Retro arcades are an awesome destination for a casual date, and Pinball Land is no exception. In fact, we have hand-picked our game lineup to include just the right titles you will love to play with your special someone. These games are each competitive without being exclusionary; games that a “hardcore gamer” doesn’t have an advantage in, but will still have lots of fun playing. Take a look at our Top 5 Games for a Great Date at Pinball Land so you know just what to play when you get here.
Puzzle Bobble/Bust a Move
Puzzle Bobble, also known as Bust a Move, is an adorable puzzle game that makes the list with its ease of play, its competitive spirit and its super cute dinosaurs. The gameplay is extremely simple: aim your cannon using the joystick and press the button to shoot a colored bubble towards other similarly colored bubbles. Connect 3 or more bubbles to make them pop! Oh, and to mix things up, any bubbles you pop turn into un-poppable “junk” that clogs up your opponent’s screen. It’s a race to see who can clear their screen first!
Puzzle Bobble is available to play on our cute, red Neo Geo cabinet. It will always be paired with another game in the same cabinet.
To select Puzzle Bobble, press the “Game Select” button on the control panel and the machine will switch to the next game. Then, just press the player start buttons to get in the game.
As an added bonus, the Neo Geo cabinet that houses Puzzle Bobble is small and narrow, so you and your date have no choice but to cozy up elbow-to-elbow to play over and over again.
Strikes n’ Spares
Going bowling is a nice, traditional date activity. At Pinball Land, you can go bowling and go to the arcade at the same time with Strikes n’ Spares! This unique game looks like a pinball machine at first glance, but upon closer inspection it’s something quite different. Strikes n’ Spares has you playing complete games of bowling using traditional pinball flippers and supersized pinballs. It’s incredibly satisfying to hit those pins!
To play Strikes n’ Spares, just press a flipper button once to release the ball, then press it again to flip the flipper. Time it just right to fire the enormous pinballs at the bowling pins to knock them down! It scores just like real bowling, complete with strikes and spares. Get 3 strikes in a row and a turkey even shows up! This game is an absolute blast, even if you (somehow) don’t like playing traditional pinball machines.
Cruisn’ Exotica and Fast and Furious Super Bikes
This one’s a tie! Our two head-to-head racing games are some of the best games we have for couples. The racing games we have at Pinball Land are anything but technical simulations, however they’re still a total adrenaline rush. Just slam the pedal to the metal, keep your vehicle (mostly) on the track, and laugh and scream all the way to the finish line!
Play Cruisn Exotica if you want to race cars on exotic tracks all around the world, or step up to the Fast and Furious Super Bikes to see how much trouble you and your date can get into on recklessly fast motorcycles. No helmets required!
Bags
Fulfill your dreams of playing bean bag toss in video game form with our insanely fun Bags game! It plays just like popular arcade golf game Golden Tee using the same trackball controller. If you’ve never played Golden Tee, no worries! All you need to do to throw your bean bag is roll the giant track ball backwards, then slam the ball forward. The bag will be thrown with stunning accuracy depending on exactly how you rolled the ball.
Bags is very competitive, with multiple high score boards including best players of the week and best team. The game saves your initials and scores on a hard drive for all time, so make sure you enter your name when you start your game so you and your date can carve your initials into the digital tree trunk that is the Hall of Fame.
Much more fun than you think it’s going to be, Bags might just turn out to be the game you come back for.
Dance Dance Revolution (DDR)
Turn Pinball Land into a night club every time you start a game of Dance Dance Revolution! Every couple has a great time challenging each other while bouncing to the beat on the illuminated stage of this rhythm game masterpiece.
You start playing DDR by watching the arrow sequence scroll up the screen. When each arrow reaches the top of the screen, you must step on the corresponding arrow on the dance stage. Rhythm is everything and you must step to the beat! Tip: The arrows at the top of the screen flash to the exact tempo of the song. Like anything worth doing, practice makes perfect, so if you’re new to DDR, start slow and work your way up to the Standard and Heavy modes.
Fans of Rock Band, Guitar Hero and Beat Saber will have no problem adjusting to DDR’s arrows, but moving your feet properly may be another matter altogether. Even if you’re a terrible dancer and have no sense of rhythm, be a good sport and dance with your date – you will both have fun!! And, hey, pick a song other than “We Will Rock You,” alright? Who ever danced to that anyway?
Between the music, the lights, and the fun of acting like a fool in public, Dance Dance Revolution makes for the ultimate date night arcade game!
What are your favorite games to play on a date?
Did we miss the game that you and your significant other fell in love playing together? Send us an email and let us know!
