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B & I Circus Amusements
Rating Details »
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
7 reviews for B & I Circus Amusements
Oh, Holy-sweet-baby-Jesus-crackers!! The B & I is such a guilty pleasure!
For anyone on the fence about visiting this oddity ... do it! Think Mallrats and the dirt mall Brody loves to frequent. No, no, no, no! It's a good thing, trust me!
Looking for a puppy, snake, or bunny? How about a booth specializing in custom grillz? Movie sword replica's? Arcade? How about comics and action figures? A Mr.T full-sized cardboard cutout?!?!?
You can find all of this and more ... at ye olde B & I! Oh, eek gads this place is so fantastically kitsch! I mean, there's old news clippings and photo's from the 60's when Burt Ward (Yes, Robin from the Batman series) visited the B & I!!
So, if you're ever bored .. go to the B & I and buy yourself a hooker-wig, Arwen sword Replica, and some Danger Girl comics!!
You won't regret it!! Well, you won't regret it, so long as you lock your car up nice and good!
I used to go to the B and I when I was kid. Place has changed alot.. but they got some good food there and the stores are awesome.
B & I is a force to be reckoned with. I have been coming here since as far back as I can remember (I can remember back to about 3 yo- so 1982) and tho it has changed significantly, I will say the awe and freak-show type atmosphere is still going strong. When I was a kid, we came here all the time to see Ivan the Gorilla. I used to be so excited to see that gorilla, looking through the little plate glass windows into his "pin" seeing a gorilla just laying there looking lethargic and depressed. I am glad to say Ivan was sent away to a sanctuary in Georgia I believe but they still have a massive amount of "Ivan the Gorilla" Memorabilia hanging around.
You can also get your tongue pierced, a shirt silk screened with your favorite family photo, cash yo check, buy a puppy that came from a puppy mill, eat Mexican food while smelling the puppies that came from the puppy mill, look at puppies while eating Mexican food who look lethargic and depressed a little like Ivan used too, get your nails did, buy some rims, get Mexican Ostrich boots/hats/belts, get colored contacts, get your fake Gucci bag or as I like to call it Pucci bag, all the beauty supply products you could think of, weave, and you could go skateboarding on there ramp inside ( i think that is still there), ride rides, play vintage video games (hit or miss if they work) OH and so much more.. if you want a afternoon of feeling sad, nostalgic, weird, happy and sad - Go to the B&I! :)
I have a mild obsession with photo booths. I had heard a rumor of a black and white at the B & I arcade in Tacoma. This is all I had to go on. I grabbed a buddy and hoped for the best. Little did we know we would embark on a most magical of days.
The rumors are true: kitten covered upholstery fabric, grillz, churros, $20 bunnies & bird eating tarantulas, bee bee guns, tiger rugs, wigs, nails, and bargain thongs. Not to mention the rows and rows of pinball and indoor carousel (well worth the $1.50 a ride once Nirvana comes on the juke box)...
The digital photo booth was a disappointment, but the B&I more then made up for it. Hope I didn't spoil the surprise.
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Gold Teeth
Notary Public
DoLLLar Store
Beauty Supplies
Discount
Check Cashing
Ladies Clothes
Cell Phones
Pet Store
Foam & Fabric
That is the sign that caused me to whip my car around in an illegal U-Turn maneuver just to check out what the hell was going on here. Wandering through the "mall" was every bit as wonderful as the sign promised. Go around the corner and find some Mexican hamburguesas right next to the beautiful Indian sari shop, round the next corner you'll find an X-TREME hobby store full of remote control cars along with a check cashing place, a tobacco shop, a pet store full of puppies and kittens for sale (who knew pet stores still did this?) a Chinese take-out counter, and a store full of foam.
Little did I know that this place was THE place to be in Tacoma back in the day. There is a whole wall outlining the history of the shopping mall - it even talks (unashamedly) about the capturing of a baby Indian elephant that lived there, and the famous Ivan the gorilla who was finally sprung to lead a happy life in an Atlanta zoo.
I am definitely heading back here sometime soon. There was a store that was closed (closed consisted of throwing some bright orange netting around their merchandise) where there were all sorts of faux cowboy boots for sale. Since I didn't understand what orange plastic netting meant we asked the nice guy that ran the adjacent Gold Rims shop what was going on and he told us that they were at the hospital. Sad.
There is so much to see and do here that I'm probably going to have to make an entire weekend out of it!!!
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Like most of my reviews here, only here to review pin spots. And this might be the mecca of pinball in Tacoma. 9 working pins here, so nice. The only thing missing here is a nice cold one, but you have everything else including a ball pit to throw your kids into.
If you've read the other reviews here, you'll see this place is pretty diverse as far as food and merch goes. So if you do drop in, you're not going to have any issues finding something to eat/drink. Shopping might be another thing, but if you're into wigs, gold teeth, pets and baseball cards, you should be fine. Actually, the baseball card place has a ton of old consoles(nes, genesis) coming in and out.
So the pins! Lots here, look at the list below. Supposedly some take tokens, most take quarters and most of them are out of bars. So some of these did look a little beat up. I gave Addams Family a few credits before leaving and it held up well and played fine, little slow it seemed, but everything seemed to be functioning. I think most of the games were 3/$1, but who knows, doesn't seem like anyone is showing these any real attention.
If pinball isn't your thing, but other coin-op goodies are, this is still the place. Tons of old arcades and tons of new ones. I guess I didn't even think there would still be this much stuff there, but really, biggest arcade I know of in Tacoma.
The Addams Family - http://www.ipdb.org/ma...
Jurassic Park - http://www.ipdb.org/ma...
Indiana Jones - http://www.ipdb.org/ma...
Twilight Zone - http://www.ipdb.org/ma...
EarthShaker - http://www.ipdb.org/ma...
Star Terk - http://www.ipdb.org/ma...
Cue Ball Wizard - http://www.ipdb.org/ma...
Judge Dredd - http://www.ipdb.org/ma...
Plus a few non working machines - earthshaker, cyclone, whirlwind
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I absolute LOVE this place! also to mention that I crave for Mr. Wongs food at least twice a week. But other than the Mexican burgers, pho and mouthwatering baked ziti - I love B & I for so many reasons! It's so interesting to just people watch sitting in their food court! I swear to goodness I saw Lil' Wayne and Trina there last weekend! haha! But seriously - it's just real there!
