Family Arcade LA/ Family Amusement Corporation — Attraction in Los Angeles

LET ME START BY SAYING FAMILY ARCADE IS A GREAT PLACE DO COME HERE. THIS REVIEW IS OF MY 15 TIMES COMING HERE OVER 2 1/2 YEARS This place is highly recommended by others and was to me by an ex friend. It's great as you can see from my profile picture I very much enjoyed my time here at family arcade. The place has a very 1980s/90's aesthetic with all the reflective panels and classic neon tube lights adorning the wall along with its colorful front entrance.

The 25 dollar admission fee for free play while slightly steep is reasonable as you can play all day from 11AM - 2AM when they close. They give you a wrist band as well, marked with a color code and date for the day you went in so you can leave and come back as you please for the day. (You cannot leave and still use their parking spaces though so if you step out only do it for a smoke break or food across the street!)

Along with that they have a special deal on Tuesdays where its only 15 dollars instead of 25. If you want the most bang for yourbuck show up on Tuesday and spend your afternoon there perusing their collection of vintage and modern arcade systems.

The cons are short and simple and are the only reason this place doesn't get its full 5 stars. First among being the biggest issue, payment, you HAVE to pay in cash to enter. No debit cards no tap pay, cash in hand. They have a general atm but banks are a few blocks down and there's only an old general ATM to withdraw money from with a fee. Second is maintenance. Family arcade is 40 years old and with that comes necessary maintenance on there many machines new and old. It can suck when one of your favorite machines in there is down for the count when you come to play along with the fact that there selection of games rotates occasionally. For me my favorite "Daytona USA" Machines with the simulated cockpit have been removed after the cockpit stopped working. I've also had machines simply stop working while playing them while at their arcade. It's expected but nonetheless it's not fun when it happens. And finally the parking situation. Its nitpicky but on a busy weekend parking in their complimentary parking lot fills up fast. And the only spots left are tight spaces along the rows of aparments so if you go, go early and bring everyone in the same car.

Other than that this place is great I grind on Wangan midnight here. go play skee-ball and then use their punching machine to blow off some steam with friends. If you live in the LA area make sure to come down here at least once and spend an hour or two...

For the $15 Tuesdays? Not a terrible deal, but overall the available games are quite limited and many of the machines are in various degrees of disrepair. Metal Slug ran at a terribly low frame rate and the joystick was completely blown on Mortal Kombat so good luck doing Kano's cannon ball input for example. The pinball machines also appeared to be in bad shape, but I'm not as versed there.

If I paid $25? This would have been a 1 star review and I would have requested a refund.

While I appreciate that arcades do still exist - the trip down nostalgia lane was kind of sad when the options were limited and the machines themselves can't be maintained via negligence and/or financial peril. Unlimited play is of incredibly limited value when so many machines are neglected and the options are limited - you'll be bored out of your mind attempting to stay longer than two hours.

Ultimately, you're better off just buying your own joysticks (which won't be broken) and running MAME at home to be brutally honest here. The arcade itself even has its own MAME cabinet further solidfying my point. All you need is a television/monitor, computer and a joystick you paid $80+ new for off the Internet to do that.

Personally, I'm not motivated to come back. I'm of the belief that the arcade does not employ technicians or know how to work on these machines when replacing the gate, switches, and bar/ball tops if necessary really isn't that complicated or expensive. If I'm capable of ordering these parts off the Internet? Surely, the business is capable of doing so too.

The 1 star review 6 months ago regarding the Galaga machine was unsurprisingly still...

Absolutely unacceptable behavior. My two friends and I were treated with shocking rudeness from the moment we arrived. We parked in the nearly empty lot. mind you, it was a Tuesday night so the lot had maybe 2 other cars in it so if they were worried about us taking up space for their other “valuable customers” they really had nothing to worry about. We stepped just outside to take a quick phone call on the sidewalk. Not even 20 seconds later, a security guard approached us in an aggressive and condescending tone, demanding, “What are you doing?” Caught off guard, we politely explained that we were heading into the arcade shortly and had only stepped out to take a call. Despite this, he rudely interrupted and informed us that we would be towed if we didn’t go inside first and play to prove that we truly intended to come to this arcade. It was completely unnecessary and frankly ridiculous. We cut our call short and agreed to go in only to be escorted inside like we were doing something wrong. And as if that wasn’t enough, we witnessed the guard speak to the cashier, who then visibly pointed at us and nodded, as to signal we were a problem that needed to be kept an eye on.

My two African American friends felt incredibly uncomfortable and targeted by this entire ordeal. Being watched and treated with suspicion for no reason is not only offensive, it’s dehumanizing. The whole experience was inappropriate, unprofessional, and downright embarrassing. We left immediately and will never be returning.

I hope the security guard got the little authoritative rush and hard on he needed...