While visiting Gainesville, I visited the Arcade Bar. Only a small area was open with the pinball…read moremachines, skee ball, and other games but it was still fun! Drinks are great prices, vibes are fun, staff is fun, and games are at a good price. I went on free skee ball night so that was also a perk to be able to play for free. Definitely a fun spot in downtown Gainesville!

I love the concept of the place! A bar with arcade games! Overall we had a really great time. It…read morewas a free skee ball night when we were there on Sunday which definitely kept us entertained for a bit. I got the Mule which tasted very solid! There was a variety of arcade games ranging from pinball machines to shooting games and racing games. The games seemed reasonably priced and you can get a bag of coins at the bar for $5. The area was pretty small and it could get overwhelming if it was crowded. It seemed as though there was another area that was currently closed, so it might be bigger, but at the current state the arcade area was pretty small.

Awesome old school arcade. Super advanced pinball machines. Huge variety. Great price $25 entrance…read moreand all the games are free play. There are a couple scary 2 player games. Many classics like Centipede, pac-man, Mario, skeeball, basket ball. Can't wait to bring our grown kids next time they are in town. They have a big variety of drinks including beer and wine soft drinks. You can leave and come back if you want. There isn't a lot of parking but owner said the building across 8th Ave is theirs and there are many spaces there.

I went here again when I stayed in Gainesville last month. It's still about 25 dollars during the…read moreweekend, which I believe is pretty reasonable for an arcade. They still have their old school games like Terminator 2, Rampage, and Ski Ball. The condition of the machines varies due to a lot of use and wear/tear, but most machines still work. Since almost all games are on free play, you can play as many times as you want, beat the game, and watch the credits roll. There were newer games too and the condition looked good. It got crowded more during the afternoon with kids playing everywhere. The games that cost money were the ticket games and prize games, and the prizes they had looked really nice. The pinball machines are in the expanded area. While I didn't play any of the pinball games, they all looked in great condition and people were having fun. I was very happy they still had Final Furlong 2, and it was a workout rocking the horse in a jockey position. And they still have the mechanical alligator you can ride at the entrance for free. I didn't try the food or drinks, but there are spaces and booths where you can eat. Parking is free, but it can sometimes be hard to find as the lot is a bit small. While I would love to see more newer and better condition games, this is still a great place to spend 25 dollars for a long weekend fun. Overall: B+

What a great time we had! Mom and I had been planning a trip to Do Art for years. Finally we made…read moreit and we had a great time. This is a great place for artists at any level. My mom is a whiz at drawing and painting and I'm below a novice. Two year olds draw better than I do. There was a lot of pre-made ceramics to choose from; which was a lot of fun to browse through before settling on the right piece. The staff were really helpful. They explained different techniques - 3 coats of paint will give you a more solid color, don't paint light over dark - to help us get started. Our table was well grounded, not wobbly. This is important when you are painting delicate fine lines on your piece. The paint brushes were well used which could make it hard to paint the more delicate things. Lots of paint colors and ceramic pieces to choose from. The pricewas $9 lab fee that includes the cost of paint, firing, brushes, pencils and other goodies. Then you purchase ceramic you are painting. Prices for ceramic pieces cover a wide range. My small candy dish with lid cost $11.50 and mom's vase/paint brush holder was $10. But we had unlimited use of the studio and paints. We had our own table. 5 stars for the studio, very clean and people friendly. 5 stars for variety and price. 4 stars for staff. The more mature staff were always available and walking the floor to make sure everybody was helped and having a good time. At the staff change a younger group of staff came in. While friendly it was a bit harder to figure out who was staff and who wasn't when we checked out. I ended up approaching a nice college aged woman to ask her if she worked there. Her purse was on one of the tables and she was totally engrossed in painting a piece. She did work there and we were able to check out. Our pieces will be ready in a week. 3 stars for not having a better system for tracking ready to pick up items, items that have been fired and ready to go home. No labeling system. Just walk in and say I'm picking up a tea cup and the staff says is this it and you say yea or nay. They might have a pefrect system but I did worry about not getting my mom's vase returned. We will see on Friday. Overall it was a wonderful experience and I had a great time hanging out with my mom and watching her work her amazing artistic magic on that vase.

I love Do Art. I have been coming here since I was a little girl in elementary school (I am now in…read moremy third year of college). The old place was really cool because in the summer they had camps where you could make all your pieces and work on the potters wheels. It was a really good outlet for all of my creative energy, and it still is. I came here tonight with one of my girlfriends, and we had a really nice time just being mellow and painting. The ceramics to choose from was a bit lacking-they did not have what I was looking for, but I settled for a medium size box and a large square serving platter. Unlike their old place, they have a ton of paints and I didn't have to fight with people to get the color I wanted (this actually used to be a huge pain because you'd have to go around to every table to see who had the bottle of paint you were looking for), but now they have three bottles of every color available which is great. The studio is clean and I definitely give them props for their music choice- all the songs reminded me of my middle school days listening to Simple Plan and Bowling for Soup; it was almost nostalgic. The only complaint I really have is that the staff is not very friendly. When I first walked in, an older lady sitting at a table peered at me over her glasses and asked what I needed. My friend walked in after me and had a similar experience. That old lady needs to go or change her attitude. The other woman who came in later was super nice, however. All in all, it was a fun experience and I will be back. I hope next time that there will be more choices of ceramics to pick from!

I would say having this event at Depot Park is definitely an improvement. Although the event space…read moreis a bit more condensed, it's a much nicer space. The food vendor lines are incredibly long so don't come hungry. However, they do have some really good options. If you hit the dominos pizza line just right, you'll get a freshly delivered pizza with a low wait time. The bathroom lines were just as crazy. They do have porta potties that are much faster but if you want a real bathroom, you will need to wait. The shows seemed to be more entertaining than in previous years. All in all, it was a good time. Go into it expecting it to be packed with people and having to wait in lines but you will enjoy yourself. Depot Park is so much better of a venue than previous years and it was free...you can't really beat that.

So we missed a year of the fair because of the pandemic, but it has returned for 2022! With the…read morereturn comes a new location as well, as Alachua County has sold off the old fairgrounds by the airport. The new location off of Archer road near Haile Plantation has some things to be desired, but for a temporary location it wasn't so bad... at least, the fairgrounds themselves weren't that bad. The layout of the fair at the new location is different from the old two-lane model that was used at the airport. Now it is more of a quadrangle approach, with one quad assigned to vendors where you can buy all kinds of really expensive things that are half the price on the Internet, one quad assigned to food, one to the jousting field, and the final one assigned to the living chessboard and SCA fields. This actually presents a problem, because the location is the site of the old YMCA baseball fields, and the fences for the fields are still in place, creating barriers for a number of the areas and preventing the flow of people from one area to another. In addition, no longer is there a draw of people past some of the areas that they would normally have been drawn past in order to get to the jousting fields, which means that the SCA and living chess area had a lower flow of patrons, which is too bad because the living chessboard had its best year ever. Parking was also an issue, as the dirt road leading to the parking was rutted and kind of scary, particularly for those with lowered vehicles. Hopefully your suspensions are in good working order! Traffic to the fair is also an issue, with the line of traffic backing up along Archer Road all the way to the Interstate at a couple points during the day. As it is near Haile Plantation, a number of newer housing developments are in the area as well, and the added traffic was not a welcome thing to people living in the area, as could be witnessed by some signs along the road as you worked your way to the parking lot. It would be very surprising to see the medieval fair occur again at this location. As for the fair itself, it is about the same. Most of the same performers and vendors were there, and the horses did their thing by charging back and forth across the jousting field. Good times for those that want to see a good show and buy some expensive trinkets.

Great local history museum! Free entry and downtown in a very convenient location. Definitely worth…read morestopping by.

We frequently attend the free lectures sponsored by Florida Humanities at the MATHESON. Always…read moreinteresting and sometimes outstanding. Great way to learn about little known aspects of Florida. Parking is limited (my guess is because people park here for other purposes than attending the museum) so I recommend getting there early.

While visiting Gainesville today we stopped by the Harn Museum of Art. This is a FREE admission…read moremuseum which we love. This place is great and they have so many great pieces. Didn't take many photos because I was involved in the moment with my wife and friends and amazed at all the nice art work they have. We stopped and asked the security officer a few questions. One was how long do these art pieces stay out for viewing and also do they transfer them to other museums around the country. He said they rotate out art work about every few years so it keeps things fresh and no they don't transfer pieces. All pieces stay in house. If you are ever in the area you must stop by the Harn Museum of Art! Also next the year Florida Museum of Natural History will reopen after a full renovation and you also must see that!!! Definitely recommend you visit this!

The Harn Museum of Art is one of my favorite places in Gainesville when I want something calming,…read morebeautiful, and grounding. The galleries are thoughtfully curated, the space feels open and inviting, and there's always a good mix of contemporary pieces, cultural exhibits, and rotating collections that keep things interesting. Their Art After Dark events on Thursday nights are such a nice bonus, the museum feels even more alive, and it's a great way to enjoy art in a relaxed, social setting without it feeling overwhelming. Perfect for a solo night, a date, or something different to do after work. I also love the outdoor garden area; it adds to the peaceful vibe and makes the whole experience feel refreshing. I always leave feeling inspired and reset.

SwampCon is a multi-genre convention held in the Spring semester at the Reitz Union at the…read moreUniversity of Florida every year. Looking to do some CosPlay? They have it. Want to do some dragon busting (as my old Navy shipmates used to say) and defeat the evil wizards? Come on in, there will be a room full of players. There really is sort of everything you could want at this smaller convention if you are into geeky or nerdy things. Anime viewings pretty much the entire time, panels on a bunch of different things, and a general coming-together of people from all aspects of life who have similar interests in things that are not so mainstream. The entrance fee is free, they just ask that you register in order to get into the various panel rooms and vendor areas. The registration acts as a way for them to show how many people attend each year so that annual funding of the event can be justified. It was unfortunate that the various food vendors entrenched in the Reitz Union did not take note that SwampCon was going to be happening, as they had decided to keep their normal hours. This meant that half of the food vendors (Papa John's Pizza, the Orange and Brew, etc.) were closed up completely, so the rest had to handle the load. The line for Subway was out the door and across to the elevators, with only one make line open. However, I cannot fault SwampCon for that. That is just piss-poor management on the part of the various store locations that serve food for not scheduling enough people or even opening in the first place. The convention itself is a fun time, and I was there both days, all day long. I caught a panel or two, saw a bunch of cosplay getups, and just generally enjoyed myself. I certainly plan on returning again next year!

SwampCon is an awesome convention and the best part is that it is FREE!…read more Saw a lot of cool cosplay and Doctor Who Musical was cute~~

This is an adorable venue in my opinion. I enjoy being here not just for the purpose in which it…read morewas established but because it's such a dignified space with a lot of character as well.