Playland Arcade

Playland Arcade on the Santa Monica Pier is a great place for gamers of all ages, offering a huge selection of games: pinball, air hockey, racing games, arcade machines, bowling, a dance machine, water skiing, a crane with prizes and much more. It is open until late and is perfect for the whole family and for the young people who walk along the pier at night. On the weekends, the atmosphere is lively and energetic. Be sure to check it out when you are in Santa Monica. This place is great. I recommend it ??

The staff there were very kind and very helpful. We had an issue where the machine shorted us 708 tickets and the machine even said "tickets not transferred to card: 708,". When we went to the employees, they came to the machine and were able to get us our tickets. All staff that we talked to were all around friendly and helpful and I had a great experience. Im definetly headed there again next time Im in the area.

I've had good memories here going back to the first video games ever played! Now with computer animation and simulated effects, the games have advanced to the latest level. It may be a bit crowded and loud at times, the fun and competition comes with the territory! The arcade is a great addition to the pier, as non-fishing visitors can find more recreation activities to include with their time here!

Playland Arcade at Santa Monica Pier is a fantastic spot for gamers of all ages, offering a huge selection of games ranging from classic arcade machines to modern favorites. Whether you're into retro pinball, air hockey, racing games, or claw machines, this arcade has something for everyone. The place has a nostalgic charm, bringing back memories of old-school arcades while still keeping up with the latest gaming trends. It's a great spot to unwind after a day at the beach or pier, and since it stays open

Tons of games for people of all ages, classics to modern type of games . The selection is huge Here. Open till very late in the evenings

Great deal if you buy the one hundred dollar card, they top it with another thirty I believe. Extensive amount of options to choose from, including old school boxed games, pin ball, skeet ball, fake ?shooting? at inanimate objects and the usual shooting at screens, coin drop, prize winning machines and etc. The prize booth has a wide variety of toys and candy, everything geared towards children so don't expect Dave and busters style adult related items. Very well staffed, kept cleAn and organized.

So many games! Very festive atmosphere. Must go

Tight spacing, especially for the air hockey and basketball hooping. Prices decent. Games of virtual reality and multiplayer racing games. Games of chance ("the claw!") and prizes can be won.

I went here on a vacation with my wife and mother. We had a lot of fun playing the various arcade games. It is an open concept with 2 entrances on either side of the arcade. The games range from your standard shooting games and skeeball to more modern Flappy bird and Rick and Morty Machines. It also has quite a few air hockey machines that are always busy. This arcade utilizes a digital card system instead of coins or paper money, you reload your card at one of many machines spread throughout the arcade.

Kids had a good time. Most games are $1. Old school skeeball. New games too. The tickets automatically go onto game cards that you put money on so kids won't lose ticket.

Best arcade,even got to go where they shot kissing booth scene at

$1 for most games, but the selection is great. The Big Bertha currently doesn't track score, but it's still fun.

Had a fabulous birthday party for my daughter here. They were very attentive to our needs and made our daughter feel very special. Definitely recommend. Fun times even without a birthday party.

I would like to inform the boss that you are getting stolen from!!! I had to buy a card for 2 dollars, which is absolutely a rip-off as you need one for just about every machine !! Secondly, I loaded the card with 20 dollars !!! TOTAL 22 DOLLARS . I asked for a receipt and got one ... straight away, the guy said your card has 20 dollars on it ....I said yeah, but my receipt says 15 dollars ... not 22 dollars... 7 dollars not ob the receipt this means either your staff member is ripping you off (owner) an

Perfect merger of retro and anticipatory nostalgia. Blast from the past, peek of the future.

My wife and I stopped in for a couple rounds of ski ball and a game of air hockey. Accessing play via the key card was simple, all machines functioned properly, and, well, we had a blast!

Pinball machines are basically trash. Airhockey tables keep glurping up the disk and you'll have to get service. This place uses a card system. A card costs 2$ and can be charged with more money to play. They can't be returned. Plastic waste? clearly a place that doesn't care about the ocean even though it's basically on the ocean. Machines don't state how much money they cost so if you swipe your card they charge you whatever amount (which is gigantic). This place is a disgrace to the Santa Monica pier and

super expensive AND i know this game is kind of stupid ( see picture) but here it is obvious that you will NEVER EVER GET SOMETHING ?. it makes kids sad and it is 2$ to try and you always pick one up and suddenly?. the claw opens and let's it go?. terrible

Don't play this game I had 2 sonics and knuckles by the head which is the heavier part of the body and it keep opening as soon as it lifted. Which means the claw is not suitable for picking weight of the plushy.

Crowded and noisy like all gaming arcades but good option for people with kids. Saw many families playing with kids and having a good time. Price wise too, its reasonable

Amazing arcade. We were playing the avengers coin pusher and one of the machines was broken, which had the card we needed. We asked a staff member, and they said they couldn't fix it, but they decided to give us the card for free. Amazing customer service, and the prices are great for the value. 100% recommend.

Skee-ball and Street Fighter, the making for a good night. Enter through the back to avoid the pier crowds. Avoid weekends. Hand-off your tickets to the kids for bigs smiles.

Best arcade ever. My autistic friend Paul came in and was very frustrated that he couldn't win a prize, and due to the excellent staff, they made his dream come true with a giant slinky! Thanks, guys!

I took my family for the day and truly had the best day ever! We are already making plans to go back. Hurry and go!!!

Really nice place to have some fun! So many choices to play

Good place for kids and adults as well. Very reasonable prices for the area.

We had a lot of fun and the staff working here is very friendly. We had 700 tickets, but we could choose something worth 1000, which was a very nice gesture. The reason this arcade get?s 3 stars is because it has lost it's glory and is in desperate need of a makeover. Lot?s of machines are out of order and the working ones are very old or in bad condition. Nevertheless we still had loads of fun!

Great place to come with friends and family. Nearby parking. Games are fun and reasonable pricing. Some games can be "out of order". Weekends is crowded. I like the air hockey games and they have like 7-8 tables for like $1 a game. Walk down the pier and enjoy the them park, street vendors and watch people fish, the waves and beautiful sunsets.

Had a horrible experience the games were not taking my card I asked the guy and he said that I had 0 balance. I told him I wasn't able to use it in any machine but the guy shrugged it off. I called it a loss and took my kids to Chuck E. Cheese's. Save your money, have fun in the sand and skip this place.

Old and very expensive! They still have the quarter system, really 1980?s

Cool place to spend the evening! We really enjoyed the place. :)

Doesn't do enough maintenance on pinball machines. I need to hire someone to come in and re-furbish all these machines. All of them cost one dollar. Way too much for the poor condition of these machines. Jack Bot needs a new rubber in the drain pin. Current one is flat and doesn't bounce the ball back probably. Many machines off balance. The pinball community will be warned. Thanks for trying, I'll check back again soon.

This place need renovation. It might be cool if not many of the machines simply not working. I love arcades, it is always cool to compete with a basketball game or any of the machines, just that they are not working that great. Huge potential, need some investment.

The WORST service ever. Most games don't work and the money gets stuck, and worst employees. I went in with my siblings to get them to play since they wanted to go in after we came from getting inside the water, and one guy made us leave cause we "were getting sand in the games and they had to clean" . Well you don't get paid to not clean the games and could've politely asked us to wash off outside or something cause we didn't know. Instead this guy kicked us out and was so rude and even told my little sist

I visited Santa Monica with my family last year. Such a beautiful area, what a magical setting the whole Pier area is. We spent a little time in the arcade and I was underwhelmed. I understand that video games have pretty much been dying off because of the explosion of mobile phone apps with kids period but none the less having old not well maintained video games is not the way to run a business. A lot of the games didn't function properly, and a lot of them probably haven't been played in years just sittin

I'll make this very clear. MY CARD GOT SKIMMED HERE in 2018 when I needed to get some American money. This was the only place I used my card for cash other than big banks in USA. Within 2 days someone was buying an i-phone in my name. DON'T EXCHANGE CREDIT FOR CASH HERE.

Sometimes the machines don't work at one swipe/coin...

Machines broke down and i put too many quarters becuase it told me to put more but it just broke down. Also, really over priced prizes and I spent 25 for and could only get a 3 dollar plush. Would not recommend. Instead go to a Dave and busters guaranteed they have better stuff there

Amazing staff, great games, not too expensive and the kids get something from their points in the end. Only negative is that its a bit too loud due to the new machines in the center of the place.

Was visiting the pier with my girlfriend and we wanted to play against each other at two games side by side. She put money in her's, I put money in mine. Her's didn't work at all, I only had three balls. Talked to the attended, he came over, told us hers was broken and we could both just use the machine I was on after he loaded more balls in it. Asked for our money back so we could play a different game together. He told us no. So we left. Lugged around a pocket full of quarters the rest of the day. Do not

For the amount of money being poured into this arcade everyday you would think they could replace or fix broken games, and just over all tidy up the place. It feels like they are the slum lord version of an arcade just make everything work well enough to take your money. Don't play the claw grabber game that you can grab rolls of tickets it opens the grabber when it goes back up so anything you grabbed falls back out. They had a Street Fighter arcade in the case of Mortal combat. So many games had faded sc

Skip it and go to a different arcade. It has potential (a lot of old and new games) but it's way overpriced and 3 of the games malfunctioned in a row last night. I was hesitant to play anymore, because when I told the workers about the first machine malfunctioning, it seemed like they didn't believe I put in the amount of money I said I did. A lot of the machines don't give out tickets either. I expect more for an arcade where each game is $1.

Quite the excellent experience, although I would've expected nothing less from the great, santa monica pier

it's a monolith at the end of an era. with a lack of replacement parts and people who are willing to repair the machines its nice to see a large arcade open. I spent 30 dollars and it was well worth it for a few hours of fun, they have all types of games, from Mario and pinball to angry birds and cruising USA.

Great place great staff! My family had a blast!!!

A little run down but still fun none the less. The prizes have gotten better since the last time I was there. They have the classics like skeeball and air hockey but they also have some new games like Mario kart where you can race against someone else or the 3d shooter games that you can play together. The 3d one was pretty cool but if you like retro games they have Pac-Man and Galaga ect.

Most of the arcade games I played were not in good condition, or broken. Not to mention it's ridicously expensive to play The House of The Dead 2(75 cents per credit), even though the light gun doesn't even work! Killer Instinct 2 only works with 1 player, I don't want to come back to the place.

I understand this is an arcade and it's designed to make money, so games won't pay out all the time. However, all the claw machines I played didn't grip at all and give any chance to win and the clown game where you use the balls to knock over the clowns was totally RIGGED. First of all, one machine only had 3 balls and the other only had 4. In contrast, the Dave and Buster?s I've played that same game at dozens of times always have about 10 balls in each machine. The point of the game is to beat the high s

The pinball machines are broken. Multiple machines shot 2 balls into the launch chamber, which is not typical gameplay. Do not bother with these machines if you're into pinball

The worst customer service. The assistant helping customers with the games refused to give us back our money when the machine wouldn't work. Blatantly rude and overtly aggressive. Would not recommend to my worst enemy. The experience severely dented our experience at the pier.

Grimy, nasty, unsavory and unnecessary. It's filled with knucklehead boys. I wish they would close this place down. Do not send your kids into this place. Didn't arcades die in the 80s? Save your money and get your kids a funnel cake on the pier. If they need entertainment walk up to 3rd street promenade and watch some performers.

Great little arcade that my kids had a blast at. Staff wasn't the friendliest, but at least all of the games worked and my kids all got some cheap junk from their tickets

Nice arcade, fair game prices, but prizes are not good. If you win at least 500 tickets you can get a pencil. 500 tickets=$50 btw.

The Playland Arcade is an absolute mess! Not only is it extremely crowded and dirty, but many of their games that are "in order" are not working. The only redeeming qualities are the table hockey tables and some of the newer games.

SO MANY of the games take your money (on a card) and never activate. So many others are just broke. Also it's very dirty in there. 2 bucks per game? Very expensive

Fun fun! My girls won a ton of tickets!

This is where the fun is. Some rude people sometimes visiting but overall the place ot be at.

Elvis at 88 years old in 2023 would probably function better than the Elvis pinball machine, but sweet arcade!

We really enjoyed playing games, asmy husband made it a point to earn enough tickets to get me the Cubs pillow, lol

Arcade is awesome. You have to go play there. I go ever two weeks with my Boo. We have this competition gong with air hockey ??

Its awesome that they have arcade games. However its always packed. On top of that it's just cramped even regardless, the place needs renovation.

I am obsessed with their new air hockey?s!!

It's so great memories for me and my boyfriend. We played with a dancing game like Kissing booth.

Good selection of old school and new school. Would have been five stars if skeeball was in better condition.

I miss the Galaga and Ms Pacman Machines here. Looks nice since they renovated it but other than that its pretty blegh

The willy wonka machine is gone for good , plus they told me no cash you have to buy a card and load it ...

They were very friendly to my autistic cousin Paul. We will definitely come back again.

awesome arcade. Truly would give 5 stars if both guitar hero games weren't busted. Total bummer

I truly love this arcade I been coming here for more than 10 years. Needs the owner to care about it more! If the arcade were mine it would be like the arcade from the new Tron movie

Love the new air hockey games!

They have cards that you swipe instead of coins and tickets. Definitely better the old way.

Too many old machines. Most of them are broken. Lack of maintenance. It's embarrassing for America especially when some tourists comes in.

A really fun and electric place to play games such as air hockey. Everything is so entertaining and the place feels very lively.

An okay place to stop by for maybe a half hour of fun. A lot of the machines don't function properly, and there isn't much variety.

Arcades still exist?! This place was awesome, my gf and I spent a bunch of money playing their Jurassic Park game. Ton of fun!

Cool little arcade here. Cheap games, some very cool old school games! Highly recommend hitting this place up.

The DDR machines are broken but I won the jackpot for Pop the Lock so I can't really complain overall

Best way to waste money in style - Tron style.

Air guitar is so much fun I've got to get me 1 PlayStation Wii or Xbox Air guitar is my next step

Low customer service. Need Air conditioner in there, you could really smell everyone. Not cool. Not cool

Few games took my money but overall most of them worked.it was very crowded when I went and they have a deal on the cards to play many games

The games were fun and its good to win cards like from Willy wonka and the chocolate factory.

This place is pretty run down, wish they'd close it up and remodel the place. Gets sadder and sadder each time I visit.

Fun Place, old fashioned quarter machines (a couple only take dollar bills) most expensive game is $1.50 and the cheapiest is 75cents

Nice and fun had a good time with my kidos remembering good times

Very very loud, but son had fun.

A bit crowded sometimes but conveniently located on the pier, great for youngsters and teens.