We went on a week day night so not sure if there is cover on a normal basis. No food that I saw but it's right next door to a Greek and Italian restaurant. We came during a dj set (not sure if that is normal or not) but I loved it. Music was spot on, not edm, or non vocal tracks, but like actual mixes. They were cool with us not buying a drink. We just played a few games after eating dinner and spent about an hour in there. Definitely would recommend. read more

The vibe was a lot of fun. I loved the music and games they had, but what made it great was the wonderful service. My fiancé and I are looking to move to Pensacola and the bartender was super nice and she helped give me ideas on where we should go to truly get to know the area. I definitely recommend this spot. Thank you Avi for the great service! read more

My friends and I stopped by this weekend to grab some drinks and play games. This bar has a fun atmosphere, it is on the smaller side in comparison to some of the other places around downtown. The bartender was very friendly. We enjoyed playing air hockey and skee ball. read more

Play is the local downtown dive bar to be any night of the week. Great service, excellent drinks, top entertainment. The bartender "Kitty Kat" always makes the perfect libations! And the super charged AC is a plus in the warmer months. Favorite games include Terminator and air hockey. read more

Play - Bars Near Me - Pensacola, Florida

See all

Cheap drinks and games! What more could you want! Quite a few of the games were out of service during our visit so I gave them 4 stars.

This places ambience is amazing!! Katrina is the absolute best bartender ever!!! There are so many games and fun events here. I totally recommend for anyone in the pensacola area! read more

Best bar downtown! They have vintage videos games, ski ball, basketball, buck hunter, pinball and air hockey! Also, karaoke on Tuesday and Thursday nights and Sunday during the day! Great prices and fun staff! Definitely recommended! read more

Cute little bar. Had a drag show when we arrived which was nice. Good crowd, arcade games. The drag queen made a loud comment about my gfs breasts when we arrived which sort of embarrassed her and made it difficult for her to enjoy herself. Drag queen could probably stick to saying numbers loudly. read more

Lindsey is fucking amazing!! Made our Sunday funday so fun. Cheap crown and good vibes

We love visiting for the karaoke room with Lyndsay behind the bar! It is the absolute best time, a nice stylish setup and Lyndsay brings great energy! read more

From the description of the place, this is not your typical arcade bar. The moment you enter and walk up the two flights of stairs, get carded, it looked more like you're in a club while having trouble getting around because there's just so many bodies. It was a cramped area with a bar, two different sides with arcade machines that you can barely play and enjoy on. You can already tell that they didn't put much effort on the arcade portion of it. If they made it more of a casual and chill hangout with emphasis on the arcade then it would make this place 10x better. read more

No Packman! No Galaga!!! 3 games were not working or not on at all. Ski ball had a ball stuck in it. Games need to be either fixed or replaced and if there's any games that people don't hardly ever play look into replacing them because that would be just a waste of space in this small place and wouldn't be a good source of income and a waste of power. DRINKS were good!!!! place was clean read more

Play is always a good choice. The bartenders are nice, drinks are fairly cheap, & there is no cover charge. They have different things throughout the week like Drag Bingo & Karaoke! I can get hot in there over the summer but its worth it. Games usually work too! read more

Great place! Great drinks! Great staff! even better PRICES!! It is a cool spot to listen to the DJ throw down some of the best jams. Great time drinking and playing games to be had here! COVID - Some staff in masks. Otherwise no restriction or enforcement. read more

Lyndsay was the best bartender for my friend's birthday party! She was bubbly and sweet the whole time, took pictures of our costumes and made sure to get our best angles, and made a point to get our numbers so she could send them to us the next day. Even did an encore song with the bday girl. Very fun host, 10/10! read more

Friendly and clean bar, great music and live DJ. Lyndsay is always wonderful and super attentive to everyone. Always fun on sundays

Came in on Sunday crown n down. Lindsay was super freaking cool dude! It was pretty busy but she was super fast and attentive to my people and I while keeping a positive attitude and noticeably tending to others! Wish more bartenders in pcola were like this!! Will return! read more

This review will epitomize why one little thing can cause an establishment to earn 1 star despite like everything else being above average. Let's cut to the chase--the bartender (a girl who had two piercings on her bottom lip) gave me some grade-A !@#$% attitude. The bar was not busy. I asked her, "what beers do you have on tap?" She replied with utter disgust and rudeness, "they are over there I don't have time tell you." Wow. She could have just said something like, "I really don't know, let me check." Or something like, "would you mind going over there to look?" Better yet, just have a paper list on the bar. Or maybe even take 2 seconds to learn the tap list--it's not big. Again, this bar was not busy at the time. I don't know what was wrong with her but it made my experience at Play extremely terrible and I will never tell anyone to go here. In fact, don't waste your money here and go elsewhere--I don't want you to face the condescending rude bartender. So, 1 star for sure even though they did have some decent drinks and it's fun to randomly play some games. Albeit, I highly do NOT recommend coming here. Save your money, save yourself. read more

This place was adorable, though the staff thought I was a bit strange for being so excited about being at such an awesome bar. The local's looked super out of place for me, but I must have looked strange to them loved the themed drinks, NES & other games available read more

See all

i frequent play every sunday and have lindsay as my bartender. she makes sure i have a great experience every time. never have to wait on anything from here. very attentive and friendly. gives me a feeling of belonging here instead of just another person in a bar! go lindsay! read more

Most of the games are broken. It's just a bar at this point, and often too crowded to even be enjoyable.

Palafox is a great strip for nightlife and right in the middle of that strip is Play. Play is a place where your inner child can come out while drinking cheap beer on tap or a Jameson on the rocks if that's your calling. Visiting over the holidays, friends and family were raving about Play. I could see why. Faces young and old were crowding the bar and most were playing the arcade games Play had to offer. From PAC-MAN to air hockey, photo-booth to a juke box, you'll certainly find something at Play to entertain you. Cheap beers ( 1$ PBR, yes!) to a local band you can sing along too (They covered Dashboard Confessional..yes I sang along) Play is great for date night, casual hang outs, or however your inner child challenges you. Hey, they even have a Skee Ball League! ( Don't worry, I didn't know the leagues existed either) My advice: Bring quarters. And lots of it. They have a change machine, but on the offhand that machine is out of order (like last night) you'll have a pretty tough time dodging the bar patrons getting change from the friendly bartenders. Overall, you're never too old to play Air hockey, skee ball, or even Nintendo on a beat up couch and the atmosphere of Play proves that. read more

This is a straightforward bar where you know what you're getting when you go in. Arcade games, karaoke, and a high energy bar environment. If you like that concept you will like Play, if that doesn't sound like your style you probably won't. The service is good and they have arcade games, skee ball, pool, and plenty of hangout space. read more

Play is a great place to be a kid again good games and good drinks read more

Play - a man standing in front of a blender and a plate of food - Bars Near Me - Pensacola, Florida

I'd give no stars if I could. Me and my gal pal went here about 8:40 pm on a Saturday, it was pretty loud and yet dead, now I know why. Seemed a bit run down. The drinks were expensive. We ordered tequila sunrises and I swear to goodness it was only juice. No booze, no friendly service. Nothing. We took a few sips and realized it was disgusting and left for hopjacks instead. (That was the bartenders fault, and I understand, however we won't be returning because of that.) read more

This play is in a prime location downtown but it's kind of a dump. We went up two flights of stairs to see some run down old arcade games and a "bartender" who was too busy doing her homework or something to even say a word to us. I got change for a roller played one game of skeeball and got the hell out of there. read more

I went to Pensacola to visit my best friend and went to Play. OMG I love Play! My favorite bar by far! Love the atmosphere. Bar tenders are really nice! and fun games! I live in illinois and I want to go back here! read more

Play - Bars Near Me - Pensacola, Florida

I went downtown with some friends after a graduation. Some of us were going to drink and others not. We decided that Play would be a good place to fit that balance. It has some retro games like pinball, house of the dead, terminator, air hockey, Foosball, basketball, and a few more. The place itself isn't too big, but it's got some cool stuff there. They had a live DJ there when we went too so the music was going the whole time. I'm not a drinker myself, but I enjoyed hanging out with friends and beating them at all the games! read more

Not sure what I was thinking with my earlier review of Play, but it's a great barcade. Complete with karaoke nights, the pool table and a great selection of games. read more

The worst barcade i have ever visited. Just about every game is broken in some way, making them unplayable. The drinks for the money are garbage. Service wasnt bad but they were out of so many drinks that it just made me want to leave sooner. Was visiting from out of town and a friend said we should try this place out - would not recommend it to anyone. read more

This place seemed like a good idea... Dave and busters style. My wife and I had a Groupon here that only got us drinks not any play. It took ten minutes to get service then when we did my wife asked for something fruity and got blue caraco and sweet an sour mix with a splash of vodka for 8 bucks. We had to pay for games that were run of the mill and at least half of them were broken. If it's a barcade you'd expect the games would be their signature. Their signature drink was sub par at most and over priced. Drinks differ from bartender to bartender. Will NEVER recommend to anyone I know. read more

This place is cool if your just bar hopping and want to grab a fast beer and shoot a game of pool. No smoking inside and not much music but its worth a visit! read more

Literally just came in here to get a shot and leave, only one group of people in center bar, one bartender, alked passed me 3 times to grab something, looked at me and walked away, didnt say "be right with you" or anything. Waited a few minutes, no acknowledgment. 9 pm Wednesday. read more

Play is a "barcade" - a bar, meets an arcade. It lives up to the name, and is already becoming the place to see & be see for the under 40 crowd in Pensacola. If you're looking for something to do that doesn't start with Seville or end in Quarter, this is it! read more

Only barcade in pensacola. Happy hour specials and 60 skee ball tickets gets you a free shot. slow earlier in the night, but if you give it a chance, hopefully it will last. GM is super nice and personable. Offers skee ball leagues on mondays. read more

Great location, but not the best place. The majority of the games in this barcade are broken and the drinks are mostly juice/soda. I do enjoy the karaoke nights though, that's about the only thing that's saving this place. The AC never seems to work when I decide to go here and the bar staff aren't really attentive to customers. read more

The best bar in Pensacola. Let the beer flow!!! Had the best time, friendly staff and clean bathrooms. Even the toilet paper was nice. Highly recommend this bar for a night out on the town. read more

Great bartender - Sarah. Not smokey which is a huge plus. Pool tables, skee ball, video games, sports on TVs and interesting mix of music.

The is a really cool hang out with a great location. Bartenders are really cool. They have some awesome old school bar games, video games, and TVs! $1 Draft beer whenever there is a game on. read more

This place is awesome!! Nothing like it in town from what I've seen! The bartender was fantastic. She put up with my indecisiveness and even helped me find a drink I'd like. She was the one with the colored hair!! It was hard to tell what color it was because of the lights. But We chatted about that between customers. I wish I could pull that off. Haha. I will return when I visit next time!! read more