Forest City Shuffleboard Arena and Bar

My parents have been trying to take us here when we're in town visiting for a while now, but it's really hard to get a reservation. Most recently, we were visiting for over 2 weeks and were able to get a reservation a couple of days before we left.

Other than the lack of availability, this place is pretty cool. They have a bar area with a few table top shuffleboards. These are easier to get reservations on, but we weren't really interested since plenty of bars have them. Then in the back they have 5 or 6 shuffleboard courts. I now realize why it's so hard to get in — they would be better off with way more courts.

When we got there, we had to give them our credit card to hold at the bar and then wait 5-10 minutes after our reservation time to start. They don't start your hour until you start playing so that wasn't a big deal. They explain the rules to you and then you're free to play.

We got in two games in an hour, but our first game took way longer than the second, so you might be able to do more. The one downside is that it's very loud in there. With the size of a shuffleboard court, you can only talk to the person next to you and even that was hard with the noise level.

I would have given this five stars, but the experience paying at the end was awful. Instead of charging you up front or having a separate way to pay, they make you go to the bar to pay. The bar was packed and we waited at least 15 minutes to pay. I now understand why they take your card at the beginning because I'm sure people would just leave without paying rather than dealing with that. I'm sure they're trying to get you to drink while you're there, but this experience should really be improved so that you can leave in a timely manner when you're done playing.

They charge $14 per person per hour, which isn't cheap, but I think it's reasonable compared to other similar activities.

Overall, we had a lot of fun and I would recommend it!