Skate Zone 71

Cool place but I won’t be back. I don’t enter Gun-​Free zones more than once unless they have armed security.
Our kids only play where it is safe.

We wasted about $ 60 here. Talk about overpriced! We tried to play the arcade games, but half of them either didn’t work or stole our tokens. The other half were just crappy games. The only thing worth the tokens (that worked) was the air hockey table.
We also paid a lot of money for really horrible food. Small overcooked pizza slices and cheese sticks still cold in the middle. We didn’t finish either.
The only good thing I can say about my experience was that MOST of the staff was friendly and outgoing. But that alone isn’t enough to make me go back and waste money again.

Came here with the fam for a school function. My daughter is still learning how to skate, so this was an experience. I like that their staff is very attentive to those on the rink — there were kids falling down all over the place, but there was always a staff member close to check on them and make sure they were okay.
This location also offers laser tag and a small arcade. We didn’t get to visit either, but I would like to in the future.

Seems like a nice place for a kid’s birthday party or just to go and skate. Wanted to check it out after the Unilocal event I missed, and got there towards the end of the party, but everyone had fun. Will be sure to check it out again with more time, I had no idea they had these little triangle things so younger kids can skate without worrying too much about falling (not sure about adult sizes lol) but what I novel idea. I don’t think they had those when I was growing up. The staff was very nice, especially considering we were arriving late, good service here.

I love skating… I try hitting any and every rink I can… so I found this place. My only issue is the DJ booth in the middle of the floor… other than that, the wood was nice with my skates. I went on a kid night and adult night. I loved that they had decent music. If I come back to Columbus, I would definitely go there again.

haven’t been to skate zone since I was a kid and it’s still as fun and kid friendly as it was years ago. went a couple weeks ago with two boys I babysit and had a really great fun experience. the arcade games were fun for all ages and weren’t too hard for the kids or myself. even at 22 I enjoyed skating. I would recommend bringing the kids here. lots of fun, great music and the staff was on point and very friendly. pizza was even good (: I give them 5 stars!

This place has seen better days. The floor is clean and level and safe for skating. It’s the wear and tear on the building that betrays this place’s age. That said, my wife and I came here on a whim and had a good time. It seems like every kid in the greater Columbus area had a birthday that afternoon. It’s obviously still popular and still in business since the mid 90’s.

Pros: fun time, fun music, cheap
Cons: Full of punk kid preteens. Don’t go when it first opens because there’s a line of about thirty and they take forever to get through it.

Will NEVER come back. Bought pizza n beverages. Then preceded to eat cake we brought in. Then we were told we could not have because we didn’t have a paid party. Way to go skate zone to break a 7 year old heart. BOYCOTT!

Good place for tweens to hang out on weekend nights. They have security that seems to pay attention to who comes and goes. The music is good and the kids have fun without the worry of alcohol. We have a strict rule that they cannot leave the building once we drop them off there, since the parking lot is right on a highway and is isolated — definitely not a place to hang out. Overall, it is a good place for kids to have some fun.

I was not aware that places like this still existed! When I was a kid I thought that skate rinks were some of the best times. I lived in a small town so our rink was pretty plane Jane, but not this place. They have laser tag, arcade games and my favorite basketball shooting game. The staff does a nice job of playing good music and keeping the atmosphere up beat. Prices are reasonable which makes it some of the cheapest entertainment in town. Maybe I’m just naïve, but I’m not sure what more you could ask for from a skating rink? I’d recommend taking a family of youngsters for a memorable experience.

Big/​Giant/​Huge/​Enormous THANK YOU to SKATE ZONE 71 for their donation towards our upcoming Gahanna U9 Travel Baseball fundraiser on 5÷4÷13 from 3−7pm at the Gahanna Pub! They have provided us with a gift certificate for a birthday package valued at over $ 100 & a few other goodies to make the birthday child a STAR! My niece just had her birthday party at SKATE ZONE 71, and I have also taken my son there for various school events. This place is absolutely amazing – Lazer Tag, Arcade, Food & of course — skating!!! What a wonderful way to start off the week – Thank you so much again!!!

I have frequented this place several times over the last few years. My kids have learned to skate here and often ask if we can return. They also love the fact that not only is it a skating rink, they can play laser tag and arcade all in one. After one session, they are pretty much worn out. My teenage daughter had her birthday party here last year and her and her friends asked to return again this year. If you are just going for a session, print coupons right from their website to save a few bucks.

Not sure why the rating for Skate Zone 71 is so low. I mean, it’s a roller skating rink, and yes, it does smell, look, and feel like the 1980s, but isn’t it supposed to?!
I’ve been here two or three times now, and each time I’ve had a ton of fun. The crowd seems to be an interesting mix of kids’ birthday parties and middle-​aged folks who were formerly competitive rollerskaters (not even kidding.)
I haven’t tried the food, but I can’t imagine it’s very good from the looks of it… but really, who goes roller skating for the food anyway?
One final thing: if you print out coupons from their website, it becomes quite affordable!

Quite possibly the dirtiest place in Columbus!
I went with my daughter this week to her school’s skating party, which was held at Skate Zone 71. When we got there, the first thing we noticed was the odd smell. Eventually, we noticed that everything there seemed to be sticky and/​or dirty (I still wonder if they’ve cleaned the place since it was USA North in the 80s). If this place is that dirty, I certainly wouldn’t recommend eating here.
And on the way out, my 5 y/​o found a used condom in the parking lot. No thanks!

Friday night, what to do? I could have went to an art opening with wine and cheese or maybe a Shakespearean monologue reading or something equally intellectual…I mean, I could have if I really wanted to, but I went roller skating and played air hockey instead (blows raspberry).
I have not been skating in 15 years but somehow thought this would be a fantastic way to spend a Friday night. I rounded up a few adventurous friends and headed to Skate Zone on a bitter cold evening. We downloaded buy 1 get 1 free coupons and 2 of us were able to skate (including skate rentals) for $ 15 which is a steal. Lockers were large and just 50 cents (which easily held shoes, purses and boots for 3 – 4 people).
The rink was sprinkled with strobe lights and the music was top 100 with some older 90’s songs throughout. There was air hockey, ski ball and lots of arcade games to earn tickets redeemable for brightly colored super cheap prizes. There was also a rock climbing wall that seemed to be out of commission.
One of the best parts of the evening was people watching. It does not get a whole lot better than a roller rink for people watching (think 2 parts county fair + 1 part inner city day care with a dash of Six Flags). There were the slutty pre teen girls, single dads (doing the obligatory bi-​monthly ‘fun’ activity) watching their kids on the side lines, 6 – 10 year olds who circled the rink like they were born on 4 wheels and the tots with pain thresholds far beyond their years falling to the ground and getting back up 4 – 6 times a minute incessantly to evenings end.
I can proudly profess that I didn’t bite the dust once but many times I came very very close. I wasn’t so worried about falling as I was about getting up so thank goodness I didn’t have to find out if I would be able to pull myself up off the ground.
We skated and skated for what seemed like hours, legs throbbing, sweating, parched and looking for water only to find out that we’d actually only been there for 40 minutes. Jesus how do kids do this for 3 hours??? Shortly there after we played a little air hockey and channelled our inner 5^th grader by playing some of the arcade games. Somehow I shamelessly figured out how to scam tickets out of one of the games and ended up with about 450 tickets after spending only $ 2.00.
While trying to calculate how many ring pops/​fun dips I could get and trying to decide between a stuffed neon snake or 17 glow sticks I realized that perhaps someone under the age of 29 could more appropriately appreciate the value of 450 tickets. Cue my good deed for the year. I handed my tickets over to an adorable 5 year old boy who shyly thanked me. Because of me that little boy will have 15 seconds of shear joy with a water pistol and a parachute man that will be promptly lost, broken or forgotten about. Regular ol’ Mother freakin’ Theresa here. Damn I wanted that purple friendship bracelet.
Overall I had a blast here. It was not super crowded, the music was perfect for skating, I stayed upright, I got some exercise and felt like a kid for the day. I’d highly recommend this to my contemporaries as something different to do if you’re stuck in a rut doing the same ol’ stuff every weekend.

I’m not a big fan of roller skating, but I’ve been dragged to Skate Zone 71 a couple of times by my wife’s friends, who come here regularly. It’s sorta fun, I have to admit, even though I get passed up by 7-​year-​olds skating backwards. They play good music here, and they have certain nights with all-​you-​can-​eat pizza buffets, and the pizza’s pretty good. I also like the giant amusement-​park-​themed mural.
While I don’t like skating much, I do like Dance Dance Revolution, and therein lies my biggest complaint about Skate Zone 71. They have In the Groove 2 (a DDR ripoff), and I tried to play it one of the first times I came here, but it was unresponsive. It took my money, and the game started up, but literally none of the buttons worked, so it was unplayable. Then, I came back a year later… same story! Has this game really been taking people’s money for a year-​plus and not offering anything in return? I’m afraid to try any more of the games here.
Anyway, bottom line: If you like skating, you’ll enjoy yourself here.

My family and I went to Skate Zone 71 on Sunday for the family skate. My son is a somewhat experienced skater (he’s 5) and my daughter, 2, was skating for her first time.
Getting in was quick and easy. We paid, they took our coupons we supplied without any question, and we got our badges and rental tickets for the kids’ skates. No problems.
The rental line was long but moved quickly (as everyone was arriving at the same time for family skate this wasn’t surprising). My daughter’s skates fit great and she got right out and moving. My son had some problems with his skates — apparently shoe size and skate size are two different things. The rental staff was very patient and helpful as we tried out a couple of different options for him before we got it right.
The skating itself is great. There’s a new-​skater section in the center of the rink where the kids could practice their moves in safety and comfort. This section is separated by lightly carpeted walls to keep the kids secure from the faster masses going around the outside.
There are lockers for your stuff and they’re fairly large. We were able to fit all our winter coats, a diaper bag, two Rollerblade bags, and all our shoes in two lockers (fifty cents each).
The music was not so loud that you had to shout, but loud enough that the kids had fun. There was a good bit of variety, too — including some ‘80s hits I hadn’t heard since the last time I went to a roller rink.
The Olympics were playing and the staff put the US/​Canada gold medal hockey game on the big screen in the center of the rink, which was a lot of fun for my son who loves hockey.
The snacks were fairly priced, and though I didn’t partake due to personal dietary reasons the kids enjoyed their pizza and drinks. They also had nachos, soft pretzels, hot dogs, and some candy. Typical snack bar fare.
All the staff we encountered were friendly and helpful. The kids had a great time and so did we. We’ll be back for sure!

I haven’t been skating for quite some time. The place is tricky to find and once i found it, the building seemed a little outdated with bright colored paint. I paid my fee for skate rentals and went straight to the counter. It was at this time i realized they didnt have my size of 10. This didnt make me too happy and i had to resort to roller blades. Which wasn’t what i came for.