Epic disappointment

rtree1

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painesville, Ohio
I was excited because my wife wanted to celebrate her birthday at the Boneyard on Mayfield Rd last night. For you non-clevelanders, the Boneyard is a huge bar with a decent sized arcade on the east side of Cleveland. When we walked in, I was delighted to see 4 old pins, Harlem Globetrotters, Countdown, Stellar Wars and another EM pin. They had a beautiful looking Punch-Out, a Namco reunion, and some other nice classic games. I purchased a $25 game card for myself, and one for my wife. That is when the disappointment started. We played Mario Kart. One of the steering wheels were broken. We went to play air hockey, the scoreboard didn't work. Guitar hero arcade, out of order. Sega waverunner, the jetskis were broke. Sega topskater, the skateboard didn't work. There were two newer stern pins, NASCAR and world poker tour. The playfields on both were so dirty, you could not even see the artwork. Startrek voyager, the gun wouldn't fire. The flippers stuck on the old pins. Skeeball out of order. My wife wanted to go in the photobooth, to have a souvenir of the evening, it too was out of order. I left with only spending about half my card. My wife had a good time, but I don't think I will be going back there anytime soon.
 
That really sucks. At least your wife was able to enjoy the evening though.
 
It's a shame they would let things get to that point. Is the place struggling financially? I'm not from Cleveland so I don't know anything about it.

There should be like an arcade/pinball police you can call to have neglected games confiscated.
 
When I see stuff like that, I ask whether they own the games or if an operator put them in there:

1) If they own the games, I ask the manager/owner who does the repair. i tell them I was very disappointed with the condition, and would have spent more money playing had they been working properly. I then tell them that I can repair them for a fee (possibly even just credit towards future visits) if they are interested.

2) If they tell me an operator puts them there, I tell them they are missing out on potential money because the operator isn't maintaining the games properly and that you would have spent more money if they games actually worked and/or were clean. Tell the manager/owner they need to contact the operator and get someone out there to fix the issues so that their potential for profit will be back to optimum levels...
 
Easy rule of thumb - if it uses a card system, run dont walk far far away

Good point. You coughed up $50 for non-refundable game cards on the promise the games you see operating should be in playable condition. Did anything actually work? Sometimes a broken gun, bad shifter or stuck flipper happened recently and no one has reported the problem yet, but it sounds like you were ripped off really bad, there's no excuse for that much neglect. If I didn't get satisfaction from the manager on duty, I'd be tempted to start switching the games off myself or call their office on Monday and tell them about your experience.
 
What I've learned by reading this is to check or ask if the games work first.
But if there is no "out of order" sign and the owners don't know if a game is broke, it seems the only way for you to "check" would be to spend the money to try and play it. Not worth the hassle.

So it seems the best thing to do before buying a game card at such places is to ask if all the games are working properly or ask about refunds for non-working games you wanted to use the card with. I doubt they'd cheerfully refund your card though.

If it bothers you enough, go to the BBB website and post some negatives for their establishment.
 
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Well, there were probably about 300 people in there. The place was hopping. It seemed like the games were an afterthought. I know what it cost to buy these games new. I just don't understand how someone could put up the money to buy these games, and just let them go to crap. Someone could spend a month recapping all the messed up monitors in there. Next time, we will just go to Dave & busters. At least they take care of their games.
 
Shoulda just started turning all of those screwy games off. It might not make a difference, but might make a point to someone working there.
 
That sucks. I hate seeing games neglected like that. I did some work in Buffalo, NY and they had a Dave and Busters. Actually, not a "bad" place. The games were newer. They did have 2 older games, Ms. Paman and Qix. I really enjoyed Qix but at $1 per play for the classics and $2 sometimes $3 per play on the newer games, I didn't stay very long.
 
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