Omega Sektor is basically a giant gaming centre equiped with hitech gear for the ultimate gaming…read moreexperience. It is based in the old Virgin megastore building in Birmingham city centre at the top nearly of Corporation Street. I was lucky enough to visit the day before opening of this place along with the press, and got to try out pretty much everything there, consequently I have returned a couple of times and its fantastic. There are different themed rooms, all with state of the art systems loaded with all the latest games. There is also a familly room downstairs, a VIP area, a beanbag and movie area and a bar. Also as an added bonus the chairs are so comfy. Its free to join, and its £5 each time you go but you can stay as long as you want and theres loads of things from Wiis, Xbox to PS3 and of course the computers. Its definatly a gamers heaven, although not for me.

I'm not a gamer myself, and hearing about Omega Sektor I had to check it out. I can honestly say…read morethat I've never seen anything the size/scale of this when it comes to gaming, it really is a cyber paradise, the gamer's dream come true. The budget must have been astonomical, and i cannot understand how they have spent so much money on this place. It opened in teh summer of 2007, and it provides a 21st Century arcade style gaming, providing a casual yet high-tech social experience for all ages and abilities. You pay £5 membership which is a one-off fee, and then can roam the club, and play consoles, buying time on a particlar station at your leisure. There are many chill out areas and cafes to relax in between games. I heard of a week night 18+ gaming night that they were doing, where you can have a few drinks and play a few shoot-em up games with mates, sounds great to me, with the academy just round the corner for after...well worth checking out i think! I can see something like this taking off, as there's nothing on the same scale in Brum, and with its prime location just 2 mins away from teh Bull Ring, i wish them the best of luck, and encourage you guys to check it out!

Our family love this place, with a few exceptions! The things we love are:…read more Loads of places to play. There's an under 5's play area that has a tunnel, play house, play kitchen and a really cool ball pit. Not only that, but there are three slides, climbing frames, padded bits to hit and tunnels to crawl through in the air. The older play bit has a gigantic blue slide that is really fast, as well as a football pitch with netting, two trampolines to bounce away on, and that's just for starters. It is possible to lose your child for a good few minutes amongst the maze of places. They've now also added some little tikes cars to zoom round in (beware of toddler tantrums as there are only three) and a couple of small rides at £1 a go as well as air hockey. For parents, there is a great cafe that stocks a wide range of food from the usual burgers etc to Hipp Organic goodies. I can vouch for the hot chocolate and cakes-very tasty. On the counter at reception are also complimentary newspapers and magazines to read whilst your children go mad, though they have to be returned for others to enjoy after you. It's good value and offers toddler specials on weekday mornings during term time which are £3.50 - £3.65 (including parent/guardian) between Monday-Friday entry between 9.30am and Midday. The bad thigs are: It can get REALLY busy at peak times like after school, during holidays and at weekends and there are usually LOADS of birthday parties going on. Parking at busy times can also be a bit of a nightmare. At peak times it's limited to a 2 hour visit, although I don't see this as a problem. We're usually ready to leave after a couple of hours anyway. All in all though, a great way to spend a couple of hours and for kids to expend some energy.

Toddlers and small children will love this place. In this huge indoor playground small ones can let…read moreoff steam and keep dry at the same time. There are different play areas to suit different ages and tastes. Babies and very small ones can have mum and dad nearby with them in their own low-level area, kitted out with soft-play items, and small slides. Older toddlers and big boys and girls can run riot around the rest of the area clambering, exploring, tumbling, and swinging. The deep ball pool is a great place to hide while someone else tries to seek. Or you could go on a sortie to find foam balls to fire at targets from an air-power cannon. Have a conversation with the Tube-O-Phone, why dontcha? A netted area is set aside for small-scale football matches, and a huge colourful, wavy slide sits against the far wall. Food? A cafe offers snacks and meals, and hot and cold drinks. Skip the healthy options and fill up on chips and baked beans. Active kids need their carbs!

This is a really cute place. I'm not a huge beer drinker, but my best friend is. He loves his craft…read morebeer, and his beer app, so there was plenty of choice hung up on the clipboards on the wall. I don't normally go for beer (and I don't drink coffee, their other awesome offering on here, made the bar area smell great though) so I was excited by the actual offerings of speciality tea past calling twining's earl grey as such... staff are lovely, and there were some sexy looking cakes sat on the bar. Then it comes to the pinball machines, up and downstairs- tens of them. We played Star Wars and hobbit pinball, but I wanted to play pretty much every machine. It's awesome, it knows what it is and pulls it off.all reasonably priced too. Ps: great place to find facial hair.

This place is pretty much ideal. It's is not only satisfying the pinball lover in me but also the…read morecaffeine addict and the craft beer rookie. I love everything about the design here, it is clean and minimal with pinball boards in the walls. I had a perfect latte and a slice of lime cake this afternoon but could not resist a quick blast on the Adams family pinball. There are about six machines in total and they are all in epic. The only decision you have to make is not of you want to play, it's which machine to get on which is the hard part! This shop has not been here long and is 100% worth a visit. It's spot on and very me. I am definitely one of tilts new regulars.

Retailers have sure been and gone from here and yes, as its counterpart has started to flourish…read morewith many new retailers in recent months, surely it's the turn of the North Western Arcade now. This is ideally situated linking one of the biggest stores in Birmingham to Snow Hill Station. Independent stores like in the neighbouring arcade will be great but any stores at all will be a bonus! Why don't we have this as a specialist arcade, what about food? We already have the bread shop, deli and now wine store at the other one so it's definitely something to build on.

I know I'm repeating myself but this is yet another example of the people in charge of letting out…read moreshops, not really giving a damn. I've noticed that a new business is opening here soon though and I really hope that this is the start of a change for North Western. Currently, the arcade houses a couple of gift shops, a tailors, a rather dated hair salon and a standard coffee house at the end. More independents please!

This was a little disappointment to say the least…read more I'm not a fan of gambling, but thought I haven't been in here before, it's been years since I've tried any jackpot machines, so thought I'd give it a go. It's really quiet inside and there isn't much of an atmosphere. Although they had dance music playing, it was a bit of a let down. There are several slot machines and entertainment booths you can try your luck on, but if you find you get stuck, the cashier wasn't very helpful, and didn't speak good English, so best to visit that one time you have a translator with you. I'd give this one a miss, save your money and go elsewhere.

Just as you think you've seen it all, up pops a cafe full of slot machines…read more There were some very strange people in there when I wandered in (mainly to take shelter from the rain). It reminded me of being in Blackpool at one of the amusment arcades but with full english breakfasts wizzing by. This is a true greasy spoon cafe with 'grease' being the operative word here. I didn't stop for long as personally it wasn't really my cup of tea but it was busy so I presume it is popular amongst the locals (and early morning gambling addicts).

What a strange place this is. Rather like shoe repairs and key cutting services often being found…read morein the same establishment, the Megabite Cafe combines the two pleasures of fried food and gambling under one roof. It's like a microcosm of Las Vegas, but relocated to the Birmingham suburb of Cotteridge. Incongruous it may be, but it's certainly popular. Whenever I've been in here it's always been packed. You can wolf down a fairly decent fry up for a reasonable price and spend the change in the fruit machines that litter the place. Even if you don't like fried food and/or gambling, this is an excellent place for a spot of people watching. If this place didn't exist, you'd have to invent it.

It's a curious feature of the Oasis complex these days that many businesses brand as retro that…read morewhich was commonplace in my youth. Sad, sad days. Sniff. But any sense of advancing years is offset by the sheer appeal of this place: Heavy, tall blocks of faux-wood; machines on which to practice for galactic peril. Or didn't you see The Last Starfighter? Oh, those yellow-topped knobs and, joy of joys, the ability to type your OWN NAME. But best of all, was the thrill - no, fear - that at any moment you could be transformed into electricity and sucked in Tron-style, forced to defend new friends from a bad space sod. That, or help a hungry pie chart eat some dots. Or a frog cross the road. Or a gorilla throw a barrel. I'd love to tell you that I found an old machine here, still bearing one of my high scores from 1982. But I can't. Because it hasn't happened. And at this stuff, I was rubbish. Tron? Tron Atkinson, more like.

We had a blast at the Shakespeare Script Room. Dee our game master was wonderful and so helpful…read more Out of the 17 escape rooms I've completed I would put this in the top five. The room is well themed and the difficulty level was good. There was only two of us playing and with Dee's help we got out with 8 minutes to spare. I 100% recommend.

What could be better than being locked in a room for an hour on a Friday night? Now, I am fully…read moreaware that that could sound like some peoples personal hell, but I totally dug my escape rooms experience.... I had first heard about Escape Rooms after two of my Elites had visited one on their honeymoon in the US. I was actually clueless about the whole thing before they had explained it's kinda like your own little detective experience with a goal of figuring out a mystery and getting out within a certain time. I don't know about you, but after years of watching Castle, CSI, Elementary and Jonathan Creek - I fancy myself a little bit of an expert when it comes to sleuthing and I fancied my chances at having a go at figuring out a mystery myself. I got a top notch team together (me, Dan, Lucy, her partner Dan and Mike) and off we set to solve a mystery and escape. First thing to note is that if you're not 100% familiar with the Jewellery Quarter, it might be a little tough to find. As a guide, head to St Paul's Square, follow the path towards the arches (heading past Anderson's and Oliver James Salon), cross the road, head under the arch and it's situated on Henrietta Street (to your right hand side). If you're coming in from Constitution, take the road opposite the Hen and Chickens to your left. I have uploaded a photo for recognition purposes. We had booked online (highly recommended as this place gets busy) and we were greeted by the lovely Jordan who explained the rules to us. You get 60 minutes to get yourself out and are handed a radio to ask for clues if you need them (you can have up to 6 clues). We had opted for the "Dr Wilson's Office" room (rather than the horror themed scenario - "Room 13") and after a brief explanation about instructions, got locked in and told to have fun. Now, I'm not going to spoil the experience for you... but be prepared to use all your noggin to figure this one out. The rules are clear and it's lots of fun, but you will need to use some of the clues to escape (unless you're some kind of genius). Our team managed to escape with 7:33 left on the clock and only 3 clues used. The best record ever was a team who had tried many escape rooms all over the world and only used 2 clues and had 18 minutes to spare. I loved this intense, immersive experience. I would recommend getting a team together (a team of 5 is £70 - so £14 each) and giving it a go as something different to do on an evening and weekend. We enjoyed ourselves so much, we're going back to try out Room 13. Stay tuned to see if we manage to get that one!

Packed full of chinese restaurants and culture this place is a fantastic art of the city. If you…read morewant the best chinese supermarkets, food or bubble tea this is pretty much a one stop shop. If you are brave enough to venture down this end of town at the weekend there are also a whole host of bars and watering holes. My warning is it gets really busy and can be pretty lary at times. Not a quiet glass of wine spot more a 10 pints with the lads kind of vibe. In the week however its a lot quieter....nice chilled vibe and a good amount of discounts on food to take advantage of. (Meating 50% off if you book on mondays is a good one!)

In this contained little development which is just a stones throw from the city centre shops, you…read moreliterally have everything you could possibly need on a night out. Start your evening by dining out at any one of the Arcadians wide choice of restaurants which offer everything from Thai, Indian, Chinese to bar food, with my personal favourite being either Café Soya or Festival Balti. Next up, you could go watch a comedy show at the Glee Club which will get you in the mood for partying after at any of the bars in the complex. Of course it depends on your own personal preference but I'd recommend that you first go to PoppyReds and then end up in Sobar. On the weekend you can expect the Arcadian to be heaving. There's always a wide variety of crowd with the odd student group thrown in for good measure. The bars I mentioned have a good door policy so you can expect a nice atmosphere if you choose to give them a go.