Place is so much fun but expensive. Would be a lot better if the staff was not so rude and did not hate their job so much

We went to main event in Tempe for granddaughters birthday party. It turned into a horrible experience very similar the what other reviewers have said. Terrible service, incompetent staff. Manager named Mike and others who are aggressive and confrontational beyond any reasonably accepted standards for a family establishment. There are serious problems at the establishment we will never go there again. Neither should you if you value the safety and welling of your family! read more

This place is fun for the whole family. The only thing is some of the employees don't seem to know a lot about the place. But I'll give them the benefit of the doubt they probably get a lot of new employees. Other than that it's a good place to go. read more

We held my daughter's 6th birthday party here this past weekend, and I'm so happy that we did. The staff from Main Event did everything possible to make the party a smashing success. All of the families had a great time, and it was all so organized and well done. I would highly recommend having your child's birthday party here if you're looking for someone else to take care of all the details so you can just sit back and enjoy. read more

Was here for a group holiday party, the food was good and it was a lot of fun. Lots of different things to do. Gets pretty pricey to play games most are over $1 each time you play. read more

Hi. I sent Steven an email but received no response. Should I expect a message back? Does he still work there?

Went here for a work Christmas party. This place is insane. Everything you could ever want. I was so surprised when I walked in and saw the place. Talk about WOW factor. I would normally never go to a place like this. I'm not a big "entertainment center" type person. This place it's definitely a place I would go back to. read more

Updated: I am very impressed with how quickly this was responded to. I am still at the location and the district manager called me to apologize and the manager promptly came over with a $20 video game card for each of my kids. The response from the district manager was understanding and swift and my kids are grateful for the extra video game time. I updated my rating from 2 stars to 4 stars and we will likely be back in the future. The winter funpass is a good deal for cabin feverish kids, however the staff and management are rude and inattentive. I brought my kids here to beat the winter blues and get some work done. I got the kids the winter funpass and sat at a table in their restaurant area. The staff never came over, regardless of walking by several times. On each table there was an ad for "Buy a $25 gift card, get a $10 bonus card." When I asked about this, I was told the ad expired yesterday (there was no expiration on the ad) and that they would not honor it. The manager stated that they were in the process of removing them, but had only gotten to the sign on the front of the building. The ad was on every table with no expiration, however he was unwilling to honor. I am not one to complain, but any other establishment would have honored their posted promotions. It will be awhile before I come back, if ever. For the money, Dave and Busters or Ultrastar are much better options. read more

Absolutely no organization! Came here to celebrate a friends birthday and was immensely disappointed when people from our group were left out during a game of laser tag, because they let in too many people in that round. The young lady in charge of the game that evening was rude and not in any way helpful. They got 2 stars because of great bartender who was courteous and kept tabs on us throughout the night. Overall i would say it's a really great idea of a place but it needs some staff training asap! read more

We went here yesterday for the first, and last time. The customer service is absolutely inexcusable. When you first walk in there's a kind gentleman to greet you and that's where the courtesy ends. I have never seen such a disinterested staff. It was as if they were all there against their will. They were poorly trained, they had no customer service skills, and they all just.. Sucked. But that is what confuses me. How can every single one of them be so horrible? Is it the training, the manager, the person who hires them? Looking back, I think maybe it is just the fact that this place is so poorly organized and they feel the stress of the confusion just as we customers did. You see, first we went to one counter to buy a pass. Then we took that over to an intriguing looking rope course. We get in line for the ropes course and when we get to the front the kid working tells us that we first have to check in at the counter in the room where the kids redeem their prize tickets. So after we waited 20 minutes for all these kids to decide what they wanted to get with their tickets, it's finally our turn to say hey we bought this pass and we're going to go on this ride now is that okay with you? And the girl says sure I can get you on in about 40 minutes. What the hell? There was no one on the course. You buy these passes in blocks of time so if there's a 40 minute wait, I'm only gonna get on once anyway. Side note re: paying in blocks of time- prepay for 3 hours, 5 hours, I'll do that, but to just say you can only pay for up until 4:00 and yet charge me the full price when I come in at 3:00, makes your already high prices highway robbery. Video games look great, they really do they have some brand new state-of-the-art fun looking game but here's the kicker- one game costs $1.63 to play. Another is $1.88. Why not make them one price? And why so expensive??? It was infuriating. I don't know how the food was because my drink was $3.19 and I was done giving them my money. Overall, the rope course looked kind of neat but this place had not one other redeeming quality and I see no reason to return. read more

This time at main event was so much better then my last experience. I am hoping next time will be the same and I can move my stars up. I like enjoying a meal while we bowl and relax. But an hour is very short. We got the wristbands which was nice but my issue is that you still only get an hour and then you get put back on the wait list. Tonight our server was awesome and asked the manager if we could have another hour because we just got our food. Because the wait wasn't long they said okay. Thank you for that. I just feel that we were spending money by ordering drinks and food that if we are still bowling it should be okay to stay. Two hours to bowl seems more then enough time so I think they should change it and if they do I will move my stars to 5. We also did laser tag and the rope climbing thing and that was lots of fun. So overall we still felt like we got our money's worth for buying the wristbands. It was a nice family fun day for us. read more

This place has some potential but has a lot of kinks to work out in order to avoid frustrating the customers. Pros: The bowling lanes are very cool! They take photos of the bowlers and put them alongside your name on the screen that shows the scores. And they superimpose the faces from your team onto various cartoons during the game. My kids thought this was HILARIOUS. My kids also loved the interactive video playing on the floor outside the bowling area. I watched jumping on pretend bugs, toppling pretend bowling pins, etc for a long time. They all seemed to love it. Cons: I was able to watch the interactive video area because I waited nearly an HOUR to be helped at the dining table in the bowling area. I think I would *still* be there if I hadn't sought out a server myself. And there was a cluster of people near the entrance to the bowling area, which was annoying and made it hard to get in and out. I don't know if they were waiting for a lane, or just socializing there bc they had friends playing in the nearby lane, or what?? But the staff should have relocated them and cleared the flow of people in that area. Also the process of buying a ticket for the gravity ropes course was very confusing. We waited in one line, then were told to move to the other line, which meant we had to go to the back of that line and start the wait all over. The bottleneck also blocked the entrance to the shop. Let people buy laser tag & ropes course tickets at the kiosks instead! And make sure the staff doesn't ignore people waiting to be served. Also the nachos were terrible. They were served without salsa (?) and so once you got the few toppings off the top layer, you were left with a stack of chips and nothing to eat them with. The pizza was very good. read more

I have had horrible service from this place. From the bar not knowing how to answer questions about the gluten free alcohol they have. To just the bartender being extremely rude and by passing you when there is no other ppl at the bar to order. Then when you finally get the chance to order they are rushing you when you ask them about their special drinks. They need to hire personable ppl. That's why it's called customer service read more

$1.65 for games? Change it to credits like Dave n busters so I don't feel like I'm getting ripped off. The food is descent but the service is horrible. If there are a lot of people sitting at the bar or the tables they should have some type of system for anyone to notice us. I waited 15-20 minutes to ask someone to take our order. Bowling is only rented $36 for the hour not per game-RIPOFF-. Expect to spend the whole day if you want to try laser tag or anti gravity walk- there's always a waiting list for 2-3 hours later. The only competition is Dave N Busters and Main Event does not compare especially if you have a children's party like I did. My host was excellent but I had only one host getting drinks for 13 kids and 10 adults and it was hard getting refills. I know I will never host a party there again. This place is good if you're by yourself and just want to get a beer. read more

If you're Black or Hispanic don't expect to run a tab. You will have to pay as you go or pay upfront. I wish I would have read the reviews before I wasted my time coming here. The server we had was rude and a liar. The manager wasnt any better. I will never come here again. read more

The service, food, and drinks were great! Good place for a large group get together. Bowling lanes needed some work, not for bowlers who spin the ball. But good place to hang! read more

Kids had fun with laser tag. Paid $122 for unlimited for 6 of us. They shut off bowling mid game and told us we only had an hour of bowling. So we didn't want to pay for more time. We questioned the front desk on time limit and she said they shouldn't have done that. She got a manager to give us a partial refund. He said he'd have to take my wrist band (but since we weren't done our time doing other things) I suggested a discount on gaming cards. The manager said corporate wouldn't allow him to give us free stuff for no reason. Apparently there was no reason for what happened to us. Then he said he was confused as to what I wanted. I spent $70 in food also. You would've thought they'd make it right. Not ok to take advantage of families. read more

Went out with the family and had a horrible experience! We were bowling and ordered food and were asked to pay for the food before it was brought out. The server said he wanted to make sure we paid!!!! Makes me Wonder if it was because we were Hispanic. I told the manager on duty and his response we do it at bars all the time even though we were bowling and we ordered sodas, pizza and wings! read more

I think the Main Event has a lot of potential. It just recently opened so I didn't expect it to be crazy packed, but there was a decent amount of people there. I love the bowling here! It has a classy Lucky Strike kind of feel with a full menu and bar. The system allows you to take a selfie for your name and score and its very interactive giving interesting player stats throughout the game. Our server was incredibly nice and friendly, apparently she had been working a double shift, but she was so upbeat- you would never be able to tell. We ordered the chicken quesadilla, 2 orderes of garlic fries and onion rings. It was all yummy. The onion rings were more like onion straws - which I prefer and the fries had just the right amount of garlic. We each paid for the all you can play bowling, laser tag, climbing etc wristband which was around $17 and worth it. I was dying laughing from playing laser tag with my friends and a bunch of strangers. I found out later that all of my team was hiding out upstairs, which explains why I was getting crazy shot up by the other team downstairs. They have an interesting harness system that allows you to do tightrope walking and other crazy obstacles over the arcade. The arcade could definitely use more games and I didn;t get to play billiards but I will try next time! Overall, it was a fun night! I hope this place can compete with Dave and Buster's, I would say it's location is limiting since it randomly placed next to the IKEA deep in Tempe. read more

Main Event Tempe - Arcades Near Me - Tempe, Arizona

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3 Stars! Yep, that's it. It averages out, well...on the lower side when I round down, and here's why: - The atmosphere is a 5. It has a nice setup and it's still fairly clean (most places tend to become filthy after they've been open a few months). - The life-size games (Connect Four, Ms. Pac-Man) are an easy 5. Old school games bring back childhood memories, and adult for that matter. - Laser Tag is a 2 at best. Give me something to REALLY do while I'm running around a dark room. I think they could've done better here. Wow! - The food...ehh..I'll give it a solid 3, it's nothing to brag about. - Drinks...must I go there? Holy cow! I'm only giving it a 2 due to my Stella Artois on tap! I just had the same rita made 3 times due to the sweet n sour, or lack there of. It's siphoned through the soda machine spray, so you KNOW what that means. Yes! It's watered down with that good ole Arizona non-filtered tap water! WTF?! First two were crystal clear, almost like water. I had to ask was there any Grand Marnier in the darn thing. It was watery, so she took it back. Next one was even worse. Third one, absolutely awful. Shoulda got a Stella Artois on tap to begin with! Man! read more

I was hesitant after reading the negative reviews, but my teenage son wanted his bday party here so I did it anyway. I am so glad I did! I had to make a couple changes to my initial reservation and each time I called, it was absolutely no problem at all. Even though I was afraid my requests for change would be seen as a major hassle, I was never made to feel that way. Each of the sales staff I spoke with were very accomadating and courteous. Any other kids party I've had, I've always been the planner, chef, host, etc.... I think the best part of having it here was someone else took over all that and for the first time ever I was actually able to enjoy my child's birthday celebration instead of worrying about food, schedules, activities, refills, etc! I was an active participant in the fun instead of a frazzled parent! Everybody I came in contact with from initial reservations to the very end were so friendly and helpful. Our 2 young party hosts were on the ball with bowling shoes, drinks and keeping all of us on schedule and busy. Most importantly, my son and his friends who attended had a great time and that's all that matters to me! I would definitely go back again! read more

Monday they offer unlimited games OR activities for $10.95. Only thing is they don't tell you games do not include any that give you prizes. Half the video games my kids wanted to play gave out prizes or tickets. So I ended up spending extra cash anyway. Was not greeted by any servers the first hour I came in. Took myself to the bar to order and even then it was hard to get the bartenders attention. A server did come in for her shift later and she immediately greeted me so I did appreciate her hospitality. Still beats Dave and busters prices even though Dave and busters has more games. Food was ok. Both the Burgers and side of fries are very small. read more

I've been here a few times but tonight was the best! Wes at the bar was super attentive and made my crazy ultra Bloody Mary mix olive drink perfectly. We bowled and Leah was our waitress. Talk about excellent customer service!! I work in customer service and I would hire her in a second. Thank you Wes, Leah, and Chanel for your exceptional customer service. You guys rock and make us want to come back for our company team builders!!! read more

Horrible service, we had to stand in line for 10 minutes and there were at least 5 other staff just cleaning shoes. We got food, but never got anyone to come to us. We had to order from the bar, and when we got the food it was cold and horrible. Wouldn't ever go back. Staff wasn't even nice. read more

Two dollar signs is right, it will cost you about $25 per person for video games and attractions. One "ride" is $9 so might as well buy unlimited pass. Kid heaven! Lots of cool arcade games, bowling, the lazer tag is 2 stories tall, and the Gravity ropes are fun too. Kids can get their energy out rather than passively sitting on a ride like at Amazing Jakes or Golfland. The place is also super clean and new looking. You can either sit down and order from a server or visit la bella's Pizza cafe inside. Good place to spend the day! read more

We decided to take my son who turned 11 here because he wanted to play Laser Tag. We did a Labor Day Weekend deal where you pay 15.95 for unlimited laser tag, bowling, and gravity rope. Mind you on top of the fee for the pass you have to pay about 3.00 to rent shoes for bowling, they do provide complimentary socks if you forgot to bring a pair. Laser Tag- It was two stories and pretty decent to play for 15 minutes. The kids seemed to enjoy it and the adults. Bowling- This had to been my most favorite experience. They have a electronic guards that come up for whichever player you select it for. So for the kids we had them put up and for the adults we did not. This made it convenient for us all to bowl how we liked. Another cool concept was you take three photos and it will appear on the point screen and do little cool animations of your face doing something fun. Gravity Rope- Very similar to whats at Castle and Coaster if you have been there. Now for the most terrible part of our trip and reason for the low score. The food was really good once we got our food and order correct. Granted we did have a large party but I never been to a restaurant and been served so poorly even with a large group. We ordered The Works and they continued to mess our order up. Once they got the toppings correct they still had the size wrong but after waiting over an hour to get my food I did not care I was so hungry. Once the waitress brought the correct pizza she said with a sassy attitude, "Heres The Works with NO MEATBALLS AND NO OLIVES." Then goes to slam down our pizza like we were the worst customers. My fiancee asked for the manager twice and at the end when we were leaving he offered us play cards but we were leaving why would we want to stay after all we went through. They also charge you up front for the food before getting it. I think they do that so once you pay they can treat you like dirt. I never been treated so poorly at an establishment before. read more

They kicked out Bride & Groom from laser tag after they'd reserved for their party far in advance. Turns out another party booked later, then showed up w/too many people, grabbed all the laser vests and the staff's solution was to turn a portion of the bridal party away, including bride and groom. read more

I had the most amazing time celebrating my 22nd birthday with my family and friends. We were a group of 11 and all got the championship package. We did the gravity ropes, laser tag, bowling and arcade games. Then we also had an hour to eat and I want to recognize Hector for his amazing service! I've never been so pleased with our server as much as I was with him. He took care of our entire group and made sure we all left happy. This has been the best birthday I've had by far and I know my entire group loved being there as well. We will all be recommending this place to our friends for the near future. Thank you also to Spencer for taking care of any needs/questions we had once we were there! Over such a great experience and I can't wait to come back for another event. Thank you so much hector for making this night memorable, fun, and easy going for all of us! read more

This is not the place to go if you're a serious bowler. The lanes are not well-oiled, so your carefully-aimed ball won't go exactly where you want it to. Otherwise, a fun place. The laser tag is fun, and we enjoyed shooting pool. It was our first time here, and I think we'll go back. read more

The ONLY reason for the four stars was the laser tag. It was $8 for each 15 minute slot.. But worth it. There was maybe a 30 minute wait.. Which was not a problem because we were playing the arcade games. The unlimited card for arcade games was $9.25. With that.. There are some additional rules. You can't play certain games and you also can't receive any tickets. That was a little disappointing, but I was informed before buying it. I would probably come back just for the laser tag. Arcade part wasn't that impressive. read more

Went in with my family who were here from out of town Friday night. We wanted to do something fun and decided to try here for the first time. At first our visit was rocky as we were lost at what to do and kept getting sent back and forth but Stephanie (I think that was her name) really turned out night around! She got us a bowling lane quickly and helped clear everything up. Then our bowling lane broke and we got delayed but the manager (I think) gave all 6 of us a game card for an hour and a half of free play. All in all we had a really good night minus the few set backs. Highly recommended doing laser tag! read more

My sweet pea has been wanting to go for a while now so we met Sarah H and Dan H here last night for some fun. I got my sweet pea the $10 bracelet for attractions and the $20 game card for $10. We had a lot of fun playing laser tag and walking on the Sky Trail. My sweet pea even "won" a watch and two necklaces with the grabby hand game! My only complaints would be that the happy hour isn't happy at all, just a couple if drinks and no food specials and the bowling filled up with leagues and there was a long wait list so we couldn't bowl and the attractions bracelet included it so I kind of felt like we couldn't do something we paid for. All in all, pretty good though and we will be back. read more

Been here a few times and its honestly just an OK place to visit every once in a while. Don't like the fact that adults and children are mixed. Trying to walk around and play games at the arcade while trying to juggle a beer and trying to avoid all the kids running around on the weekends is a pain. Also the waiting times for bowling on the weekends can get pretty crazy. There's better places for people trying to just shoot pool, or drink and play games, or to bowl at. The gravity ropes are pretty fun though and they do have a nice selection of arcade games, if I was to come back I would just come during the week to try to avoid the big crowds/wait times that come with the weekends. read more

Very expensive on Saturdays. $8 per half hour for pool. $34 for bowling, $4 for each shoe, arcade games are from $1 and up. It was shiny but for the price we can get this stuff elsewhere. read more

We called ahead to see if we could reserve a spot for a party of 9 and we were told there were no reservations so ok fine. We arrived and pay $20 for 3 people and shoe rentals for bowling which was still all good and we were told that bowling was a 1.5 hr wait but thinking we could the gravity ropes and laser tag but everything was a 30/45 min wait but by the time it was your turn for everything else, your lane was open to bowl. So the only thing we could do was play the arcade games which were $1-$2 per game & anyone with kids knows that can get pricey. In the end it was far to much money to get nothing. We got a refund and left - poor flow and needs to be worked out. read more

Came here with my 3 friends to bowl and eat. We sat down to eat while we waited for our lane what he was about 30 minutes. We wanted to get food before we played. The waitress was slow as hell and she failed to ask ME for my order while asking everyone else. It took her 25 min to come back with my friends 2 drinks. The buzzer went off for the lane in 30 min. She then took another 20 to bring us our app. That my friend ordered. The service we got was shitty as hell. Myra was her name I think. read more

Took my 14 year old daughter and several of her friends (both boys and girls) for her birthday. We bought a birthday package that included and hour of bowling, a game of laser tag and a $10 game card. It also included a personal meal for each person (pizza, chicken fingers or sliders and a drink) We also ended up adding on an extra game of laser tag for everyone and the rope course. The extra game of laser tag and the rope course were $8 each per person. We were met at the door by our party coordinator, Dana, who was as nice and helpful as could be. She took the kids shoe sizes and food orders, took them to get bowling shoes and then took them to the lanes. They ate while they bowled. They were then taken over to the laser tag and I think this was their favorite activity. There are two levels, lots of places to hide and a couple different game modes to choose from. They then went to the rope course which was challenging but doable. Dana then took the kids back to a table for cake - they provide the plates, napkins, serving utensils and candles. The kids were then let loose to play in the arcade. My impressions: The place is very loud and pretty large. Our party started at 4pm which was perfect. By the time the party was over at 6:30, it was starting to get very busy with lots of older teens and young adults. The kids said the food was good - not spectacular but, good. The party package was reasonable and it was nice to have a party planner with us. My only issue is that they have a 10 person minimum. That means 5 people per lane of bowling. You don't get much bowling in with that number of people. Also, as kids get older, their circle of friends gets smaller so I think a better minimum would be 8. We actually had 2 people cancel at the last minute and we still had to pay for 10 regardless. I think 8 people would be much more reasonable. Both the boys and the girls said they had an absolute blast. I think this is a place were young kids, teens and adults would have a great time. But, I also think our experience was made better by have a planned party with everything organized so there was no waiting - everything was already scheduled which definitely helped. read more

This place is extremely overpriced and their staff members are not trained well. I can't say I was given misinformation because that's not accurate. I was lied to is a more fitting statement. My family went here for my daughter's birthday, and purchased the daily pass bands to have unlimited access to all the events. I confirmed again and again with different people in the front that there haven't been any changes due to COVID and we would be able to enjoy the laser tag and gravity ropes. They assured us again and again. So we started off with bowling, then the arcades, then attempted the gravity ropes and were told that it's been pre-booked for the whole day!! What? Ok, what about the laser tag? Reserved for the whole day. Wait, what?! So you conned me into getting the wrist bands and we can't do anything but bowl and arcades. 2 days later, I see multiple charges on my credit card, after speaking to Lucy and Leah, those charges are for the bowling lanes!! What's the point of buying the wrist bands when I'm being charged for everything again?! So I reach out to speak with the manager Michael, who refuses to speak to me on the phone himself but is passing his messages to the front to inform me that he can refund one of my bowling lane charge. Not for families, and only about profit. Never again. read more

Called to see how long the wait was to bowl and was told 1 hour. Drove ten minutes to main event then when I arrived it was a 2 hour wait. This place lies to get people in the door. A bunch of teenagers working here with horrible customer service. read more

loved coming here! I didn't do the bowling though. Everything else was great. People at the front desk, laser tag, gravity ropes, and bar were super nice and helpful! Definitely will come back. Laser tag was the best :) read more