14 Best Barcades in Los Angeles

The flagship of the LA barcade scene, and still the one to beat. Three distinct zones, a dedicated pinball hall, a video-games-and-bar room, and an ambient outdoor lounge, where the restored classic cabinets still run on a single quarter. It's the rare spot that nails both the drinks and the machines, which is exactly why locals sum it up as "fun for a quarter."

The Brooklyn original's genuine LA outpost, a craft-beer-forward room of lovingly restored classic cabinets on York Boulevard. The beer list is the co-star: a rotating, seriously curated tap wall to sip while you chase a high score. Exactly what a barcade should be, no gimmicks.

A neighborhood bar built around a wall of pinball machines and a real tournament scene, with local wine and craft beer to match. It's low-key and lived-in, the kind of place where regulars have their machine, and one of the best pure pinball rooms in the city.

A gloriously divey Koreatown hang with old-school pinball and DJs spinning funk, soul, and disco most weekends. It's small, dark, and unpretentious, the antidote to a slick night out, and one of the most fun cheap-thrill rooms on the Eastside of central LA.

Wrapped in an 80s/90s purple-and-pink neon aesthetic, Player One is one of the only barcades that pairs the cabinets with both DDR and karaoke. It's a full night out under one roof in NoHo, dance, sing, and grind through a fighting-game bracket, all on quarters.

A horror-and-heavy-metal pizza bar in Long Beach (Ozzy has stopped by) that recently added a full liquor bar to go with its small-but-fun cabinet lineup. The pizza is genuinely excellent, the soundtrack is loud, and the whole thing is a themed good time.

A woman-owned gaming lounge in Pomona known for its video-game-themed specialty beer glassware, a big board-game library, and rotating art exhibitions. Relaxed and creative, it's a barcade with a genuine sense of community, worth the drive out to the eastern edge of the county.

A working craft brewery in the Arts District with skeeball lanes, darts, and the occasional Mario Kart tournament to go with house-brewed beer. It's more brewery-with-games than pure barcade, but the skeeball is free on Mondays and the beer is the real draw.

It looks like a sports bar and plays like an arcade, pool, darts, driving cabinets, and a wall of TVs, with near-daily specials ($2 drafts, $1 Taco Tuesdays, Whiskey & Wings Wednesdays). The best pick when your group is split between a game on the screen and a game on the machine.

The big-box benchmark, huge floors of the latest ticket-redemption and video games, a full bar, and a sports-bar crowd, at two LA-area locations. It's not a hidden gem, but it's a reliable crowd-pleaser and the easiest option when you've got mixed ages during the day.

The former Bowlero Mar Vista, now branded Lucky Strike, bowling, an arcade, and lounge seating on the Westside. Family-friendly by day and a solid group hang by night, it's the easy call when you want games plus a few frames under one roof.

The bowling-and-arcade spot formerly known as Jewel City Bowl, now Back Alley Bowling, casual lanes, a decent cabinet lineup, and Sunday karaoke to round it out. A dependable, unpretentious Glendale hang that covers a few kinds of night in one place.

An all-day mega-center in Santa Clarita: arcade plus laser tag, go-karts, axe throwing, golf sims, and duckpin bowling. It's less craft-cocktail barcade and more full entertainment complex, but for a group that wants to do everything in one stop, nothing else on this list competes on variety.

A friendly family bowling alley and arcade in Huntington Park with a full bar and a weekend spark, kick off Friday with the $3 Fireball shot. It's the southeast-LA neighborhood pick: unpretentious, affordable, and a good time without the drive to a fancier complex.