Neon Retro Arcade — Local services in Pasadena

I have been planning to come to this place and finally made the long drive to go to Neon Retro Arcade with my family and it was great to see so many of the classic arcade collections. It brought back memories when I was child playing them at the arcades. I was hope to give my kids the same experience but unfortunately it was not a good one. Issues startled to unfold once we started playing the games. Many of the arcade games, you can feel joy stick really lose and not stiff which made (at times) the game hard to play and some cabinet buttons would get stuck or was not getting the push feedback. My daughter inform me that there were some the games that had sticky buttons as if they were not wiped down after being used. The worst ones were the steering wheels of the racing games by the entrance. They were so lose, the cars we selected to drive were not aligned properly with the wheel which caused us to drive off the race track course. Also there were issues with the cars transmission, my daughter selected automatic but for some strange reason the car would stay in 2nd or 3rd gear. I tried changing gears for her thinking she accidentally chose manual but it did not work. Another issue we encountered was lack of customer service. The two employees were stuck behind the counter watching a show or TV on their iPad and never came to check in with me or my family to see how our experience was going or if we had any issues or feedback. I understand it might be a slow sunday night and I am not hosting a private event but would have been nice if one of the employees would have checked in. Also I would have appreciated if the restroom had a changeable table to change my toddlers diaper. Instead I had to change him on the restroom floor.

Overall, it did not go what I expected. I will say the prices is reasonable, like the 90s-2000s rock music and place looks cool but unfortunately I would not be making the...

I came for the pinball and left disappointed. All the tables were dirty inside and out. Playfields need to cleaned and waxed as the balls move slow, affecting the game play. In Getaway the ball does not make it to the upper flipper off plunge. In Terminator 2 the ball does not make it up the left ramp with accurate shots. Playfields were also dim and hard to see. Buttons were sticky. Star Trek had a ball stuck in the plunger and was unplayable - Alerted staff to the issue but they apparently didn't have the keys / training to fix it. The only table in good condition was Godzilla but for the price of entry I would expect a Premium version. Biggest issue is the business model. $15 pay-by-the-hour is too much for pinball. Having tables set to free play may seem like a good deal but even a casual player could play a single game ($1) for 15 minutes and win free replays. This model takes the excitement of winning replays away. Another problem with the model is players will walk up, start in multiple players not understanding that each press of the start button adds another player to the round, and then walk away. The next player needs to drain all those balls in order to start another game, wasting valuable play time. Pay-by-the-hour might be nice for the arcade machines but for pinball tables I prefer coin drops. I recommend adding a "pinball only" wristband for free and setting the machines to coin drops. You could even print some cool "Neon Retro" tokens and start a league or pinball night to attract the pinball...

I went here twice. The staff was very nice. I got a Groupon special and a free half hour for checking in. I was amazed by this place and proved the nostalgic enjoyment of Nintendo and arcade games from my youth was not just that. Super Mario, Pacman, Galaga, Ninja Turtles, Mortal Kombat, Centipede and all the games were there. Not only that, but paying a flat rate allowed me to play games like some of the first person shooter games and Golden Axe that I never had enough quarters to play. Being able to play the pinball games in the way they were intended where you follow the prompts to unlock points and actions in the game was a lot easier. I also loved playing the racing games, though they were not working properly both times I went.

The only drawback was when the place isn't as fun when it is got busy. The first time I didn't get to play House of the Dead because 2 kids were playing for almost 30 minutes and I let it go. I figured being a grown man in an arcade, they will get a lot more out of it then I would. That being said, my wife and I was able to fill up 60 minutes the first time and the family and I were there for almost 2 hours before everyone was content.

Warning - The meter maids will wait by the meters. I set my watch to the hour and I was off by 1-2 minutes. I came back to see they hit me with a 45$ ticket and ran before...