The owners are friendly, and they did an excellent job of making the place adult and kid friendly…read morefilled w/ different retro and modern gaming experiences/styles. I highly encourage everyone to visit this place for a great gaming experience.

I don't recommend this place simply because it didn't feel as inviting and welcoming as any other…read moreplace in America. It's not open to the public (as in you are not allowed to go in unless you pay). The owners guard the entrance/near the front door inside and you can't really walk in and go around to check out the games first unless you pay. It was just about a few feet is what we were able to look at inside and only up to the parking lot is all we were able to see. As you walk in, you'll be standing at the front while they stare at you. The owner just stared and made a comment "It looks like you've never been here" No S lady. It was our first time, recommended by the McDonald's Museum across the street. She stated what their rates were. The owner did offer to have her husband escort us to walk around if we wanted to look at the place. Although we may have looked young, we're not little kids. We didn't feel like being chaperoned by an adult. We're 4 decades old. If the whole place runs by itself without the need of physical money, how would they even know who's playing the 30min package or the 1hr? If they use a prepaid players digital card, then a chaperone wouldn't be needed if we can't play the games anyway. We don't know anyone there or wouldn't need to cheat to play for free from others. Needless to say, we didn't see much. Just up to the door while they guarded it. Too bad, we would've enjoyed the place, but instead we were greeted with a cold welcome. Judging by this place, I see the owners like to respond to every comment/review. To the owner, if you're reading this, please don't bother replying. We won't be reading it. We already got the point. To those reading this in response to the owner, please believe me when I say this is an honest review, and real customer service experience. I'm a minority in this area AND NEW so, maybe they judge differently. Edit: lol the owner STILL replied although we already mentioned their comment was not needed. Hard-headed much..?

Found this place just googling for "fun", which seems hard to find in the high desert. Took 4 kids…read morehere, aged 14, 11, 7, and 3. I love the fact that you don't have to use any coins or tokens... makes things easier! The place is quite clean, although smaller than expected. It's very very loud even with only a few people, so I wouldn't recommend it for a first date. Ages 3 and under are free, which worked since my 3 year old only wanted to play Hungry Hungry Hippos and the little fishing game. They have multiple TVs with different consoles and a table for board games. It's dark, but the tables are well-lit. They have more music arcade games than anything else but they were all new to us so it was neat to try them. Overall the kids had fun even though some of the games were a little hard to understand. I was also a little confused when they didn't charge for me, I felt like I couldn't play with my kids and just followed them around. I think we'll come back but maybe next time without the 3 year old so that I can have more fun lol.

I found this place from an article I read in the Victor Valley paper just yesterday. Once I saw…read morethat it had Taiko No Tatsujin, and karaoke, I knew my daughter would want to check it out. It has a good location, but you'll miss it if you drive too fast. It's across the street from Vons on Bear Valley Rd. and next to Jiffy Lube on the outer highway. The parking lot is small, but we found a spot up front since it wasn't too crowded when we arrived. When we entered, Jason, one of the co-owners, asked us to empty our pockets, and we were scanned for weapons. I wonder if it was a precautionary measure or what kind of activity they have in the area. Since they're open late, it's probably part of their security procedures. Next, he explained how it works. No coins are needed for the games, that's a plus, as you pay a flat fee at the entrance. It's priced at 1 hour for $18, 2 hours for $30, and 3 hours for $40. An all-day pass is $50. I was asked to leave my ID, and we were given wristbands. My daughter's wristband showed the time we needed to be finished, which helped keep us accountable. Playing Taiko with the giant drums and drumsticks (even though she's a drummer) was a treat. She's been learning kanji, katakana, and hiragana, so she was thrilled to see the game was in Japanese. They also have a karaoke machine which surprisingly had songs in Japanese! My daughter loves the Yakuza series and was happy to sing Baka-mitai. I was shocked because even the Korean karaoke we went to in San Diego didn't have Japanese songs. They had just gotten rid of their Japanese machine. So that's a big plus to have such a variety of songs, especially in the High Desert. The karaoke area is enclosed in a glass area. There are headphones and microphones. It acts to dampen the noise in the establishment. The dance machine is similar to DDR, which my daughter loves. They also have Japanese snacks, like what you'd find at Daiso or a Japanese market. It's loud and difficult to hear inside the area. I'll give it to them, they have a lot of games packed into a small space. They also have basketball games, foosball, punching bag game, and other games. One potential issue I see is if it gets too busy there's no time limit to how long one person can play a game. So potentially, one person could monopolize a game their entire visit. It's a good place for friends, maybe a little too loud for a first date, depending on what you like, but it's a good place to burn some energy and a bit nostalgic. It's appropriate for children and adults. I give them a 5-star rating because the place was clean, Jason walked around making sure that everyone was doing well and having a good time, and he was very friendly. I also appreciate them having Taiko and a good variety of karaoke songs. The entrance fee is a good value, especially considering the available games. It's amazing how time flies when you're having fun. We look forward to visiting again.

Wow! It's been 4 years since this place started and at its new location. The old location was kind…read moreof small and to have fit that many arcades and plus, you will always miss it. New location took the old concept and made it even better with sign, noticeable parking and same vibe as the owner welcome his customers of relieving the 80's and 90's arcade style. Inside is split into three separate rooms: as soon you enter, arcades (no food/drink once you enter), pinball room (additional $5) and console room (ps5 and switch) and two arcade cabinets. Price varies between $10 per hour or $20 all day. Arcades are unlimited so if you don't want to beat these games on emulators and do it the old fashion way, this is the way to go. Do offer snacks and drinks for separate prices. Console room is where they held tournaments (check their instagram for upcoming tournament). In addition, you can host parties here and they will close to the public while hosting the event (will inform their socials whether it's gonna be close). Overall, highly recommend on coming here and relieving some nostalgia memories. Met the owner every year during it celebration (offer free food to celebrate its occasion)

TLDR: Great Value (no tokens), new and old school games, and a super chill staff…read more First of all, let me say that it's not every day that a new business opens in San Bernardino especially a an independently owned one. Second, and maybe more importantly, they built an arcade that perfectly matches my memory of being a kid in the 90s being able to play for hours and just have a great time. The extras I'll add is that instead of having to pay for tokens then make it really simple and you just pay by the hour or day and just play all the games however long you want. This makes it a great value for families. This opened the door for me finally trying to beat the X-Men game from the 90s. I still wasn't able to beat that darn thing. But maybe I could join forces with my three boys and go back and finally beat the game. They beat me in my entire childhood. They have a lot of other cool stuff like console games in air hockey. I just saw that they do birthday parties too, so that's cool. The staff was beyond friendly, they just get it. They know what they're doing. They know why they're doing it and you can just tell. Overall, I just super recommend this place. If you just wanna stop by for an hour, play all day, happy birthday party here, or if you're super hard-core, I want to do one of the competitions that they run go for it.

I grew up in San Diego and I've lived in LA for many years and a year after year I keep telling…read moremyself that I have to check this place out. For this most recent long three-day weekend in Lake Arrowhead we decided to finally give this place a try. We are two adults in our 30s with no kids. It is important to note that because honestly, this place is for children 10 and under. It is not for teens or adults. It is honestly pretty underwhelming if you are an adult, but it can be quite charming if you are a child. It is also $55 per person and $15 for parking which is a bit expensive, but I understand the inflated price due to the location and having to staff it. One thing about this place that is nice is they don't have a bunch of add-ons once you get inside, so you really do just pay one price unless you decide to get food as well. The other part of this park is specifically designed for people into mountain biking. They have six different trails ranging in difficulty from easy to difficult and about half of the visitors seemed to be doing that which we would go back specifically for. The activities for adults are pretty limited, so the main ones that we did were the bike in the air that goes around the rim of the property. This is the ride that you see in all the marketing and is the most popular. It was probably the most fun we had but it was honestly a bit scary once you get to the steepest point. It's about 50 feet above the ground so it would be quite a fall down. After that, we tried some archery and ax throwing which was surprisingly fun. After that, there was honestly nothing else that we could really do given our age and size so we headed out after that. This would be a great place to visit during December with children 10 and under because they do have Santa Claus and people in costumes and what not and each of the buildings is alpine themed and is very quaint. They also have a very large area that serves as a wedding location so I'm sure that is also another part of this place. There is a large free parking lot attached in front with EV charging available as well.

First time going with the family. The kids loved it (age 3 and 6). They spent hours on the electric…read moretractors and enjoyed the archery. Slightly bummed you have to be 5 feet tall to do the sky bike and the weight limit for zip lining exceeds younger kids as well so it limited how much my oldest could do. Would recommend packing food. Long wait times to order food even on a week day.

I own a place up here, and I spend at least one weekend every few weeks in Lake Arrowhead, and I've…read morebeen to Dogwood a couple of times. For the mountain, it's solid, the bartenders are friendly, the drinks are good, and the food is decent. That said, my main concern is with the atmosphere. It's... fine. And that's exactly the problem. As most of us know, there's a serious lack of entertainment options up here, especially for people under 60. Despite the older demographic, there's still a sizable group of younger, creative, and social folks looking for something to do. Sure, you could be satisfied with a '70s rock cover band for the 100th time in the village, but if not, then Dogwood has the potential to be the go-to spot if it just puts in a bit more effort. The last event listed on your website was in 2019. The last Instagram post was over two months ago, and the one before that was for New Year's Eve. With that kind of minimal effort in promoting and programming, it's no surprise the vibe is lacking. If Dogwood committed even 50% effort to curating consistent experiences and letting people know about them, I believe it could be one of the best spots on the mountain. Come on guys, my 94-year-old grandmother could do a better marketing job than you, and she barely knows how to use the internet. If you do better, you will be better!

The staff especially Mike is amazingly nice and tentative to our large group!! Really appreciate…read morethe food as well - got the dogwood burger. It was delicious and the fries were good as well! Would recommend for a nice night with friends!!

Weekend Trip, Price was Good for the rides No Wait Time -…read moreMorning Ride was super fun, you control your speed

Super fun but super quick experience…read more The alpine coaster costs $20 each and for safety purposes, nothing can ride with you - leave it in the car or buy a locker. There's a video that's taken of you and you can purchase it for $15 after. No guarantee a video will be taken though - my dad got one and i didn't :( The slide is $10 and also super fun - you ride up on the lift and slide down yourself

While visiting family last summer, we decided to take the boys to Monarch Family Fun Zone to get…read morethem out of the house, and we had an amazing time! There were so many activities to choose from, and the axe throwing was an absolute blast. We purchased the all-inclusive package, which was definitely worth it. After axe throwing and laser tag, though, it became so hot inside that we ended up leaving before we could enjoy the arcade games. The only suggestion I have would be to turn up the air conditioning, especially during the summer months. With all the active attractions, keeping the building cooler would make the experience even better and encourage families to stay longer. Aside from that, everything was fantastic. The staff was incredibly friendly, welcoming, and always willing to help. The manager went above and beyond with what I would call 150% customer service, making us feel genuine memories!y appreciated from start to finish. I highly recommend Monarch Family Fun Zone, especially if you're looking for a fun indoor activity to escape the summer heat. It was an unforgettable experience for both the kids and the adults. Keep up the great work and thank you for helping families create lasting memories!

Great Family Friendly place that's actually affordable! I took my children on a Friday evening and…read moregot the bronze deal that was 1 laser tag game and 1 cosmic mini gold game for $11 per person. The AC worked good inside so we were able to beat the heat and still have fun outside the house. They also had other games and deals. I was also able to only spend $25 on arcade games with Another deal they had and split into multiple cards for my 4 kids and they all got to play a good amount of games each. Staff was helper friendly. There was a young girl at the front who was super helpful and informative. She was a pleasure. My kids loved it. We will def be back. It's hard to find things to do in HD. This place is better than Scandia in my opinion.

This is a great arcade! It can be hard to find ones that capture the *vibe*, but Retrovolt does it…read morewell. The rows aren't too tightly packed in, but they're cozy enough to invite other people to join a game if it looks fun and hover over your shoulder to watch you beat a level. The machines are very well maintained, and dare I say it - super clean for most arcades I've been to. Truly, everything there was cared for in a really meaningful way, including the screens, old decals, buttons, and more. It makes me so happy knowing that the people tending to these cabinets are doing so with preservation - and use! - in mind. With the price point being so reasonable and a ton of options to choose from, this is a great place to spend time with friends or family.

Visited for the first time in August and it was $10 an hour. They have a lot of awesome pinball…read moremachines. Even the restroom is decked out in gamer decoration. Be aware though, there's a very slight gap in the doorway. The parking lot is right in front. Seems like plenty of spots though it was almost full when we arrived on an early Sunday evening. Doesn't seem like it would take long to find a spot though. Ernie and Sarah helped us out at the counter. Really nice and helpful employees. Ernie gave us stickers too. There are so many fun games here. They have pinball, rhythm games, old school fighting games and physical games like the mario sonic olympics. Crazy how "heavy" the older pinball machines games feel, like Pirates of the Carribean. I was having a blast with the X-men and Deadpool machines though. They also have a big screen for the latest Mortal Kombat game. You just need to ask for controllers. Ernie informed us they have all day sale options on certain days as well. A great experience! Thank you!