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Categories: Cinema, Local Flavor, Pool Halls [Edit]
Neighborhoods: Southeast Portland, BelmontUpon entering, you might get that slightly creepy nostalgic feel that wraps up stale popcorn, dirty clowns, chintzy games, and silly gag prizes into one colorful balloon just waiting to pop in your now grown-up face.Or maybe you'll just happily regress back into a three-foot-tall six year old, and gleefully skip through the aisles of games while squeeling at a decibal meant to deafen bats in South America...
Either way, the Avalon Theatre and Nickel Arcade is bound to offer up a good old time, without breaking the bank. Matter of fact, screw the bank. Crack open your piggy bank and shove as many nickels as your pudgy fingers can into your pockets. It's a nickel arcarde after all, which means -- you got it -- most of the games are actually only a nickel to play.
There are some modern variations that'll cost you multiple nickels, like the House of the Dead zombie shoot-em-up game, or the Shrek pinball, or the amazing and wonderful skee ball. SKEE BALL! Yes!
They also offer some of the cheapest movies in Portland. i have yet to see a movie here, though I wouldn't expect state of the art sound systems or screens. they DO charge a measly $2.50 for adults, after all. But I'm willing to tolerate mediocre quality speakers for a chance to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen for the price of a pack of gum (okay, a really big pack of gum...).
There are a few catches to the arcade though: Children. Yes, friends. They exist, and they nag and they nag and they nag their parents to take them to the arcade until they finally succumb. This isn't Ground Kontrol, folks. There is no beer and there are children everywhere. Refrain from punting them, pretending that they're speed bumps, or using your size and age to con your way ahead of them in line.
Before you survive the children, though, you'll have to rummage through your pockets to produce they entrance fee of $2.50. And before your cheap ass starts grumbling, make use of the weekly and special coupons you can print out from their web page ("buy one admission, get two free", for example).
When you've had your fill of joyous childish musings in the arcade, gather up your tickets and don't make any rash decisions. Breathe deeply. Focus. Meditate on the prizes at hand. Will it be the whoopie cushion to torture coworkers with? The Jolly Roger sweat bands? Or a revolting amount of candies you can spend the next four days using to send yourself into diabetic shock?
Choose, but choose wisely...
On my Sundays my boyfriend & I always do something fun. Last Sunday we found ourselves at Wunderland Arcade on Belmont. I thought I was having a good time till' my purse got snatched from between my feet while playing a game!
The door guy wouldn't say if anyone had left in the last five minutes, the desk staff was VERY not helpful about helping me look around, the note I left with the description of the purse & its contents was never turned into the manager as I asked to be done.
Point of my rant is: No wonder they don't accept credit cards, they only want you to carry cash to be jacked. I am almost certain the staff was in on this.
A police report was made the next day & the officer said this is kinda a common story about this arcade.
Beware Ladies- carry things in pockets instead or just go to Ground Kontrol.
Pretty much amazing. Smells like stale popcorn, teenaged staff, crappy prizes, weird arcade machines with japanese characters on them, at least TWO big-rig 18 wheeler themed games.
And skee ball, oh skee ball. The skee ball is 10 cents (2 nickels). All the games take nickels in varying amounts. Many are 1 nickel. AIr hockey is 4 nickels (but really 2 per person).
Personally I loved this place, but I love colorful holes in the wall that reek of nostalgia. If you are looking for a shiny arcade with the newest games this is not your place.
I did encounter a few games that straight up ate my nickels. But they are nickels. I can only get so sore about it.
My friend and I racked up 450 tickets to afford:
2 little pony keychains
1 cash money dollar sign keychain
1 super bounce ball
1 of those pencils that has stackable colored leads
1 chinese style paper fan
MANY tootsie rolls/tootie froots. We spent our balance on these and were supposed to take 25 but I will be honest, I guessed with a few handfuls. Honor system!
Also here's a tip, and since you are reading this review I know you have internet. Go to their web site and print out the coupons:
http://www.wunderlandg...
I got buy one get one free admission for me and my friend!
This is a review of the arcade. I've never been in the theater.
Do you remember when arcades were about video games and not stupid ticket games? When you went to be indoctrinated in the ways of slaying evil robot conquerors and not in the ways of mindless junk consumerism (ok, we have to leave Pac Man out of this discussion, but hopefully you get my drift)? What the hell happened? At what point will people's Nintendo systems start printing out Walmart coupons when they win games?
This place has had the same lousy video games for quite some time now. Like that one where you're an undersea explorer and you have to shoot some leviathan 100 times in the head. Or the messed up crack Japanese Star Wars game. Or the truck driver game, for crissakes. At least there's air hockey.
Remember when I told you all to join the mailing list because you get coupons for free admission and free nickels? Well I hope you did that because it's still true. Actually, we've been getting like triple promotions lately-- it must be their recession response. The free family admission + 100 nickels coupons arrive every month, and new ones come as soon as the old ones expire. Then when you redeem them, you get another one just like it that expires in two weeks. Basically, we're talking about a whole lotta free nickels here, useful for any of the Avalon's entertaining video games. You know you want to win that sweet $ bling blingin' keychain.
Holy crap. This place is amazing. For $2.50 admission you can play all games you can afford, which… Read more »
Aimlessly driving through Portland's neighborhoods, without a plan for how to spend our last day we caught sight of the Avalon Theatre, which promised fun for just 5 cents. The creepy clowns on the side of the building couldn't have kept us away from this nickel arcade.
We paid a small admission at the door and spent the next hour playing skee ball and other old school arcade games. I got into it and had tickets bulging out of every pocket and am pretty sure that I was talking smack about my mad claw grabbing skills. It was like the carnival without the carnies.
There's nothing wrong with some good old fashioned fun on the cheap.
A coworker was talking about her kid's 10th birthday & how they might go to Wunderland. "Oh yea, I was there last weekend," I said. Everyone looks at me. "OK yea...maybe that's something I should've kept to myself."
My friend printed coupons so we basically got our admission back in nickels. We weren't too concerned about trading in for prizes so we stuck with mostly arcade games. There were definitely ones we had never seen before & there were some that required a lot of imagination for the rules because I just can't read Japanese that fast or probably understand it if I could. The bike one was a hardcore workout. Prob more than some spin classes I've done! There's only where you fight each other (almost thumbwar style) to knock each other out of the way. There's a dance dance revolution but w/ hand movements. One is kinda like a guitar hero competition. There's also a jumprope one (I've seen it in Vegas too) that we both failed horribly at. He didn't even make 1 jump. Haha. Course he beat me at pretty much everything else, but let's not talk about that.
After we used all our nickels (or most of them because some machines were broken & just ate 'en), we gave our tickets to a little girl & hopped into the theater for a $3 showing of Wall-E.
I already know I'll be spending many a rainy days trying to perfect my gaming skills at this awesome place.
This review is for the movie theater only, not the video games.
So, Portland may be the land of cheap, second run cinemas, but Avalon manages to distinguish itself even here. After an uninspiring meal across the street (http://www.yelp.com/bi...) we strolled on over to watch a "blow 'em up" dude flick (Iron Man pretty much rocked, btw) as both of our Lady's were otherwise occupied.
The seats are in good condition and relatively comfortable, but no armrest cupholders, they don't recline, and do not have high backs. Pretty much a quality version of the folding movie seat I recall from my youth. The floors were super sticky; every time I shifted my feet it sounded like yanking on a roll of imitation scotch tape.
But you can't beat $2.50 movie tix, better than many other places matinées. It's not a theater pub, so no beer/wine - given the infestation of kids running around the game room this is probably a wise decision from liability standpoint.
A large soda for only $2.50 ain't bad, but all of this would probably only earn 3*s in my book...until we ordered our sodas:
-My friend: Large Pepsi please?
-Dude behind the counter: Ice?
-Friend: Sure
-Dude: How much?
-Friend: ...uhhm...?
-Dude: how much ice would you like?
-Friend: ...sorry, you caught me off guard, I'll take 17 cubes please
-Dude: [starts scooping ice, counting each cube]
-Friend: this has to be the last place in PDX that asks how much ice you want!
And I believe he may be right. Ring up your 4th* Avalon Theatre, I will be back!
Why does the Avalon have to be my closest movie theater?
The sound and picture quality of the theater are terrible.
The popcorn is terrible.
And it's full of 13-year-olds. I didn't like being around 13-year-olds when I was 13, and it appeals even less to me now.
But, if you like playing inexpensive vintage pinball and video games, the Avalon is a place you should check out.
For $2.50 you get access to a bunch of nickel games and a free ticket back within the next 5 days. Yes, most of them are more than one nickel, but usually less than 5. They also have a bunch of older movies, also for super cheap. It's a good time.
Super fun and entertaining!
Beware: this isn't a Dave and Buster's, Jillian's or Gameworks quality arcade. It's a bunch of arcade and carnival style games (skee-ball, pinball, air hockey); mixed in with newer creations like Dance Dance Revolution and House of the Dead. At $3 for entry and the games only costing between $0.10 and $0.20 it's great fun at a great value.
Might I point out to the others that prefer to avoid the heathen children of society two points of advice: 1) Stop at the Aalto or Triple Nickel first and have a few drinks. 2) Go later in the evening to avoid kids.
Then it's FUN!!!
Cheap movies and skee-ball
This place reminds me of what I loved about a kid -- great movies that I could afford and arcade games for only a nickel. Gee, I don't even think they were ever that cheap before.
This place is so unique because it offers second-run movies and a nickel arcade in the same building. You can catch a bit older flick here for half the price of a matinee. Sure, it's rundown and the sound is a bit sketchy at times but who cares? It's a great deal and a fun, affordable outing.
I can't remember the last time that I played skee ball but it was at least 15 years ago, which ages me pretty rapidly. I had forgotten how much I loved tossing those wooden balls up the ramp into the holes worth points -- so fun! There's plenty of other games to choose from, so don't be surprised if you're in there for a few hours easily! Best to bring your change jar with you.
Tip: Great spot to take someone who needs a bit of cheer or on a first date.
old skool 4 star review.
so being the nerd i am, i like me some arcade. now, when im residing in the newest of englands, i fancy me some funspot, however, when we came to visit the rose city, it was suggested we hop it over to the Avalon.
it was pretty easy to find as with most of portland once you figure out the proximity to the river (thanks urban planners) and after a few wrong turns (again, not from round here) wifey and i found us here.
there is a cover charge, 2.50 i guess and then there you go, bring some nickles, or get them from the door dude cause all these machines are in denominations of the nickle. go figure.
what appealed to me the most about this place is the crazy nippon games they got here. im still waiting to go across the big puddle to place some pachinko and beat some drums to seizure inducing lights, but in the mean time, i had the opportunity to go here. they also have classics and pinball, but again, what really caught my attention was the japenese games. they also had the helocycle game from back in the day, you should try that again and see what kind of physical mess you are these days.
1-up and out
Playing with nickels, it's really easy to win lots of tickets and get fabulous prizes - including such things as laser pointers that nearly get you booted out of San Francisco hipster bars. I blew through a hundred coins. That would have been $25 in quarters, but only five bucks here.
The video games even run on nickels. Too many broken machines to give this place 5 stars. We'll talk about an upgrade next time I'm in Portland.
This is a great place to see a cheap, 2nd run movie (about $3 per show) and play a little skee-ball.
The nickle arcade is in the same building as the theater, so don't be surprised if you get sucked into playing a few rounds of air hockey. This is a great place to bring kids or go on a first date. The theaters are a bit cramped, but you get what you pay for.
Warning: Each person needs a roll of nickels. You will spend it all.
Whether you feel like seeing a film or playing some old school arcades, this place offers both. The movies are usually a bit older and cheaper. I'm sure you won't complain about the latter. As far as the arcade goes, there are plenty of games to chose from and the best part, they're usually not more than two or three nickels, however, there is a small entrance fee. I usually take over the air hockey table or the racing games. Also, tekken is fun but mortal kombat would be much better. I miss that game.
On a side note, the arcades are old so once in a while they'll swallow your nickels. No worries though, the staff is friendly enough to help with these dilemmas.
My sister and i had a lot of fun last time she visited here. We spent about $10 between the two of us and was there for a few hours playing skeeball and winning tickets. I am going to take her back this visit because we had so much fun!
The Avalon is a dream come true for video-game lovers young and old. Being a nickel arcade, the games are cheaper than adult-oriented Ground Kontrol downtown with a comprehensive collection of pinball, DDR, racing games, air hockey and ski ball. If you are a true pro you can take your tickets to the counter and get an inflatable Garfield or something of similar quality as testament to your talent. Despite the draw of the nickel arcade (playing DDR is a good way to pass the many rainy winter nights in Portland), I usually pass through the Avalon's doors to attend the cheap movie theater. The Avalon is the only all-ages cheap movie theater in town, and it's my favorite place to see horrendous horror movies that go straight from the full price theaters to the Avalon. The crowd is usually noisy and raucous and a healthy conglomerate of kids, adults, and drunks.
Whoa, the Avalon is just a big old barrel of trashy fun. I schooled the small child in Skee-ball, some creepy old guy gave me a handful of nickels, and I actually, for the first time in my life, got the claw to pick up a stuffed animal from the machine. An hour of family fun for $5.00. Awesome! Probably not recommended for anyone serious about games & pinball, but a fine, fine alternative to the Chuck E. Cheese.
Bring yo nickels fool! The Avalon is what you get when a trashy movie theatre mates with a nickel style Chuck E Cheeses. The layout is not conducive to the high traffic of children and parents roaming around aimlessly. Make sure to bring your own nickels because I couldn't find a change machine for the life of me, and the line for the counter guy was out the door. The good news is that I only spent 2.50 to see a past its prime blockbuster movie. The movie was terrible, but at 2.50 its almost as cheap as renting. Oh, and yes I went stag to the Avalon. Although the flashing lights and rampaging children I would choose the Kennedy School or the Laurelhurst over the Avalon for my 2nd run theatres.
This place has made me addicted to Skee-Ball. For $2.50 plus how many nickels you can afford, you can play lots of games. Most are the ticket-giving variety, but there's Skee-Ball so I rarely see any other games (though I like looking silly on the Dance Maniax and DDR machines). I have yet to see a movie there so I don't know how that experience is. However, it's the cheapest arcade in town, and you can bring the kids, unlike Ground Kontrol.
Put quite simply, if you want to see a movie on the cheap and it's playing elsewhere, go there; if you want to play nickel arcade games, don't go to this one but go to the one in Gateway or Milwaukie. While sound and image qualities in the cheaper theaters are expected to lag behind the major cinemas in quality, I could do better at home with an old Zenith and a stereo on mono. You've got a bunch of anklebiters roaming around like Lord of the Flies, only louder and non-violent (towards most adults, at least), and if you want to wade through them to play games, you'll find that most of the games are just LAME! They even got rid of Virtual On 2!
Target Terror Gold is my favorite video game. I will play it without blinking 'till tears are pouring down my face and I can barely squeeze the trigger due to muscle pain. I can beat that game in 25min with $3.75 and the fact that they have this game at Avalon makes it one of my favorite places to go in Portland. I love it here. For those that are slightly less OCD, Avalon has a wide variety of slightly hoopty video games including funky Japanese jump rope, air hockey, claw toy contraptions and big game hunter. $3 bucks gets you in the door to buy bags of nickels that kids carry around like crack.
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