Round1 Bowling & Arcade Potomac Mills

Great experience! Lots of game choices and bowling was fun. A little a pricey but all arcades are. Definitely cheaper than other ones I've been to. Loved the atmosphere

Jan 24, 2025 · Saige T

Round1 at Potomac Mills has some good things going for it, but there are also some pretty significant downsides that keep it from being a standout arcade experience. On the positive side, they offer a decent selection of games, including some cool VR options that are genuinely fun to play. The space is also relatively clean, which is always a plus. However, the overall experience leaves a lot to be desired. The attendants are not very attentive, which can make getting help for issues frustrating. There are often several games out of order, and it’s even worse when some games will take your tokens without working at all—something that really shouldn’t be happening. While the game selection is nice, the prices are quite high, making it hard to fully enjoy the experience without feeling like you’re overspending. Overall, it’s an okay spot if you’re already in the area and want to check it out, but don’t go in expecting everything to run smoothly or to get a lot of bang for your buck.

Jan 13, 2025 · William Robinson

I would stay away from here if you care about things like claws and redemption games these days. In the past year or two, they have raised prices, raised the cost to play games, and have made them significantly harder to win. I am giving an example in the photos where the game used to have two spots where if you landed a ball in one, you won the prize. They nerfed it to only have one spot that you can land on. Today, they did an even more extreme nerf where there are three spots and you need to get all three. Someone literally used up every ball available except one and still did not win the prize. And this does not even include the fact that the pusher games are usually set up to be un-winnable, and they put prizes with claws that cannot accommodate them. If you look at the clickers in the machine showing how many some were won, it is incredible how many are at zero. And then ticket redemption games are no better. I attached a photo of a game called "Quarterback Pro" where you throw footballs at targets. Usually, the machine has several footballs in it, but this location only has a single football. It is literally impossible to win the game with one football and you are just sitting around waiting most of the time. A final thing is that even if you win something like a jackpot, you could easily just not get the tickets the machine says you should win. I won a 500 ticket jackpot, and yet was only awarded 250 tickets. I was told by staff that that was the correct jackpot amount, but they conveniently don't tell you. Round1 is still good for niche Japanese rhythm games and whatnot, but stay away if you want to come here for redemption games.

Jan 14, 2025 · Jason

A clean, fun atmosphere, but the claw machines are very much rigged. My little brother only found one machine that ever gave any prizes out. Other than that, the games are good except that many are out of order or take points from your card but don’t let you play. Overall, there are much better places you can go. I enjoyed this place for the most part, but I would never go here again.

Feb 08, 2025 · Dani K

This place used to be so much fun! Last year, we spent over $1,000 here just to enjoy ourselves. The staff were super nice, and the experience was worth it. But this year, everything seems to have changed! The current staff are incredibly rude, and the paid gifts are so stingy. Additionally, they’ve set up some claw figure machine games in an almost impossible way to win, which is not worth it at all. For example, the box-pushing game used to start with the box between two rods, but now it starts on a flat surface and the rod, making it impossible for the claw to reach down to make the box rolling! It feels like they’re just out to make money without giving customers any enjoyable experience. This was honestly our first unpleasant experience of 2025. Never coming back again. Even one star feels too generous. Avoid this place!

Jan 22, 2025 · Han Su