Pinballz Arcade: The Experience

By Jashel Negron
Blog Content Contributor

Pinballz Arcade may be one of those curious places you have always passed by without ever actually having a reason to go in, so you didn’t. Pinballz Kingdom, located in Buda, is hard to miss with its castle theme and large dragon mounted on its sign. At least, that’s how it was for me. I passed this place every time I was heading north and luckily for me, I was in Austin last weekend and didn’t want to waste my day, so I went to Pinballz Arcade (the original Pinballz place).

Now, the Austin location looks nothing like the one in Buda. It doesn’t have a dragon, or really much of anything else around it. But what it lacks in decoration, it makes up for in the games.

I’m getting ahead of myself. For those of you who don’t know what Pinballz is, it’s  just an arcade similar to Dave and Busters or Chuck E. Cheese – but there’s a twist. When you walk up to the second level of the building, there’s a whole floor filled with several different themed pinball machines. The prices to play any of the games in the arcade range from about 75 cents to $1.50, with the pinball games being the cheapest. Most games have been updated to operate with refillable token card but some of them still work with old fashioned coin slots. Like any good arcade, you are able to get tickets and win prizes at the end as well.

Another thing worth mentioning is that most of their game machines are actually for sale! I absolutely loved going to this place. It definitely put a little dent in my wallet, but it was worth it and cheaper than going to Dave and Buster’s anyways. I would highly recommend to anyone who loves playing games, especially old fashioned ones.

Featured image by Jashel Negron.