The Original Pinballz Arcade in
Austin (TX)

This place is fantastic. All of the staff were so friendly and Matthew was just the best. He was so kind and patient with my nephew who had a blast playing the coin machine for an hour. He truly made his night! There were so many great games and the machines are all well taken care of so you’re not playing on a bunch of broken equipment. We will definitely be back to try out more of the games. Thank you guys for the great service!

Horrible experience. First off, mini bowling was a lot of fun other than the lanes completly messing up and destroying the game you were playing. Over 3 times, which is a total of $30 right there. Was never refunded. Also, they have games you can win prizes and cards with tickets on them. The machine that reads the card and tickets was also down and there was only one of them so we couldn’t even turn that in for the tickets! Wow, if that’s not enough the escape rooms, as well as the bumper cars were all broken/down and not working on a Saturday evening!!! All this while being a bit overpriced.

Love travetta, would come again c: she told me about the free beers, definitely very helpful! She’s lovely to talk to and would come again just to stand here and drink beer to talk too her! C:

Great mix of retro and modern arcade games. Games are actually reasonably priced. They also have a great mix of reward for tickets, everything from candy and toys to tool kits so there's something for everyone. Only issue is their ac seems to be out/ doesnt work. They have fans and portable AC units around but some areas were still pretty warm.

This place is awesome. They have a great selection of pinball machines. They have a lot of new arcade games, and a back room full of retro games.

Celebrated a friend's birthday as a group. We had a lovely time. One of the coin pushers kept breaking that the staff helped us out. And they even reorganized the cards when I was really frustrated that they were all in the corners and wouldn't drop. Definitely recommend.

Nice all ages pinball arcade. Has a mix of both classic and modern pinball tables as well as a lot of new and old arcade games. Spent some time with my work crew here and had fun.

EDIT: thank you so much pinballz for being attentive and understanding, and making right the issues that made me so frustrated! im sorry i got so mad, im a passionate person. thank you for stocking the fridge with white claws, and fixing the stern machines to be connected to the internet- although it is still down occasionally. i love you pinballz and i always will. ? am very sad to write this review. i play a lot of pinball. i have been a very loyal customer to pinballz. i come here on thursdays for thirsty thursdays. the last 3 WEEKS, i have come in. the stern machines (the reason i come here) are offline, and the monthly leaderboard is not on. having these machines online with the leaderboard is the only reason i choose to spend time at this place. thirsty thursdays is when i come every week and get 2 white claws (i cannot have beer because of yeast issues), and there hasn't even been white claws in 3 weeks! every week i ask politely, will the machines be fixed soon? will you please restock white claw? will anything happen here that will make me have any reason to come back? and every week they tell me, oh we're looking into it. for 3 WEEKS? to get the internet working? And you can't even get white claws? how does any of that take 3 WEEKS??? i am extremely disappointed in this location. i will not be coming for any more thirsty thursdays, which used to be a highlight of my week. ill stick with the lake creek location.

The people working here are so sweet and understanding and the game selection is sweet!

First time here!! Free beer after 9pm? Yes please!! Had the skeeball game of my life!! TMNT pinball! Guitar Hero! Also, Miles took great care of us!

Fun family arcade with BYOB can policy. We loaded money on a card and had a great time playing pinball, classic Atari games, and team games. Looking forward to going back to play pinball together. From a bars with games list: It's not a bar per se, but it's not, not a bar. The original Pinballz location, located in North Austin near Burnet & 183, offers a classic arcade experience with over 60 video arcade games and the largest selection of solid-state pinball machines in the country. They also have a bar and BYOB policy, so you can bring your own beers in and spend all your quarters playing Mario Kart. See their info and BYOB rules here.

Loved every moment here. Great fun, very lively, and along with friendly staff, and cool atmosphere

One of a few locations in the Austin area, Pinballz on Research Boulevard is a fun date night or hang out spot focused on vintage and modern gaming accessible to all. When you walk in you’re greeted by friendly workers who genuinely seem to care about the place and what they do. The arcade is clean and parking is pretty easy to find with a smallish lot out back. They do have signs warning about break ins but that’s a bit of an Austin thing more than it is this location. We opted to buy the $50 amount for our play card as we wanted to have a lot of options and not feel hindered by constantly checking our balance. They offer different denominations to be put on the card but from our experience the $50 mark is a great place to start for 2 people. The amounts on cards are also transferable from location to location in case you wanted to go to any of their other spots. Last thing to note about the set up before getting into the action is that they do offer food and beverage up at the front and this particular location is BYOB but there are rules surrounding it so if you’re looking to take advantage of that be aware of the policy. When you’re ready to get into the action your options are pretty diverse. Upfront are some of the more modern arcade games like basketball hoops, Deal Or No Deal, etc; but the further back into the store you go it becomes a history trip. They have a number of retro, and we mean retro, games in the back. We’re talking 70s and 80s games that we haven’t seen since we were kids. Throw on top of that an extensive set of pinball machines, fighting classics, and shooters, and the whole arcade just has a set up you can get lost in for hours. Some games offer tickets, others not, so if you’re looking to rack up tickets to take to the counter by the end of everything like we were then make sure to strategize. One thing we also really liked were the prices of the games. We spent probably about 1.5-2 hours there and that $50 goes a looooooong way, definitely worth the value. We were told the Lake Creek location also has laser tag and axe throwing to do but if you’re looking for just a simple and fun arcade experience then this is the perfect spot for you!

This is a good-sized arcade. There are a lot of pinball machines and other video games and ticket games. The place gets a bit warm/hot, though. They have a lot of fans all over the place to help keep it cool. The staff was friendly. I also like that there is a small dining area.

Awesome place to chill and have fun! They have tons of games (including DDR!), claw machines, bumper cars, mini bowling, and more. We were there for several hours, and the place was pretty clean the whole time (including the bathrooms) and staff were super friendly. Can't wait to come back here again!

This location is a great spot for pinball enthusiasts. They have a little bit of everything, ranging from old arcade cabinets, claw machines, a few ticket/prize gambling games, as well as a pool table and Touch Tunes. Since it’s more pinball-oriented, the crowd at this location is more geared towards adults, but there’s something for everyone. As far as I’ve seen, the games are in good condition, but the room with arcade cabinets looks like it’s seen better days. I was excited to see they had Typing of the Dead! I’ve interacted with the employees a couple of times and they’ve always been really nice and helpful. The food you can buy on site is fine. It’s BYOB, which I highly recommend because a Starbucks bottled drink was $6.50. If you’re looking for a place to bring your kids, I’d recommend Pinballz two other locations unless they’re really into pinball. But it’s the perfect place to bring a friend or two, have a drink, and play some games!

Absolutely loved this place! My son is Autistic and had a blast!! He even has allergies and the lady was more then happy to check all foods before we ordered. We will 100% be coming back! Also very reasonable priced!

Great spot for pinball; the BYOB is awesome. Pinball games run from $0.75 to $1.25; they use a play card system. The games I played were all working well and the selection is WIDE! Staff was super friendly.

Went for the first time today and had a really good time! We only played games and pretty much all of the machines were in good working order (only saw one with an out of order sign). Fun games that aren’t too expensive each play and actually give you tickets that can be redeemed for a wide range of prizes. So many pinball machines, two guitar hero machines, DDR, and LOTS of coin pusher games. Will definitely be back and will bring friends!

This place was super cool lots of great pinball machines and stand up arcades plus alot of really cool tickets dispensing games. Great to kill some time. And great for kids and parties also they allow service animals.

My wife and I stopped in from out of town on Friday Mar 1st. Had a great time. The lady working the front counter was extremely nice about explaining how the card system worked and the layout of the building. We were there for a couple of hours playing pinball and having lunch. You order your food from the front counter and it is delivered there. The menu is very limited but the food was good. There are a lot of pinball machines, I believe around 70. The condition ranged from well worn to new. Overall we found them to be about average, we have played places with better maintained machines but we have also played places that were worse. They do offer a place on their website to list any problems you might have with a machine and I did fill that out. The issues we found were not enough to keep us from returning. We had a great time and the next time we are in Austin we will stop by. The location was easy to find and there was plenty of parking.

I have visited here many times over the years. They have a great selection of pinball machines as well as some arcade games. It is a fun place to go to unwind. My most recent visit was during Halloween to check out the costume contest and see all the amazing costumes people had on.

My two sons loved this place. It was fun. It had a bunch of old school pinball games. It also had a few crane machines, skee ball games, and a lot of other various arcade games. We all enjoyed spending about an hour here. Most games are between $1 and $2.50 a play. They have a small shop where you can trade your points in for a prize. Your kids will really enjoy stopping here.

Always a fun place. I have been coming to Pinballz since early 2014. Retro video games, ticket machines, and of course pinball tables. Updated on 2023, still a great place to play pinball. Pinball a game will run from $ 0.75 to $ 1.25. Not a quarter any more, but I'm not a kid anymore either, so it all goes up, my age and cost of my hobbies.

Pretty decent mix of pinball from the 80's, 90's and 2000+ Mostly very well maintained. I've had a few games I've played that have had damage, loose parts, etc., but overall most games are 8/10 to 9/10. Some of them are a little overpriced - most games I played were $1.00 to $1.75 range. I'm not a big fan of the rechargeable card system. Always wind up with a card with a balance, and its not fun keeping track of the funds. Would much rather they charge a play-admission fee like Cidercade does. There was only 1 guy I saw working there, but he was very friendly. Has a really nice mix of pinball, classic arcade games and ticket-win games, though I don't try the ticket ones. One weird thing was I played a Star Wars game which was linked with the machine next to it for 2 player play, but the machine next to me was 50 cents more to play for the exact same game. The outside isn't much to look at and is easy to miss. Once inside its got a nice vibe though. Nice place to stop in with kids or kill 30 minutes hittin some pinball. Overall, excellent selection of games, but loses a star because its not as affordable as other places to spend an evening and because of the odd maintenence and price issues.

We absolutely loved it!! All the effects in all the games were amazing, the variety of all the games between old and new games was fantastic and the staff was really nice and polite. The game prices are a little high, but we will definitely be back with the rest of the family!!

'twas an excellent arcade! Was the last thing me and some members of my family did before leaving Austin for home. The personnel was very friendly and courteous, the place was super clean, games were priced somewhat fairly and prizes for redemption seemed somewhat universal for arcades. We initially planned on only being there an hour (midnight to 1am) because we had to leave for New Mexico the next morning but we had so much fun we ended up staying until closing time at 2am. Definitely recommend!