For almost a year, my youngest son and I would go up just about every week. Well worth the 45 min drive from home! A lot of times my oldest son would come with us. His girlfriend even came with us a few times. We always had a blast. Great place if you're into pinball , and classic arcades. The staff was always very friendly. Look forward to going back when school schedules and sports wind down a bit. read more

With a wall of pinball machines, a special room full of even more spectacular pinball games and so many retro games (with a few newer ones in the mix) how can you go wrong? We could have played here for many more hours! One price gets you all the games you can stand until closing time. There's something for about all ages and skill levels. We loved the selection. They have a party room which would be great for a celebration or event. The menu has a variety of fun ice cream treats. There is a slightly higher fee if you're going to use the special room of pinball machines. It would be very worth it if you were intending to play yourself and not there with a small child. The only bad thing is the "all for one price" deal gives rise to many ADHD players who seem to hop from one game to another without having played for more than a minute or two. Many machines are sitting mid-game from players walking away. Plus there's no thrill of winning the extra ball at pinball or extra player in a game because there's no weight to the loss. The space also fills up so much there's little to no walking room so you have to squeeze between players once there's more than a dozen or two in there. As a tip: a couple of the pinball games were stuck at a selection screen or unable to provide any balls. The power switch tends to be on the bottom, front right side. If you reach under and power off for 10 seconds and back on they all reset and appeared to work perfectly. Our six year old loved it and we plan to be back again soon. read more

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Daughter and I stopped in to check this out a couple weeks ago! Was smaller that I though but we still had a great time. We're not much for video/arcade games but we ended up spending an hour and a half here. Definitely like the one time fee. We will probably be back if we need a lil time to kill. read more

Love old school games? Want to share those with your kids and family? Here is a great little stop to have some fun at. Pay once and play to your hearts content. You might have to pay a little more to get back in the special room with the super awesome pinball machines but I think we lucked out cause we got VIP when we walked in and had reign of these special games. I was in love with the Wizard of Oz pinball and the one right next to me which was ACDC pinball! We had a great time playing games that I never would have put a quarter into otherwise. There are young kids there having fun and you can get milk shakes and some other foods. We really had a lot of fun and got a little competitive. I think if I lived closer I would be there more often. I think ill make the drive out to Grimes more often. read more

Old School Pinball and Arcade - Awesome art on wall - Arcades Near Me - Grimes, Iowa

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This place is AMAZING! Celton (one of the owners) happened to be running the place the night we went in (tonight ) and what a joy he and his girlfriend Tabitha were! First of all he offered us milkshakes as a welcome to Iowa since we just moved here from across the country! Talk about "Iowa Nice"!! The Coffee Malt was delish!! Actually we all enjoyed our milkshakes. We enjoyed our time here so much. Our 8 year old son had so much fun he was(is) humming in the car the whole way home. And we were (are) beaming. It was just the family night out we needed after a very abrupt move from our home state. It's certainly named correctly as it has all the best old school games! Ms. Pacman Tetris Donkey Kong And lots of great pinball machines and more. We had a blast and highly recommend this place to any families looking for a fun night out! read more

The name describes it well. Old school arcade and pinball machines. Fun atmosphere. Great for gatherings or parties too! The old school games were in great shape and working order! Check it out! read more

Old School Pinball and Arcade - Fun at the arcade celebrating special days. - Arcades Near Me - Grimes, Iowa

At the invite of a friend, I finally went to check out this place out on a weeknight when they were doing discounted admission. They have some excellent games here that are all free to play once you pay to get in, and a small room of (at the time) five newer pinball machines that normally cost extra to play. During this night, they were all on free play. I had a great time and consider it money well spent, though, due to the cost, I wouldn't be able to visit as often as I would like. The target audience is more like occasional visitors doing birthday parties and such (i.e., kids and group outings). No booze, but there is a bar next door ;-) Most of the games were in good shape, though some did not have volume. If you normally watch TV or movies with the sound off, this may not bother you, but since the sound and music is such a huge part of the arcade experience, I was a bit disappointed. There was food available from the Mustang Bar and Grill next door (expect to pay around $10 for a burger and fries), and in the arcade was a soda fountain with flavored sodas, phosphates (!) and a huge (HUGE) selection of flavored shakes and malts. They were excellent and priced well. I would definitely stop in just for a shake even if I couldn't spring for arcade admission. This place targets parties and such (like a mini golf place might) and there are times when it is full of young kids making grownups feel kind of creepy if they go alone. But, on the night we were there, only a few other adults were around and it was a blast. The biggest downside is the price. $13 (on weekends) lets you come and go all day and play as much as you want, but for those of us that would rarely play 40 games (that's $5 worth of tokens on 2-for-1 night at Up-Down), the price is a barrier. Likewise is having to pay extra for the newest pinball machines (those new machines can run over $7000 to buy). It should do fine for its target audience (parties and occasional visitors), but I can say if the price were lower (like the $5 admission at Tapcade in Kansas City) I could see visiting here very often. Pricing and machine volume are the only reasons I did not give it five stars. Go check it out! There are some great games here and the shakes are fantastic. read more

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This place is just pure old school awesomeness with some new and fun pinball games thrown in. The owner is super laid back and cool and if you are in the Des Moines area, go check this place out. I was passing thru the Des Moines area the last few days and had a few hours to kill before going to the airport and this place popped up on my Yelp search of cool things to do. My son and I spent about 3 hours and we could have spent more had we had the time. Lots of fun pinball games (my favorite) the VIP room has the newer pinballs including the awesome limited edition Star Trek game. Not only does he have the games, he also provides old school soda bar with malted milk shakes and hand made sodas like raspberry-lime Ricky. We opted for the chocolate malt which was delicious. If you go, when you go... Enjoy the nostalgia and experience. read more

Old School Pinball and Arcade - Limited edition start trek pinball... need I say more? - Arcades Near Me - Grimes, Iowa

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A good mix of old and new machines. Would have liked to see more old video machines. The folks who ran the place were great. They had food there but we didn't have any. Would go again. read more

If you grew up playing in video arcades, you need to go to this place. It brought back a lot of childhood memories. They have many of the classics like Frogger, Joust, and Dig Dug. They also have many of the "newer" classics like Spy Hunter and Operation Wolf. There is two games that I included pictures for because they are really neat. They have multiple games within the one game system. They are the Ms. Pac-Man game and the Ultimate Arcade game. Very Cool!! The price isn't too bad either. It cost $13.50 for entry on Saturday. That is unlimited games for as long as you want to stay. The only disappointment was the Spy Hunter game was missing the machine gun trigger. read more

Old School Pinball and Arcade - Ultimate Arcade game has like 30 different games to choose from. Games like Qix and Ghosts and Goblins. - Arcades Near Me - Grimes, Iowa

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Took the kids here for a birthday party because everyone wanted to do something different other than going bowling, movie, house party, or the norm. At this place all the kids had a blast. I walked in and saw lots of arcades and pinball machines. I believe it was $16 for all you can play and you can buy food there or bring your own. At any case, everyone had a blast. It is mostly for kids, but if you were once a gamer and want to relive some of the past, this place is more than welcoming. read more

Looking for a fun night out, either with children or not? Then you should definitely check out the Old School Pinball and Arcade. As you enter, the first room is set up with tables and chairs and there was a birthday party for an 8yr old that took up most of the room. There was a sign directing you to the back room for admission, so as we walked into that room there was a small bar with stools and people ordering soda fountain drinks. The large room off of these two rooms is where the machines are at and it was pretty busy. As others have mentioned, you can buy a wrist band for the main room machines and play as often as you like and then the pinball machines are pay as you play. My honey and I actually had a good time and after about 10 minutes we didn't feel uncomfortable being there without children of our own. It was good clean fun and we left smiling. We like this location SO much better than the downtown UP DOWN BAR. That location smelled like urine as you go down the dangerously steep stairway at the entrance and then it smelled like vomit on the inside (it was GROSS!). We walked next door and had a mixed drink on the back patio of the Mustang Grill and took some food home to end the night. Exactly what a small town night should be...fun and close to home. What are you waiting for? Get goin. read more

This place is hidden in the city of Grimes. We happen to looked at this place on one boring rainy/snowy weekend. Spring is upon us and any plan outdoor got cancelled so we decided to just look for something indoor. My daughter often get bored with those indoor playground and since she loved videos games that settle it then. It was a good 20 mins drive from where we live but it was worth it. It's in one of the developing cities in Des Moines Metropolitan and I didn't think they'll have such kind of entertainment. There might be some similar type of places like this but may not be too kid friendly. Anyway, drove freaking miles to get here and that day it was a little busy. This place also holds birthday party for kids which is awesome! If it's not your birthday or someone you know, it won't be perfect timing if you don't like crowd. It's only $10 for unlimited playtimeon weekend and $8 on weekdays. The place is small, for kids that should be enough space to rub elbows with but not much for adults. Me and my husband found ourselves playing too obviously. They have a good amazing collection of arcade including the classic ones and the news ones too. Seeing the new Wizard of Oz pinball was not too shabby. They have the old ones like Burger Time, Galaga (my fave), Pacman, Donkey Kong, Atari, some Madden stuff (don't care), the triple jump game I forgot what its called, Double dragon and a lot lot more. They have a whole row of pinball as well such as Family guy, the Monopoloy, Haunted House, X-files, Kiss, the new Wizard of Oz. My fave pinball probably was the RollerCoaster tycoon just because it has a naked 90's troll in it. Love that troll! They also have a virtual pinball that we've been wanting to make on our own but didn't have the same effect as the regular pinball. It's just hard to play in such a small area. There's not enough space in between each arcade. Good thing I was carrying a cross body bag coz I wouldn't have a place to put it on. They also offer some snacks and milkshake too for kids and also for adults. They have a one restroom as far as I know and if you have ton of kids gathered in one place, probably best to have a back-up you know. They have one restroom and yet not clean. Having at least one clean bathroom will be nice, especially if it's not a bar. Can't say much for the staff since they barely interact with the customers just because how the place is set-up. Since my daughter's birthday coming up, I sent them an email about their birthday package. I got a response within 12hrs. It will be roughly around $150 for private 2 hour party, though I am not sure if this actually include a drinks with a limit of 20 kids/adult. I was informed that you can still bring your own or have someone deliver food there. They also have the option to just pay per kid that will be going to the party but won't be a private event. We're still thinking about it though since it's a little to far from where we live. This is really a fun place. I love seeing kids enjoying the retro game that's was made almost 30 years ago or more. Hopefully this place will expand in some popular areas of Des Moines, if not then we don't mind the drive. read more

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Review left on https://www.facebook.com/oldschoolpinball/ in 2015 We were from out of town and got rained out of a Sunday Iowa Cubs game. Googling places to go in Des Moines and found Old School Pinball and Arcade. Owner gave my nephew and I a tour. We indulged on video game and pinball goodness for three hours before we had to go back home. We're planning a trip back in couple of weeks, hopefully we won't get rained out of the game this time but we'll be there the whole day Sunday. ... We did go back in August and stayed the whole day Sunday. I'm doing a spring and late summer Cubs/Arcade trip this year. They have Toobin' for crying out loud, they have all the classics but Toobin' is what I would play at the rollar rink when I was a kid. Never saw it in any other location. I never had enough quarters to put a dent in the game. I just about cried when I saw it. Great place, one fee (an inexpensive fee at that) and everything is on free play. Don't like how you played your first ball? Drop the next two and start your game over. Nobody does that when they're playing on quarters. Keep dying, that's cool, continuing doesn't cost an extra penny. The owner makes a big deal out of his shakes, he's not wrong. They've provided me with great service twice now and I don't expect that to change with my next two trips this year. read more

I have been here twice and so many of the games were broken or the controllers didn't work that it was a bit of a letdown.

A really great arcade with a terrific collection of mostly classic games along with some very good pinball games. The admission price is a nice value covering all the games which are ready for free play (except for a small room with the most high end pinball machines). It's best visited just on occasions when you have at least a couple of hours to spend. Aside from that concern, Old School Pinball and Arcade is highly recommended. read more

I LOVE THIS PLACE!! I am an 80's kid (still am at heart!), it was so reminiscent of the old Fun Factory, a dark arcade where you can just lose yourself for a couple hours! The best part about this place is instead of having to move your stack of quarters from game to game, you pay once and get to enjoy all the games! My husband and I enjoyed a break in our busy schedule here and will definitely be back!! They make a WONDERFUL Cherry Milkshake which just topped it off, made you feel like the cares of the world just melted away for a bit! read more

This place is fantastic. I came here late on a Friday night with a group of friends not really knowing what to expect. However, we were greeted by a kind, welcoming staff who went above and beyond typical small-town customer service to make our evening one of kind. While other arcades gloat in the radiance of modern generation games and expensive cost of play, this place prides itself with an extensive collection of classics and an atmosphere dedicated to the true love of arcade gaming. I saw another post commenting on the cover charge and sound systems of the games. Sure it was $13.50, but that's for UNLIMITED gaming! For the amount of games I played, the pricing was more than generous and the quality of the systems (functionality of the equipment, sound, lighting, etc.) I don't know what others experienced, but the sound was phenomenal on all the games especially the recently vamped pinball machines! In conclusion, this is the place to come to surround yourself with others who love arcade gaming. The management was great, games were amazing, and pricing was very reasonable. I highly recommend this place. P.S. The shakes are heavenly. If you go, you have to try one. read more

This place is a gem hidden in an old post office. The atmosphere is like the arcades that I played in when I was a kid... Only better and way less smelly! The owner was very approachable and passionate about video games. His passion and knowledge of pinball is amazing. Old school also offers ice cream with syrup, made the way it was a long time ago! The VIP room has two of the coolest pinball machines I have EVER played! read more

My wife and I went out to Grimes last night to check the place out. I drove past it several times before I found it, (209 SE Main) but once we did we had a GREAT time. Jason, the owner, was very nice and gracious. The place is so wonderful! I found two huge differences between this and other wanna be arcade locations. One, they don't serve liquor and Two, the machines all work-perfectly. I could have cross the street for a beer, but I never felt like leaving. The Premium pinball machines in the back, are the coolest pinballs I have ever seen. Easily! These machines have sound and lighting effects that are unlike any machines i've ever played. This joint is very cool, we had a wonderful date night there, and we will go back soon. read more