Old School Pinball and Arcade

Looking for a fun night out, either with children or not? Then you should definitely check out the Old School Pinball and Arcade. As you enter, the first room is set up with tables and chairs and there was a birthday party for an 8yr old that took up most of the room. There was a sign directing you to the back room for admission, so as we walked into that room there was a small bar with stools and people ordering soda fountain drinks. The large room off of these two rooms is where the machines are at and it was pretty busy. As others have mentioned, you can buy a wrist band for the main room machines and play as often as you like and then the pinball machines are pay as you play.
My honey and I actually had a good time and after about 10 minutes we didn’t feel uncomfortable being there without children of our own. It was good clean fun and we left smiling. We like this location SO much better than the downtown UP DOWN BAR. That location smelled like urine as you go down the dangerously steep stairway at the entrance and then it smelled like vomit on the inside (it was GROSS!).
We walked next door and had a mixed drink on the back patio of the Mustang Grill and took some food home to end the night. Exactly what a small town night should be… fun and close to home. What are you waiting for? Get goin.

At the invite of a friend, I finally went to check out this place out on a weeknight when they were doing discounted admission. They have some excellent games here that are all free to play once you pay to get in, and a small room of (at the time) five newer pinball machines that normally cost extra to play. During this night, they were all on free play. I had a great time and consider it money well spent, though, due to the cost, I wouldn’t be able to visit as often as I would like. The target audience is more like occasional visitors doing birthday parties and such (i.e., kids and group outings). No booze, but there is a bar next door ;-)
Most of the games were in good shape, though some did not have volume. If you normally watch TV or movies with the sound off, this may not bother you, but since the sound and music is such a huge part of the arcade experience, I was a bit disappointed.
There was food available from the Mustang Bar and Grill next door (expect to pay around $ 10 for a burger and fries), and in the arcade was a soda fountain with flavored sodas, phosphates (!) and a huge (HUGE) selection of flavored shakes and malts. They were excellent and priced well. I would definitely stop in just for a shake even if I couldn’t spring for arcade admission.
This place targets parties and such (like a mini golf place might) and there are times when it is full of young kids making grownups feel kind of creepy if they go alone. But, on the night we were there, only a few other adults were around and it was a blast.
The biggest downside is the price. $ 13 (on weekends) lets you come and go all day and play as much as you want, but for those of us that would rarely play 40 games (that’s $ 5 worth of tokens on 2-​for-​1 night at Up-​Down), the price is a barrier. Likewise is having to pay extra for the newest pinball machines (those new machines can run over $ 7000 to buy).
It should do fine for its target audience (parties and occasional visitors), but I can say if the price were lower (like the $ 5 admission at Tapcade in Kansas City) I could see visiting here very often. Pricing and machine volume are the only reasons I did not give it five stars.
Go check it out! There are some great games here and the shakes are fantastic.

When I first heard that Grimes was getting a barcade, I was like Jesus Tap Dancing Christ! My enthusiasm was quickly diminished when I found it’s not a barcade. Its for kids, like an old school arcade… hence the name.
Old School Pinball is located in the «business district» of Grimes on Main Street. How do I know it’s a business district? Because there is a sign on 1^st street saying it’s the business district, which always makes me chuckle a bit. You might actually not know you are in the business district of Grimes while looking for the business district.
Old School is full of many old classic arcade and pinball games. The only modern games I saw were some of the pinball machines. I stopped by Old School on a Saturday at 8 pm and sure enough, it was packed with children gaming all over the place. The walkways between the games is very narrow, so it was hard to get a good look at the games. I don’t think kids have the same problem with the walkways though since I’m way bigger than they are. While I was there it looked like there a birthday party going on. I think most of the games are on free play mode and you pay to play by the hour or something.
I only stuck around for about 3 minutes because I was clearly out of place. However, I’m giving this place a good rating because if I had kids I would totally take them here. It seems like an easy, fun place to take many kids for parties and such.