Up-Down Milwaukee

I always love going to up-down, great selection of local brews, friendly staff and tons of great games to choose from.

This place is a fun way to spend some time with friends or for a date night. Weekends are obviously busier but still enough space to play some games!They have a full bar and you can buy tokens there or at the machines. Food is limited to pizza but they have some happy hour specials and it's decent pizza!There are I think two patios you can hangout on with games (might be weather permitting) or if you want some air! The only issue I've ever had is with the skeeball machines not working but the staff came by right away to check it out and reimbursed us for the lost tokens. Parking can be tricky depending on the day of the week but we usually have found a spot within a block or so. It's a fun place to get into some old school and new games, check it out!

Grabbed a drink- and since it was half price games- got 2 cups of tokens! So many oldy-but-goodies here. I'm still not great at pinball, but Centipede is a special skill of mine. Fun vibe, friendly service. A great way to spend an evening out.

tl:dr - video game nerds gather for fun, food and drinks.Places are always trying to come up with a good "Chuck E Cheese" concept for adults and most fall flat. Up-Down gives you exactly what you want to bring out your inner child while enjoying some tasty cocktails. This two-story building is jammed packed with everything from skee-ball to huge quantities of pinball machines, arcade games and counsel based systems. People are using a giant "Connect 4" board in one corner, while there is a 4-person TMNT game being played and two others are having a Mario Kart race on a giant projector screen. The inside is decorated and styled with neon signs and bright pops of color to bring the fun out in the décor. Retro games that you've maybe never even heard of are there, the classics you remember playing as a kid are there and while you're enjoy those, you're drinking some tasty beers or cocktails. The bartenders and staff are always super friendly. You end up accidentally buying way too many tokens which guarantees you'll be back and there is options for pizza there (I've not tried as of yet!)If you plan on getting a group together, keep an eye out for the specials this place has on different days of the week and make sure you aim for a time when it won't be too crowded (because it can get pretty packed.)A couple of the games might have an "out of order" sign on them, but I take that with a great understanding of how old and how complex many of these games are to fix and provide maintenance for. There's always plenty of other things to enjoy that it takes the sting out of a small handful experiencing trouble.

This is my 2nd time coming here and it's sooo much fun! I came on my actual birthday and was gifted 2 cups of free tokens that lasted the entire time we were there- thank you so much! I try to hit Arcades wherever I travel and this one has much more variety than the others. I'm so glad you exist-such great times here.

Just had my bday outing at this place. If your a gamer of all games this is the perfect bday spot! We played skee ball, pin ball, arcades, and so much more. I beat my husband in basketball as I summoned my shooting skills. Then I learned a new game called killer Queen and awesome strategically competitive game with up to 10 players. For the hungry gamer no need to fear there is pizza near. The place offers pizza and a array of beers with a few cocktails as well. They also gave me 40 tokens for my bday. I mean it doesn't get any better than that!!

Fun visit here for a birthday. You have to get your ID scanned to enter- didn't love that. But, the birthday boy got some free tokens after showing his ID.The beer tap choices are exquisite. The prices are reasonable, too. And we got served pretty quickly by a friendly bartender.Didn't try the pizza but that looked pretty good. Can order by the slice or a whole pie. Plenty of game choices, including N64 super smash on the big screen (for free!). Saturday was 2 for 1 tokens so even better deal. Will definitely go back!

Yes please let me play Dig Dug and Ms PacMan until carpel tunnel takes over my arm. I love the vintage machines here plus Skee Ball. All we need are some choctchy tickets for items that cost a million tickets and we are set.There was a deal for double the tokens if you purchased them from the bar so I bought $20 which goes quite a long way - in fact I ended up with a ton that I took home. The only bad is because they are so cheap when the machine eats them you don't flinch. There were a few times that the game didn't play but it didn't upset me.We got some cocktails which were reasonably priced. They have bars on both levels so you are supposed to libate and play video games which is a great combination. Now to get back there to use my extra tokens! This would be a great place for a Yelp event - wink wink :)

Your money goes a long way! Used $20 for tokens, spent about 2.5 hours playing games and still have 35 tokens leftover to use next time. Every game is only one token (which equals one quarter). The bar was a cool touch if you want some drinks, games were super fun and worked well. Make it a point to get a slice of pizza, trust me. Overall, well worth going for a fun night out!

ABSOLUTELY NOT SAFE! car got broken into while grabbing a drink and having a good time, great night turned into a horror show, establishment does nothing to prevent nor do they care for their customers. "it's a liability to call the authorities and not our fault" - owners wordsmoney hungry individuals and security is worthless