Avalon Theatre — Attraction in Portland

I'm 45 years old and have been coming here since I was a small child. You pay a small entrance fee (I believe it is currently only $2) and the games run on nickels. Most games will cost 2-4 nickels or 10-20 cents. You can play for a long time for not a lot of money. Usually, I will come with $15, pay the $2 entry fee, and put $13 worth of nickels on the card. That will last me about 2 hours. Most of the games are redemption games, which means you get tickets to turn in for prizes. There is also a small movie theater, which offers movies at a cheap price. I believe you get free admission to the arcade with your movie as well. Along with the theater they have a small concession stand selling popcorn, soda, candy, and Icees for far less than regular theater prices. They do not allow popcorn and sodas in the arcade, but they do have an area above the arcade where you can take a break and have a snack while playing. The atmosphere is very welcoming and it attracts people of all ages. On any given day you can find a couple in their 70s, teenagers, parents with small children, and adults all playing together. To me, this is one of Portland's hidden gems and I hope they are around for many...

The Avalon is a great inexpensive option for family entertainment. I have been going to the arcade her since I was a kid and it has provided great fun for my kids as well. The movies are late run and very affordable. The theater is intimate and offers comfortable seating but no particular frills. The arcade floor is good size and the big screen in the large arcade plays Blazer and other sporting events which is nice. The tickets are fairly easy to accumulate and the kids always enjoy trading for prizes at the front counter.

There are three items for improvement:

The arcade games do not seem to change much and some of the games are fairly tired. In the last three years, I have not noticed a single game change.

The ticket counter should have a system in place to accumulate tickets over a series of visits, allowing frequent patrons to earn more significant prizes. Maybe a voucher receipt with the total number of tickets? Maybe they offer this, I have never asked, but it has not been offered to me either.

There was only a single pinball game I could find??? Seems like there...

super fun kids play day place! not at all expensive super easy to pull off. $10 a kid $2 entry and 1 to 2 hours of fun time with super safe staff and environment. cheap snacks if you forget to eat before you go and the option to go see a movie I could not ask for a better place to spend time with my 7 and 9 year old boys I even can convince my 16 daughter to join us and she loves it too! if you need a place to take the kids that wont break the bank and will entertain every time this is that place... do not expect dave and busters games expect old school fun arcade games and some newer kids phone app games like life size cut the fruit and this years ninja turtles cartoon adventure or the hotwheels steering wheels even kids size motorcycles that lean and throttle, or the stage ride/game with wind and massive motion extremely loud sound and real time winner progress... not sure if that how its said but super cool.. you win tickets for all the games and the prizes are stuff my kids totally want to earn. I highly recommend this...