Round1

Arcades are few and far between, and pretty much non-existent in the area I live. So when the opportunity arose to visit an arcade in my brother's neck of the woods, I was all for it.

Round 1 in Exton, Pennsylvania is about a year old, and has taken the location of a now defunct anchor store at Exton Square. While I would have thought this would have been way too much space for an arcade, I quickly, and happily was proven wrong.

Upon entering, I found arcades have changed drastically from my time. Machines are massive and immersive these days. They're not just games anymore. Rather, interactive experiences.

The lifeblood of Round1 hinges on game cards.

If you don't have one, Round1 is happy to sell you one for two dollars...Which is lame. Sorry, but the cards should be free. For the price of the games, they need to chalk this up to "cost of doing business".

Speaking of costs, you can buy your credits in various denominations. They more you buy, the more you get free. I ended up buying the $30.00 package. Savings were minimal.

At these kiosks, located around the place, you can check your current credits, collected tickets and also refill credits.

Yes, you read that correctly. Tickets earned from various games don't come out in paper form. Instead, they're digitally added to your card. These can then be used in the gift shop to exchange excessively high denominations of them for low quality merchandise.

Of course, the premium prizes are on full display. However, your average player will never earn enough tickets for anything beyond a small plastic comb or pack of candy.

The games, man were those massive.

This Batman game is the first one you'll see walking through the entrance. It's a racing / shooting game where you can drive multiple Batmobiles through various eras. I chose the 1989 version.

Star Wars: Battle Pod is the main reason I bought credits. It was pretty fun. I made it through all but the last level.

What I didn't like about the game was how the place nickled and dimed you for it. At ten credits per play, it was one of, if not the, most expensive games to play. Additionally, whether you passed a level or not, your game was over, requiring an additional ten credits to continue on.

The game was fun to play, but it was way too repetitive. Each level was just a combination of blow up TIE Fighters, Bombers and Interceptors, and fire torpedo as prompted.

My brother ended up playing this Harley Davidson racing game (below), and got all the way to the fifth and final race in one play. I don't know how he does it. I can't play racing games to save my life.

The second section of the arcade is reserved for prize and ticket based games. It's a combination of various timing skill games, arcade shooters and claw games.

This Ghostbusters game gave us a five hundred ticket prize for defeating the bonus mission against the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man.

The third section of the arcade was difficult to walk through and take photos. I had to run in, snap a few, and run out - All while holding my breath. This was where the rhythm games were located - Dance Dance Revolution, drum games, guitar game and other unknown dancing based games.

This area stunk! BO was everywhere, and it was awful!

There were a lot more games like this, but I just couldn't bring myself to keep being self subjected to the stink.

If all the games weren't enough, you could even play pool, darts, ping pong and even bowling!

Round1 doesn't want you to leave with a dime. That's why they also sell a variety of food and drink. We didn't eat here, but the giant wings which came out looked and smelled delicious.

Everything shown here, while a good representation of Round1, doesn't showcase everything. There were several more photos I took of game cabinets and peripherals for playing. However, for the purposes of this post, I'll leave it at this.

What was noticeably missing were the classics. While they did have updated versions of Pac-Man, Tetris and a few others, the original games were nowhere to be found. I Feel like Round1 is missing an opportunity to not only have a great place to play all the new games, but also one where nostalgia can be found.

The night was wrapped up perfectly with a delicious Graham Cracker ice cream cone from Brusters!

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