Excellent. Richard and I put 1 Pound into a slot machine and walked out with 42 Pounds! We only…read morespent a total of 2 Pounds in this arcade and so came out really on top. The cashier happily exchanged the multiple Pound coins from the machine into notes for us. We used to criticise British 'Pokie' machines for being tricky and complicated but this was a lovely surprise. There are the usual 10p and 2p push down machines in this arcade but we didn't touch them this time. Staff could have smiled a bit more.

Came from London to play some Laser Tag because it was so much cheaper than any where in London…read more(less than £10 for two 20minute games!). The arena was awesome, spacious and no frills laser tag gaming. Set inside an arcade with bowling, pool and junk food stalls. No illusions about this place, it's full of screaming kids on a weekend but the laser tag was monumentally ace. Well worth the trip if there is a big group of you wanting to save a bit of cash.

Our son is just getting to the point where the indoor soft-play thing is becoming interesting, so…read morewe were keen when we were invited to a friends' second birthday party here at the Big Apple. Our time was only spent in the indoor soft play area, so if you're looking for a review of the lazer tag, bowling, or game arcade, you'll have to wait for some other Yelper to get to the Big Apple. In general, the play area was fun, for him, but there were a number of items that I found less than ideal. 1. Heat! It was so damned hot in the play area, we were all sweating. Now this was a party with 18 families, so it appeared it was nowhere near it's capacity, but still, everyone, without exception, complained about the lack of ventilation. 2. Disrepair. Mostly, things were in pretty good shape, but a number of things were kind of jerry-rigged with zip ties and duct tape. No single thing caused me great concern, but the sheer quantity of places where I saw these things made me wonder if a little more rigorous maintenance wasn't in order. I'm sure the wear and tear on such play things is massive, but for the amount they charge, I expected more quality to be honest. 3. Non-slidey slides. The biggest coolest-looking slide was, in fact, a dud! There's a slide that goes from the upper level of the play area down to the bottom where the parents were generally hanging out. This makes a total descent of some 4-5 meters. How cool is that??? Not much, it turns out. Kids were constantly having to scoot themselves down. One lucky parent was wearing the right fabric to make her slide down well, but everyone else was forced to self-propel. 4. I don't mark down for this, but the food served to the kiddies was the usual breaded-fried-potato-waste-on-a-stick. De regueur for such party places, they won no stars in our book because none of it met our child's dietary requirements (gluten-free). We never expect this, though, and always bring our own. My wife and I found ourselves the inevitable schadenfreude when we realized that our child's meal was way healthier than any of the other children! Looking at the heat, and the disrepair, I can't imagine a full-capacity weekend, where there are wall-to-wall kids.

Fantastic night out! I love bowling, spent many a Sunday bowling my heart out. It boasts 32 lanes…read morewhich enjoyed best on cosmic bowling nights. Amusements, pool tables, food and bar are also to hand. My favourite is popping in during the week for unlimited bowling for about £9!!

This is a huge bowling mecca with a great vibe and friendly staff. The place is clean and the shoes…read moreare all thankfully sprayed with antibacterial spray after use, giving one piece of mind when putting them on. We went as a team building exercise and great fun was had by all. There were no glitches with the machines, as can happen. We also had a meal, which was not bad at all. Two games was more than enough for us all. This is a great place for a family night out and is bound to always have a space open as it really was massive.

The amusement arcade is not a pleasant place, not an whole…read moredays fun in one like the advert says. The majority of the arcade machines go wrong when you put your money in them, the coins go missing or get stuck. Sometimes when you win eg £10.00, it might pay you 9 x £1 coins and 1 x 10p piece (so you are out of pocket) I can only imagine some of the staff who fill the machines mis-fill them. When the machines go wrong it is not easy to get help or assistance being the majority of staff spend most of the time standing outside the pier smoking. There is only 1 change desk open, if they are counting up, they close the desk and you have to go back when they have finished counting. The same desk also takes bookings for the crazy golf so you have to wait quite a while to be seen, so if the machine you are playing as gone wrong you have a long wait for assistance. When you finally see someone they say they will send someone along to fix the machine but you end up waiting ages, no apologies when they finally arrive. (Customer service skills are poor and too be honest always have been) Many of the machines reels are out of line so when you win they don't always payout and if you inform the staff they say the reels are out of synch, so you don't get your wiinnings or all the money you have put in them (not a fair system), only 1 winner them! The Monopoly machines top centre game reels are totally out of synch, so when you get the game you have no idea how much you are winning. The Double Decker party game machine very top centre game reels go wrong so the party ends early. The 2p & 10p pushers have hardly any prizes on them, and I have seen employees move items back that are close to the edge so players have to start from scratch which costs them more money (not fair at all). Many of the machines are dirty. I am not too sure if they ever clean them. Unlike some seaside arcades, the pier charges customers £1.75 to withdraw cash, even though you are spending the money in their business. I am surprised the owners let the staff get away with it, from what I see when on the pier it's the owners son doing the majority of the work. Whilst the staff are standing outside smoking they could be repairing machines or assisting customers and filling up empty change machines which are mostly empty on a daily basis. A lesson for the future, remember it's the customers who are are paying your wages, employees seem to forget that.

I visited the pier while staying in The Carlton nearby.. It has a cafe (The Boardwalk Cafe), a bar…read more(Scruffy Jack's), among other amusement things.. Must visit of you are in Sandown...

At last! A bar for the nerdy!…read more I've been here twice so far, the first was more of a tentative visit (I heard rumours of a place with old school arcade machines and needed to see this for myself) on a beer fuelled Saturday night, it was a full house so I didn't really get to play on any of the machines, but did nod in approval that they did indeed have them. The second time however, I did get to play the machines. Yes, it did mean that I ignored my friends, but the important thing was that I had fun and got to drink beer (Sierra Nevada beer on tap, bravo) whilst playing double dragon and Woo'ing like some kind of man-child. I think it is about time that pubs, bars and clubs around here stopped treating retro cabinets as taboo and applaud Kongs for breaking it, but I will have to deduct points for using emulators (booo). On top of cabinets, Kongs also has a foosball table and ping pong (which you can hire out for about 30 mins). I didn't have food on any of my visits, but the menu boasts a healthy amount of pizza and bar snack food. Basically everything you need for trying to get a high score on Donkey Kong. Feedback? More retro cabinets, less emulators. Would love to see Ms Pacman, Galaga,TMNT Turtles in Time, centipede, punch out, Marvel vs Capcom and metal slug... To name a few. Summary; Kongs is basically the Big Chill with Arcade Cabinets.

Kongs is a new super cool bar on the recently named 'Beermuda Triangle' of King Street…read more While Kongs is similar in way to its neighbours, The Beer Emporium and Small Bar, in that it sells an array of craft and imported beers, the look, feel and playfulness of it really sets it apart. As you walk in, one of the first things you'll notice is an arcade machine table that you can play donkey kong and other classic video games on. And that sets the tone throughout he rest of the bar. They have table tennis, foosball and around 8 other brand new arcade games at the other end of the bar. Now, if someone were to tell me about it, I probably wouldn't be that impressed, because to be honest I'm not a gamer and it all sounds a bit gimmicky - but it really works! The games aren't 'in your face' and there isn't lots of flashing lights everywhere. It's a really nice, stylish bar that has a kind of student union hang out feel to it, but without the students (I've not seen any in the couple of time I've been there, anyway) As I mentioned before, they sell a good amount of craft and imported (mainly European) beers and have a nice looking food menu. I've not eaten here yet but I definitely will be back to sample some of the food soon. I love how the top end of King Street has turned into a beer drinkers heaven, without becoming rowdy and/or busy. And I think it's new name of the 'Beermuda Triangle' sums it up perfectly and it may just be my new favourite part of town. Kongs, with its playful interior is the perfect new addition - kind of like Small Bars younger, naughtier brother.

Recently visited Namco station, before this visit I would have given 3 stars. It was in decline,…read moregetting boring, nothing new, and nothing exciting, it use to be a good place to be silly and have whole hearty fun. I would visit a few times, and the new machines just didn't tempt me. So when I say my most recent Namco station visit came at a surprise, it really did. It had bigger, newer and cooler machines, designed to capture fun for all groups and ages. It almost reminded me back to when I first visited Namco station. I love the giant size connect 4, and the dodging laser beams. Overall I had a great time, something different and best possible way to kill time.

Sorry the picture is a bit dark, the bar is 3 floors underground. To get to it you have to…read morenegotiate the upper floors filled with, slot machines, video games and other games you usually find in one of those places at popular seaside destinations, so you may spend your drinking money before you reach the bar. Has a lift for wheelchair access to all floors but there isn't a ramp to get into the building in the first place, I have asked the staff and security and they don't know of any either. More details to follow as soon as I find my notes. Sells food all day and does kids menu. No real ale. Has a selection of wines. Areas available for hire.

Went the week of June 24. MANY of the games were broken or would eat the coins without giving you a…read morecredit to play the game. Had to call over the employee at least three times (saw others doing the same for other games). For the broken games the employee couldn't fix them (ex. air hockey) the employee couldn't fix them. For the ones gobbling up the coins she either gave me a coin back or put a coin in the machine to see if it would work (one time it did). Not a great experience. Not a lot of good games.

There are two seperated areas - one upstairs with poker games and slot machines and one down stairs…read more(entrance to the left of big open door) with video games and arcade games. They noise downstairs is somewhat disturbing. There are three "dancing games". There is a resting area with tables and people seem to bring their dinner or snack here. Downstairs is one pinball machine and upstairs two. There are changing machines everywhere so no need to empty your piglet.

While down south this weekend, I popped to Portsmouth for the day with my mum and little boy. We…read morewere staying in Southampton and wanted a beach which was easily accessible by car and which would offer plenty of entertainment for a two year old. Clarence Pier did just that. Just a 30 minute drive from the centre of Southampton, the pier was easy to find and offered lots of convenient parking. There were two separate arcades in addition to other rides and attractions. Food options were plentiful and even included a large fruit stall which was lovely to see at the seaside where all food is usually accompanied by at least 10g of fat! The beach here is quite rocky, which is great for someone like me who doesn't like sand. We happened to arrive on a day during which America's Cup was taking place (international boat race) so the beach was pretty busy. However, we never struggled to find somewhere to sit / play / eat. One of the best things about this pier (for a two year old anyway) is that you can watch the Hovercraft take off and arrive from Isle of Wight. You can also catch the hovercraft from here or take a tour of the coast on one of the optional boat tours.

Clarence pier has the usual assortment of amusments and stalls selling postcards and novelty items…read moreas well as a number of almost identical fast food kiosks. Sometimes you can see people fishing by the pier. There is a crazy golf course which for some reason (probably the big skull) reminds me of the goonies. It is a good course as you can choose one of two routes through it. That means if someone in front looks like they will take an age to complete each hole you can easily choose the other route. There is plenty of car parking nearby - all along the seafront, by the pub and some public car parks by the common. You'll probably still be stuck in the Summer though so your best bet might be to park in Old Portsmouth and walk along the seafront from the direction of Gunwharf. There is also a token based funfair next to the pier.

Bowlplex is situated in Basingstoke's large, out of town leisure park alongside the ice-rink and…read morethe swimming pool. It's a large 30 or so lane bowling facility and incredibly popular at peak times. The lanes are well maintained and cleaned with few service issues. There is a limited choice of balls and, at popular times it can be hard to find the balls you want. Ramps are provided for junior bowlers and there's the option of having gutter bumpers up for individual bowlers as required. These come on automatically. The bowling system is computerised and there are limited graphics. I find it disappointing that multiple strikes don't set off a big noise or TV display as with some lanes! Shoes are in OK condition although they're not great. There's a gaming zone (fruit machines, video games, pool and air hockey), cafe and bar facility too. The drinks at the bar are reasonably priced and the food is actually pretty good value with snacks and more substantial meals available (all bar-type food). There's a small dancefloor for weekend evenings and the TVs regularly show main sporting action or pop videos. The toilets are OK but the gents tend to smell! Worth a trip if you're in the area!

I have no real complaints about this place as the staff were very friendly and helpful but the…read moremachines didn't work properly for us, they didn't show our scores when we got a strike which can be a bit irritating when you're trying to win! which I did!