Putt-Putt was one of my favorite places growing up in High Point. This and the Rol-A-Rink across the street (it closed in 2014 after 57 years in service) were *the* places for kids to have birthday parties. As a child, one of my most memorable birthday parties was held here. I'm pretty sure I was in second grade at the time. It doesn't look like this place has changed much since the 80s and 90s. I'm glad to see it's still open. This is a fun place for kids. I was always excited when one of my friends had a birthday party here. It was awesome.
Putt-Putt is a worldwide chain that was founded in Fayetteville, NC in 1954. Some Putt-Putt facilities offer laser tag, bumper cars, climbing walls, and go-karts. This one in High Point is small. It offers only mini golf and arcade games.
At least a couple things typically set Putt-Putt apart from other mini golf facilities: (1) Putt-Putt courses are simple and not gimmicky. It's "pure" mini golf without all the cartoony props and silly decor. No windmills, volcanoes, or pirate ships here. (2) Every hole is a par 2 and every hole can be aced if you know all the right angles and bounces. The mini golf can be just as fun (and competitive) for adults as it is for kids.
Growing up, my favorite thing about Putt-Putt wasn't actually the mini golf, but the arcade games. At birthday parties, we'd have access to unlimited tokens for something like 2 hours (at Putt-Putt, you have to purchase tokens which are then used to play the arcade games). So it was basically arcade free play. As a kid, it was incredible. Almost like a dream come true.
My fondest memory from the arcade here was beating Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the arcade game released in 1989) with one of my best friends. We beat it from start to finish. The funny part was having to take turns running over to the token counter to get more tokens. Yeah, unlimited tokens basically meant unlimited lives. It was great. The hard part was staying alive while the other person went to retrieve more tokens. When we beat the game, we hugged each other and jumped up and down like Rocky and Creed in Rocky III (1982). I think that was the first time I ever felt ecstatic. Haha.
Other arcade games I distinctly remember playing were After Burner (1987), NARC (1988), Out Run (1986), The Simpsons (1991), Street Fighter II (1991), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), WWF WrestleFest (1991), and X-Men (1992). I remember After Burner was expensive to play. It required multiple tokens (4, I believe) per play. It was at this arcade where I first played Street Fighter. I had no idea what I was doing. An older kid, who I played against, chose E. Honda for me and taught me E. Honda's special move, the Hundred Hand Slap. I was amazed. Aside from TMNT, I don't think I beat any other arcade games. My sister liked playing Skee-Ball and earning lots of tickets to redeem for prizes. I just cared about the video games.
Inside, there's a small upstairs area. I remember the NARC machine being up there at one time. The After Burner machine was placed in the corner to the left of the snack and prize counter, next to the stairs. The TMNT machine was front and center as soon as you walked in from the outside and turned right to go into the arcade. Street Fighter II was on the other side of the TMNT cluster. If facing TMNT, The Simpsons and X-Men were against the wall on the right. Good times.
Thank you for the memories, Putt-Putt, and thanks for making my childhood better. I hope Putt-Putt in High Point continues to live on for future generations to enjoy. read more