Arcades in Columbus

Looking for flashing lights and high scores in Columbus, OH? There are 13 arcades mapped here. That's 13 arcades mapped around Columbus. Machine condition varies wildly between venues, so the one with the best-maintained cabinets wins regardless of size. Check whether the venue runs on tokens, cards or coins before you arrive with the wrong currency.

This guide covers every arcade we could verify in and around Columbus (within about 40 km), built from OpenStreetMap's community-maintained data. Names you'll run into include Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park and Chuck E. Cheese, plus game of Western Columbus. If an arcade's missing from Columbus's list, it probably just hasn't been mapped yet.

The Columbus arcade lineup

13 mapped within about 40 km:

What the map tells us about arcades in Columbus

3 of the 13 list their opening hours on the map, which is genuinely useful — arcades keep long hours, so the listed times are usually good.

4 have websites listed. Worth a look for tournament nights and free-play evenings.

The one mapped arcade sits on 1556 North High Street — worth combining with whatever else brings you to that side of town.

4 arcades list websites — worth a look for opening times and whether they run leagues or tournament nights.

The Columbus arcade run

Making a day of it in Columbus? Work this order: Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park, Chuck E. Cheese, game of Western Columbus, Dave & Buster's, Game Arena OSU on 1556 North High Street, Outlaw Motor Speedway, Racing Line, and Ohio State eSports Arena. That's the arcade run in one sensible loop, no backtracking. 5 more are listed below.

Arcade tips for Columbus

Hitting the arcades in Columbus? Play smarter:

• Bar-arcades: pace yourself at Urban Air Trampoline and Adventure Park. Drinks and games mix well until they don't. The machines get harder exactly as you get worse at them.
• Bring ear protection for kids at Chuck E. Cheese. Arcades are loud. Little ears appreciate plugs, and you'll enjoy it more too.
• Set a budget. Arcade spending evaporates. Decide the amount up front, load it on the card, and stop when it's gone.
• Check for party packages. Birthday parties at arcades are a whole industry. If you're organising one, book ahead — weekends sell out.

Good to know

We searched about 40 km around Columbus — that covers the town itself plus the surrounding communities you'd reasonably drive to. Listings come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by local volunteers, so a brand-new arcade in Columbus can take a while to appear. If you spot one of the 13 that's closed, or a great arcade we missed, the fix is to update the map itself — that's where this guide reads from.

We don't list machine lineups — they change too often. What we list is the where: real venues, verified by real mappers.

If you run one of the 13 listed here and something's wrong — a closure, a move, new hours — the fix is the same: update the shop on OpenStreetMap and the correction flows through to this page on the next daily refresh.