Blackbeard's Family Entertainment — Attraction in Fresno

Blackbeard's is getting, I'd hate to say it, but, IT'S GETTING OLD NOW. I'd hate to complain, but, as a business for entertainment; I think we should be "entertained" afterwards and no the opposite.

Two stars ONLY because Fresno needs more entertainment businesses for families to go to and for the younger crowd to hang out at. Really, one star based on our past visits.

WARNING, READ ON IF YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE COMPLAINTS, IF NOT - STOP HERE.

So, I take my kids once every so often, maybe 2-3 times to a year to Blackbeard's, to get them out of the house. We usually play some arcade games and miniature golf while there.

After the last time we went, the kids expressed that they don't want to come to Blackbeard's anymore. They complained it was the same boring arcade games from their last visit. Most of the arcade games are old. Some games don't work properly; the joystick won't move the character or a button doesn't work at all. For some, you put in a token but nothing happens; no credit and no token returns. I've seen and experienced this quite a few times and it's just frustrating.

My kids tried to collect tickets in hopes of receiving a good prize, however, they end up with smaller toys, even when we spent as much as $60 just for the purpose. My oldest son, 10 years old, even told me that the prizes aren't worth it because he can get much better toys for the amount we spent (and yes, he understands we're paying for the time there to be "entertained"). I'm guessing Blackbeard's not worth his time anymore mostly because it's no longer entertaining and there's nothing "new" to offer him.

As usual, my little girl always wants us to play some miniature golf to end out the evening. The experience was a fun for the kids as they seemed to enjoy it more than the arcades.

But for me, having played this same course for a while now (lived in Fresno my whole life), the miniature golf course needs a change...maybe a change in design & theme possibly? replace old gear with new gear as in the paint is peeling away on the golf balls and the handle on the putters are all worn out (my son got one where the handle was super sticky because the tape had worn off), add new holes to make it more interesting/challenging? and definitely the whole place needs a lot of maintenance. The fake grass is worn out. Leaves & debris are everywhere. There's worn out paint everywhere. The props/miniature buildings need some TLC. More trash cans (maybe the cause for debris and trash on the course?). Then, what's up with the discolored bluish / aqua green-ish ponds & waterfall?

Sorry about all the complaints but I've gone to Blackbeard's since I was a little kid; when they had the latest arcade games and when the parking lot was packed and when there was so much people inside the arcade area that it was shoulder to shoulder when walking through. I'm not sure what happened, but I sure wish they would keep up with the times. I'm not a business person so it may cost too much or it may not. All I know is that I'm a customer, trying to be as loyal as I can to Blackbeard's, BUT the disappointments on my kids' faces tells a story.

C'mon BLACKBEARD'S...if nobody is...I AM ROOTING FOR YOU! If someone there does read this review, please make a change for the better. I've been attending there for over 15+ years now and I come back, even with my kids, because I'm thinking...maybe they changed and they did get something "new" and "entertaining"...but these last couple of visits have been nothing but a bad...

I'm REALLY disappointed to see all these negative reviews. Is it Disneyland? Of course not. But life is what you make it! Tonight was my second time at Blackbeard's. My boyfriend and his friends have an on-going mini golf trophy they play for at various places, and we had such a great time. Prices were super fair, we went around 9pm on a Saturday after a bomb dinner at Takumi in Fresno. It wasn't packed, we played the pirate course with about 10 people and still had time for a round of Go-Karts after. I do wish the karts were a tad bit faster, but still fun to race your friends. I see lots of complaints about the food at Blackbeard's and I'm not sure what these Karen's are expecting out of a $10 chicken and fries basket. The rides and grounds could definitely use some updating and I think a minor revamp would bring so many people back to this place. I really hope the owners invest in it and keep it going, because I'd definitely like to keep coming back. It was kinda wild that no one was at the entrance gates to make sure we weren't complete hethens, but none of the staff we encountered were rude by any means and none of the patrons were out of hand. I also saw complaints in the reviews about the smoking areas, I personally, loved that. I don't smoke cigarettes, but we didn't have to wait for our smoker of the group to go outside and smoke and hold up our game which was awesome. My first time here, the Fahrney's rented the whole place out for an employee appreciation day and we had an absolute blast then too. I'd love to see the water slides open and new bumper boats with cleaner water next summer, but still a great time with friends, family, and coworkers. We'll be returning again I'm sure, I'd take this place over Adventure Park any day! We came from Visalia and Woodlake to visit, well worth the drive for a...

I am in Fresno on vacation from North Carolina. My family wanted to take me here. First impression walking in.. Riel (may not be the proper spelling) was wonderful. She made sure our food was correct as we had a big order. She did great making sure that we had everything we needed. However, the buffalo chicken and fries were disappointing as it was like 5 popcorn nuggets and some fries thrown together with a little bit of sauce. Then... on EVERY map key we saw an "infant care" sign and since we have my 7 month old son, I wanted to inquire about it. Apparently "no such thing occurs" and "ma'am we have no idea what you're talking about. We don't offer that" -Celeste. Then later, Celeste also acknowledged my step mom and I standing at the ride window but did not say "be right with you" or "I'll call someone else up to help you" or anything. And then proceeded to help someone else before us...that got there after us! We waited a total of 13 minutes for one set of tickets. Later we went to the batting cages, and the guy told us he'd be back in 10 minutes because had to go help with laser tag. we said Okay no worries we'll just play a couple extra rounds. 26 minutes went by before we finally were helped again......definitely not impressed.

It's not even busy... you'd think we'd get much better service.

Later on in the evening there was a lot of games that were not working properly or not dispensing the tickets that we won. The staff was helpful so that was a nice change to our evening. All in all, my family made it fun but the staff seemed pretty unhappy with their...