TILT

CLOSED.
Rest in peace.
Especially for the DDR machines. :(

used to hang out alot over here… too bad though its closed down

The Metreon once housed a PlayStation store, so I always connect the building with cutting-​edge gaming technology. I need to quit doing that, because TILT is pretty weak.
There were two rooms in this empty, quiet arcade. The first consisted entirely of claw games. No noise, no people, just giant machines holding their imprisoned stuffed creatures under an eerie, soft, white light.
The second room was the actual arcade. It hosted older generation DDR machines, skee-​ball, basketball, old fighting games. The usual. And the worst air hockey table I have ever used. It had metal bumpers that weren’t flush with the deck, so the puck would get jammed underneath with every hit. Ugh.
If you need to kill some time, sure this place is great. If you want to go to an arcade, I say skip it because you’ll be disappointed. (I guess I’m spoiled; I have no want for arcades in the South Bay — Golfland, Dave & Busters, heck, every movie theater has one. Does anybody else remember the TILT at Vallco? THAT was an arcade!)

The workers here are SUPER nice!
OH LORD so many CLAW machines :)
I will DEFINITELY return soon.
I must grab one of those yellow stuffed germ minions from Despicable Me.

I’ve never seen an arcade so empty, especially in such a desirable location. That said, they have a ton of games, including DDR and its various knockoffs. There’s also a black and white photo booth which is confusing as all hell — it says to listen for instructions but either the speaker is borked or turned way down. Most of the games seemed to be in relatively good condition, but I didn’t play that wide of a selection, so appearances could be deceiving. Overall, it’s a pretty pleasant way to while away some time on a rainy afternoon.

On one hand, this place is pathetic. The concept of a huge arcade in the Metreon seems like a surefire winner but there are just so many problems with the execution:
— it is hidden. The entire second floor is like some self-​sabotage business suicide SECRET from the endless droves of pedestrian traffic washing through the Metreon. Revenue in this place would quadruple if there were some reason to ever walk past it on the way to or from a movie.
— by and large, the games are awful. Sure, there are some classics and some concept games you’ll only find in novelty arcades like this, but the vast majority of the games are from that totally forgetable era when playstations and xboxen really started to hit their stride, outpacing the coin op video games almost overnight. So how many more different versions of Area 51 and Street Fighter vs Capcom do we really need?
So, why four stars? Because it is pathetic and half-​assed and totally out of the way. Whoever thought an arcade would be a quiet lonely place to go kill 20 minutes walking around contemplating a misspent youth?
Plus, bonus points for the completely surreal and even-​more-​desolate claw-​grab prize parlor area. It is like something straight of Kubrick.

Came back here january 1^st 2010.
I know the machine only cost a dollar but it’s the principal of it.
It’s now blatantly clear the claw machines are rigged and the employees don’t even care. An employee refunds a group of people for their lost game when a claw machine picks up a toy, carries it for 2 seconds, opens up, dropping the toy 5 inches away from the opening. The employee says you can play but make sure the claw doesn’t fall to the side because it will close and open up again, if it falls upright then it will close and stay closed until it gets to the prize entry.
Well, I played all the other machines and they all seem very loose and rigged. So I decide to play this one because the claw had some grip to it.
I was right. it did have grip, the claw grabs a toy carries it for 2 seconds. then drops it. I tell this to the employee and he doesn’t believe me. He goes on for 2 mins about how every game play the claw gets tighter and there nothing he can do about it. I know this too but its at least supposed to stay closed for the duration of the carry time to the prize slot, which it did not.
Another employee comes by and agrees to give us the dollar credit in the arcade. We go and wait and wait. After 13 minutes no one shows up. We’re like WTF, they probably doing this on purpose making us wait for this long and for $ 1. We just left with a ripped off feeling in our guts.

My friends and I played a few games to pass the time while we wait for our screening to start.
We won 10,000 tickets in a certain machine but the tickets did not come out because they ran out. Upon tapping furiously at the coin return and ticket button, an employee grabs our tickets and kicks us out claiming that we «hacked» the machines.
We demanded to speak to a manager and their names to make a complaint but they refused and threatened to call security.

Anything involving instant positive reinforcement, especially in a variable ratio, is bad news for me. I will gamble for the sake of gambling –simply for the thrill of winning– until I am dragged from the table/​slot machine/​computer/​etc. «I’m almost there,» I scream! «Just one more game!»
Arcades are not exempt from my addictive tendencies. It’s me and a bunch of little kids, duking it out to see who can be the Toy Shoppe champion. And if you like those claw «games,» where you can win stuffed animals and other useless things, you’ll feel like you’ve wandered into heaven here. There are at least 20 of those alone (they must make BANK).
This is, by no means, the best arcade I’ve been to. But it’s convenient if you live in the city and a hell of a date night if your partner also loves to spend 20 bucks trying to win cheap crap. We never care what toys we bring home– it’s all about the glory!

We came across this place when we saw Obsessed at the Metreon. I realized there was an arcade entrance on the second floor on our way out. I immediately began to search for the dance machines. I kept walking, and walking, and walking, until I realized — holy shit! — this place is HUGE! The machines were all the way in the back in their own neat little alcove. I approached the ITG2 machine and noticed the pads were rather peculiar. Where there should have been blue and red arrows, there was solid paint. I attempted to play despite the strange pads, but they turned out to be broken so I lost the game. I reported it to the guy and he gave me a free game on Supernova.
When I walked out, I noticed there was a separate arcade room to the side. Upon walking in, I realized there must have been over 50 different claw machines. I was absolutely floored. They were closing at this point, so I couldn’t stick around and waste money. However, the next time I’m in town, I’m SO going back with friends. Hopefully by then, they’ll have their ITG2 machine fixed and hacked (it desperately needed songs).

p
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somehow I posted a review that only showed a p. But I got some funny, useful, cool votes. Umm, cool, I guess.
At any rate, this arcade had the LARGEST supply of claw machines I’ve ever seen. There is a whole room, where — depending on the size of the prize — you use between 2 and 8 tokens (worth 0.25 each) for the right to use the claw to win a picachu, a sponge bob, a rubber duck, and any number of other useless stuffed animals /​pillows /​toys. I never win, but it was still kind of fun.

Pretty cool place. Ignore that it’s located inside some neo-​cyber-​teckno mall, and it’s even better. Huge section dedicated to claw machines, but after losing 10 bucks, my boyfriend and I sulked to the arcade room with a lonely rubber duckie. Skee-​ball galore and a couple of options for shooting hoops — both will win you an insane amount of tickets — but still only enough to buy you a pack of Reese’s Pieces and a tiny rubber snake. All the usual arcade games, DDR (and some interactive bowling game???), and fun versus games. I probably don’t need to go back for another year, but it’s nice knowing it’s there.
P. S.The workers there don’t do anything! They don’t even count your tickets — instead, there’s a machine that does it for you.

I’m reasonably sure this place used to have a bar in it when I visited SF a few years before I ever thought I’d live here. I remember drinking at the bar, looking at people hyperbowling and thinking «Hey, that looks fun!» Needless to say, when I returned here as a resident several years later with some friends after someone’s birthday lunch, hoping to get some drunken hyperbowling in, I was mildly disappointed.
Anyway, as far as arcades go it’s pretty decent. Large variety of games, including skeeball, air hockey and pinball, as well as an insane array of claw machines just waiting and beckoning you to plunk your hard earned tokens in there. Lots of candy and random useless doodads available as prizes for scoring high on skeeball and other assorted games. Hyperbowling is entertaining too, though it’d be more entertaining with booze. Then again, everything’s more entertaining with booze. Just kidding. Sort of.
All in all, I’ve been to better arcades (and very few of them had booze), but I’d say it’s a little better than the average. Yay for not sucking!

Went to Tilt last night and was informed by the Metreon staff that it’s been CLOSED for OVER A YEAR. What gives? They now have some of the surviving arcade machines in the lobby of the movie theater, but many are broken and all are aging.
If you want an arcade, don’t come here.

I HATE arcades. Hate them. Passionately. I do, however, LOVE air hockey.
So, we ventured over to Tilt. We waited our turn. We played two games. A bunch of teenagers hovered annoyingly. We left.
Though I didn’t get my fill of air hockey, I had more than my fill of arcades. Three stars for being one of only two places in the city that I know I can play at – and it’s way better than going out to Pier 39!

I remember when they used to put credit on card only. That’s one thing that always pissed me off at arcades. When you’re a kid you walk around with a few quarters or a few bucks in your pocket. You don’t wanna go through the trouble of getting a membership card and swiping creds on it.
Luckily, you can just change your dollars for tokens now! (haha not sure when this change happened) I came here the past weekend and there seemed to be a decent crowd around (so at least when you play you won’t feel like the isolated, token (no pun), gamer).
What really made my eyes pop out were the insane number of «claw-​machines» they had in the room next door. I couldn’t even count how many there were (I’m never too good if there’s more than the amount of fingers) but really. I was surrounded by them! I learned to stop playing these games because I think they’re RIGGED but it was so hard to walk by them without reaching for a buck… SO HARD!
It’s hard to do well at an arcade, especially if there’s basically a free one downstairs at the PlayStation Store… but these guys look like they were doing the job pretty well.

1. claw machines
2. shameful wasting of cash money.
3. went home with many toys
4. done.

There is still something good about coming to the Metreon and it is this place. Wanna kill some time before a movie or just want to feel like a kid again for a couple of hours then this is the place to do it! I had a lot of fun playing games and winning useless-​but-​will-​make-​you-​giggle prizes! My friend and I played the Deal or No Deal game and you could win a crap load of tickets easily (depending on what deal you take). I love this place… just wish it stayed open later.

Games. Video games. Video games that take tokens. That’s the basic floor plan for the place. Not like how it used to be. Really up to date games with the whole card payment like at Dave and Busters. This new place that took the place of The Garage is kinda… nostalgic? Reminds me of the old days of Pier 39 before Namco took over. When it still had the Turbo Ride that «simulated» a roller coaster and had god awful games that were broken most of the time and prizes you trade for with the tickets you win from skee ball. And when a buck got you 7 tokens. Those were the days.
This place does a buck for 4. Fairly reasonable. Games, fairly decent. But wait, there’s more! You go to the right and you will remember there used to be a shop there that sold marked up products you could find cheaper at the CompUSA that is not closed. They have tons and tons of UFO machines… Well, Crane game to you Americans. I mean, this side is LOADED! Kinda cool but if memory serves me correctly, they suck you dry of tokens easily and often because you think you can get something but in reality you won’t. Yeah, almost as bad as the carnival games. But guys are suckers for girls squealing over something cute so they try to act all macho and try, in vain most of the time, to get their girl a prize… Only to be defeated by a machine that has a hunger for humiliation and your tokens. Better luck next time, buddy!
All in all a good distraction and time killer for when you are early for a show. Just make sure you don’t spend everything there. And I hope they update their games soon. I think the newest one they had was Time Crisis 3… Let’s pray they can come up with Street Fighter 4…

This arcade is pretty cool. Bring cash, you can play pinball, shoot continuous hoops, skeeball, air hockey, play lets make a deal, fighter games, arctic thunder, racing games. I have spent 20.00 on games that lasted me two hours. Basketball is my favorite. To me this is better than the last arcade…
WARNING do not play the claw games for stuffed animals. I wasted a good 10.00 on winning nothing.