NEVER return here. Can you even imagine (had I been a child) not bringing a kids meal to the table??? Very, VERY, disappointing experience. read more

Service is horrible . No body cleans this place either. Do not waist your money . We sat forever waiting for service. Missed some of the items in our Oder . Think twice before you spend your money here. read more

Had so much fun here at our team event!!!! Recommend everyone to come here. If you ever want to have any event lease come here!!

Fun place, but got screwed in winnins'. Was playing some ball drop game and suddenly said "Maximum Payout" eventually counting up to 1110 unawarded tickets. A nice guy in the store comped me 400 tickets but wasn't sure what was going on. So I've got like 700 owed. I need my winnins! Gotta get that nerf bazooka. read more

Main Event Tempe - Where's my winnins! - Arcades Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

Main Event in Tempe was a pretty fun area that our group really enjoyed. It's the equivalent of Gameworks or any other arcade gaming area that gives you a card and you get to play any games for an hour. Most of the arcade games were fun, though some of the shooters were off on their aiming to the screen. There's also a large bowling alley that seemed like it could fit a lot of groups of people. There's also a laser tag course you could sign up for as well. As for food, the menu shown at the cashier isn't the full menu that you see online. I recommend getting the Main Event Burger. It was packed full of meat and toppings, very tasty indeed. Beer selection was okay but nothing notable. There aren't any other bars nearby so you can only hang out there. Overall it was a fun place to hang with friends. read more

Main Event Tempe - The MAIN EVENT BURGER. This menu item only shows up online and not on the in-store menu. - Arcades Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

A fun place to get out of the heat. I also love that the bowling doesn't smell like cigarettes smoke. I will go back for bowling again even though it's out of my way! read more

If I could give this place, less stars, I would. The service tonight was unbearably bad. The staffing was horrible, they only had one server tonight in the dining area on a Saturday night. I talked to a bartender who claimed it's been slow all month. Makes sense why they only staff one person in the dining area. Messed up my check and my sister-in-law's check in my Cousin Inlaw's check. I think they count on people just forget it and paying the bill regardless of what they're getting charged for. We did not receive plates, we did not receive silverware, I would not recommend going to the main event if you can avoid it. I will be eating elsewhere next time. I had to go home and get my own plates for god sakes! read more

My my my. The bar, FABULOUS staff and clean bar area. The bowling area, SUPER clean and friendly staff. Now the ticket counter to add funds to your card, ATROCIOUS. I stood there for a good five minutes before the teen employees finished laughing and talking before they acknowledged me. They directed to someone else to assist me. The most disturbing part for me was the restroom. Honestly toilet paper and seat covers all over a couple of the stalls. The water was left running at the sink which looked like it hadn't been cleaned all day. I was so surprised to see how this place has declined considering it was wonderful when they first opened. It's really too bad and easy fixes if someone were paying attention to these things. Not impressed. read more

We came with a group of 20, and got the group promo. Several things were disappointing: 1) the ropes were closed. Only available after 5 pm. Our group was there at 11-3 pm. How is that supposed to benefit us? Why was the ropes in the contract and part of the advertisement and the confirmation email if it is only available for a specific time? 2) when I came up to the counter to ask about this, the man who I presumed was the manager just said it was corporate and he could do nothing about it. I asked several times and he said the same thing. I was growing frustrated, especially sensing how little he seemed to care about making the situation right, especially with a group as large as ours. Finally, I urged him to compensate us in some other way, reminding him of the contract. Thankfully, he did. He added money to our group's arcade cards. 3) the "2 pieces" of pizza that came with our package was abominable. At best it was 1.5 slices of pizza. The servers were bored-looking while serving the kids. There were no napkins in sight. When we asked for napkins, they finally got around to giving us some at the very end of our meal when most had dispersed. And they were wet wipes - that were dry. It was not a good look for Main Event. It showed multiple levels of incompetence in the details. Students had been looking forward to this event, and the service was just not there from the food staff or management. read more

Five stars for the bargain. Everything else is probably closer to a two or three star. Customer service was average at best. Told the gentlemen working in the arcade section that nearly half of the games we paid for were broken or malfunctioning or had some variety of error that made it unplayable. I guess on the plus side he agreed and said, "yep, we're aware"; downside was that was the end of our conversation. read more

If you are hungry, avoid this place. we sat for over 10 minutes and were completely ignored. Not even busy. 5/29/25. 12:50 pm.

Fun place! Not crowded, super friendly staff, easy to make a bowling reservation and easy to change when I showed up late lol. The food was surprisingly good!! The Queso dip was bomb and our group liked the fries and wings as well. Only downside is the bathrooms smelled and looked just about as clean as a gas station bathroom :-| so maybe they were understaffed but I'm glad I only had to make one bathroom break. read more

Main Event Tempe - Cute selection of squishmallows!!!! - Arcades Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

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If I'm paying $80/Hr for lanes I expect some decent service. 25 minutes to see our server the first time and then more than 15 minutes just to get drinks? Beyond that, a lot of the facility seem to be showing some west and not a lot of care... torn and cracked seats, frayed shoes, stained floors. And it was unreasonably warm the whole time we were there, which was compounded by a lack of beverages... Edit: moved from 2 to 1 star because after we finally got our food/drink about 10 minutes later our lane ended and they wouldn't let us extend. Had all of like 10 minutes to actually enjoy our lane and food. Go to AMF. Way cheaper on everything and decent service comparatively (something I didn't think I'd be saying) read more

Main Event Tempe - Cracked seats - Arcades Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

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Just like most of the Country , it's Spring Break and that means No school ! So time to whip up some fun events to keep the blood pumping and good vibes jiving! We decided to kick off with sone bowling at Main Event. To start its a great place for all ages to embark on all kinds of adventures! Bowling , laser tag , arcade games , shuffle board , pool , dining and socializing! The customer service gals were awesome ! Quick , knowledgeable and professional! Our young gal was prompt and delightful to answer our random questions about the different play packages ! The facility is clean , well laid out and spacious enough for any size event! We ordered pizza to fill our belly's and I must say it was yummy! The right amount of sauce , cheese and pepperoni on top a light and fluffy bread! The crust is my weakness!! We definitely enjoyed the silly bantering and the options of mixing up our selfies! Super cool with the self service options on our lane kiosk Including our virtual server ! Thank you Brandon ,our live server , for taking care of us! Just a couple of things that dinged the experience was the warm beer , I actually asked for ice to toss in my beer . Also it was a bit warm inside , I don't recall ever sweating like that bowling or just sitting . Other than that , great place to plan a family , friend or business event! Reasonable prices for hours of fun l! read more

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Where do I begin? 1st off my family and I had the best time which was much needed! I don't always do reviews as much any more but I know I had to for our most recent experience at Main Event! It's summer things are hectic kids are out of school and we needed a day out! We came to Main Event on a whim, I was delighted with the most exceptional customer service by Evelyn, she didn't just say hi how are you help us and leave, she interacted with my kiddos making us feel so welcomed and comfortable the kids where so happy with her kindness and hospitality throughout our entire 3 hour time there! Food and drinks were great as well. The food came out timely and looking very delicious cooked to perfection, and I loved my cocktails they were well balanced and looked like a picture! All that said what's going to keeping me coming back is the ambiance and that Evelyn created. It was unexpected but greatly received. Her service was out of this world! Thank you for creating a wonderful environment and experience for my family! We will definitely be back! read more

Had a terrible experience today. My 3 kids have been looking forward to bowling ALL week. Here we are Friday evening, getting ready to use our family bowling pass that we paid for and have already used once before at this location. The person who greeted us had to get the manager to help us, the manager said we are not allowed to bowl here because we signed up for the Gilbert location. When I signed up it never showed these stipulations, and in the app it didn't specify that it has to be by location either.... Just says there are 1,500 participating locations and we can bowl 2 games per person per day. The manager dismissed us and wouldn't allow us to bowl. I think his name was John. He was rude, and wouldn't let us bowl even though there wasn't even one single person bowling. Onto the next... we won't be coming back to this location. read more

This was my first time at Main Event in Tempe since my birthday in 2015. It still looks the same and offers the same activities, however the food and service has changed dramatically. I hope that they were maybe just having an off day and this was what caused us to experience what we did today. My friend and I showed up for my friends birthday and were not so warmly greeted by the sever who will remain nameless here. We never received silverware and the service was slow and lack luster. Overall we just felt virtually ignored by our server. And we just felt like he never really wanted to serve us or really just be there. Our food took forever to come out and when it did it was not that good. Most of us ended up sending our food back or leaving it on the table. Three of us decided to share the sampler platter, which came with cheese curds, wings, and spinach and artichoke dip. The food was not super warm, but tasted okay. The boneless wings were the best part of the platter. I got the honey sriracha bbq sauce--which had just a hint of spice and was not overly sweet. The cheese curds got super hard once they got cold and were not good. To drink I got the sangria swirl, which was not good and got the long island peach tea instead, which was better, but still just okay. When I asked our server about exchanging it for something else he was not very happy about helping me with this. Overall I would not return to Main Event for the food and the service, but for the games and fun atmosphere. This is still a cool place to play. read more

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This place has a variety of things to do from kids to adults. They had bowling, billiards, laser tag, arcade, and an obstacle course above the arcade. They also have a bar next to a small cafe- we tried the kids meal with chicken strips and fries- with an order of the nachos- it took around several minutes (maybe more?) to come out. But the nachos were amazing!! We went on a Saturday night and my reason for the 3 star is simply that it wasn't well kept, the cafe had trash around and the arcade games had a handful that just didn't work- they didn't have any employees easily accessible that u can complain to about the games- so you kind of just take the loss on that money. If they give a little more love to this place it would be phenomenal. However we still enjoyed the place. Also, just personally I hate how arcades now offer trash toys in the prize section and how many tickets they expect you to have for something even moderately decent. read more

Someone please hand all these 5 stars to Evelyn!! My kids are had the best time bowling and Miss Evelyn walked around that building with the most amazing attitude and the biggest smile. what a joyful experience we had thank you again Miss Evelyn for your kindness and help! read more

Majority of the Arcade Games are broken, don't work, or don't count your tickets. Several machines charged us twice or three times from one swipe. If you are going for the Arcade, it's not worth it. read more

I am not happy with my first time to Main Event... To make it easy I'll list why: 1) The parking lot was dirty and had alcohol bottles. 2) The front desk woman looked like she was annoyed with us, and was singing while we were trying to check in. 3) The bar took too long to even acknowledge us. 4) We paid for a package that was 20$ per person for the arcade games. Was worthless because we only played like 1/4 of the games. Either they were out of order, or didn't work properly. We started to play games but then they wouldn't work. Some games we didn't even want to play because they were dirty. People leaving drinks and open candy wrappers everywhere. 4) The trash in the bathrooms were overloading with paper towels! Overall the building is nice, but they are not taking care of the inside or their customers. Disappointed. I live 3 miles from Main Event but I will be driving the 15 miles to Dave N Busters instead. read more

Main Event Tempe - Empty bottles... - Arcades Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

Amazing service. Kids loved laser tag and playing on arcade games. So much fun for all ages.

We waited in line THREE times to be helped about putting a gift card onto a FUNcard. Each time they sent us away to try a different way to do it that did not work. This took us 45 minutes, as they had one person working the front on a Saturday night. Besides the prices for the games being higher than most arcades, three of the games we tried were broken but still ate our credits. (We played three games before leaving.) In the arcade, I think the music was set way too loud, because it only sounded like a horribly loud screeching sound. Also, I waited at the bar for a beer for a long time, with my ID and card in hand, and finally the bar tender tried to just walk by me, saying, "you all good?" and walking away. Overall, I would not recommend this arcade. read more

Overpriced, but I was expecting that. I wasn't expecting 50% of the arcade games I tried to be broken! They didn't even have signs on the broken games so I had to go up to the counter for a refund every time a game ate my credits without letting me play. read more