Play! Hoboken

"This review is based on a number of factors that may or may not be controlled by the owner. First of all, this business is a great concept, but in the wrong community. Hoboken is just not ideal for outside visitors as parking is absolutely impossible. They have a shared parking lot in the back of the property that is shared with multiple tenants and only 4 spots assigned to this business. Parking on the street is limited to residents with permits only, so driving here is a huge gamble. The condition of the property, as mentioned in a previous review, is that of an old factory. I personally have not experienced any downside to that. The equipment is well maintained and the facilities are adequate to fit your needs. The purpose of my visit was strictly for shooting pool and they definately have a huge room with plenty of well kept tables. A little expensive, but it is worth it given the amount of space and condition of the tables. I have been shooting pool for many years, and for those of us who shoot for hours, it is customary to take a little break every couple of hours. In this case, after 2 hours, I needed to go down and check on my car and take a smoke break. I went to the counter and asked that they pause my time for about 15 minutes so that I could take a break. I was told yes, however, that I should bring the balls and other items to the counter to clear the table while I was paused. I responded with "I only need 15 minutes and I do not want to bring the stuff up for this quick break" to which I was told that they couldn't pause the clock because they can't rent the table while my stuff is still there. To be clear, that response makes sense if the place is full, with customers waiting to play, but there was literally 1 other table in action in addition to mine. The place was completely empty of pool shooters with approximately 10 available tables. 15 minutes of play time amounts to $2.50, so it's not a huge amount of money. I ultimately opted to leave the clock running and simply took the necessary break and returned to play. My contention is simply that as a business owner myself, I would have accommodated the request. I don't believe it was unreasonable and as such, would have opted to keep a customer."

"Run by thieves. As other reviews will indicate, the manager Max is a very difficult person. He charged us $75 instead of $8 for moving a time slot for a booking (despite the fact that we were a large group that had stayed two hours and ordered a lot of food and drinks). He has not read his own website booking conditions, and fought with us over how cancellation policies work. In the end, it was after midnight and we paid just to get out of there. The food was burned and the waiter didn’t know the menu or drinks on offer."

"I wasn’t sure what to expect when we found this place —but I was looking for pinball on my Pinball Map app, and I found it! So far as I can tell, they have the *largest* selection of pinball games in town, and that is something. Barb Wire, Avengers, Last Action Hero, Lost World (1978), Hurricane and Cue Ball Wizard all worked fine, and the whole place (I think?) is pay per hour. We also checked out their extensive board games selection. They have a good selection of non-alcoholic drinks such as Jarritos and red bull, and they had fountain drinks as well. I think I was expecting a straight-up arcade, which this place is not, but there seems to be a bit for everyone, golfers and board game fans, pool players and role playing game/card game players. It’s a nice spot to be inside on a hot day, very reasonably priced…I think more arcade games would have sweetened the deal for me personally."

"great place to just relax, spend the day and play different kinds of games, like arcade and board games. the pool hall is pretty big and spacious. its essentially got the layout of a old factory so its all very open. however, the food they sell is very low quality and definitely doesn't match up the price. they dont sell beer but will sometimes keep it cold (the owner is a big factor in this) but if you decided to have them store it for you, just know you wont necessarily get your drink. theres a lack of management and upkeep in the business which im afraid will be the eventual death of this place specially when theres talk of possible bowling lanes and expansion but you get rained on while playing pool and the balls always get stuck on the tables. the juxebox is also busted. the songs play fine but when your paid song plays on speaker the volume will drop to barely audible. they charge a lot for such lack of maintenance meaning theyre solely interested in making money. it all really falls on the owner, who is notorious for replying to every bad review and just making it so much worse. when i first visited this place it was a 5/5 but the more i visit the more i see and the less i like."

"TL;DR owner called the cops on me and my kid for playing pool while we waited for a chess class. Would give 0 stars if I could. Stay away from this place. The owner threatened to call the cops on me when me and my kid played on the kid-sized pool table (see picture) while waiting for a kids' chess lesson to begin. As you can see, the pool cues and balls were readily available to play, no signage anywhere that it was pay to play. He quite rudely told me that I was "damaging his pool table" and that I "wouldn't be able to afford to replace it if I damaged it." I've played pool plenty of times and I can tell you that I wasn't doing anything that would damage a table. When I asked him for clarification, he raised his voice at me. I told him that that was no way to speak to people and he told us to leave. When I asked if he was being for real, he repeated that he wanted us to leave and were not welcome to attend the chess class that we had paid for in advance. So rude and humiliating in front of my 9 year old who was so excited to play chess. When I asked for a refund, he refused to refund me in cash then and there. When I told him I wouldn't leave without a refund, he told me he would call the cops. I told him to go right ahead! My poor kid cried and said, "I guess I'll be playing chess by myself tonight." I didn't stay long enough to see if the cops were gonna come or not, was a total waste of my time. I left after he ensured that he had refunded me in full over paypal. Don't operate a business for games and toys for kids if you can't handle normal kid stuff. Totally ridiculous and uncouth, and I wouldn't recommend anyone to go if they're looking for a family-friendly time. Not unless they wanna be profiled as a brown working class mom and harassed and kicked out for no sensible reason."