The Game Preserve

It’s an arcade with all the classics that you pay to get in and don’t have to deal with quarter. It’s also BYOB. What more do you need to know? FIVE STARS.

I’ve been a member of the game preserve for 3 months now and I absolutely love it. As a child of the 80’s who spent plenty of time in arcades I love being able to sneak away from the office to unwind with almost all the classic arcade games I enjoyed so much as a kid.

$ 15 bucks for a day pass in a free-​play arcade with a BYOB + Food policy means you have the best date night spot for gamers and children of the 80’s! Plus, it’s social and you can still kill things without having 11 year olds from England telling you about your mother’s alleged promiscuity.
Their monthly deals are insane, and their selection of machines are incredible. Yes, sometimes machines break, and they can take a while to diagnose and fix, which means sometimes these broken machines are on the floor. It’s cool, yo. Go play some Battletoads.

I feel like this would be a wonderful place to take somebody on a date! Loads of vintage pinball machines and other old games, now there’s a mini comic book shop inside, sodas and snacks and BYOB! I have never not had a good time here, and I hope to see this place become even more successful so they can add even more games to their collection. That being said, I feel like the actual facility could use some upkeep… And sometimes it’s hard to tell what areas are employees only! My other request would be a new/​better DDR machine. Their current one has been stomped to death and doesn’t register steps anymore, but I love that game and so do others! Maybe a two player one this time? I also think it could be fun if they hosted more open events, competitions or «theme» nights.

We went on a weekday right after they opened. There were just a few other people playing, which made it easy to get on the games we wanted with no waiting. We played for about 5 hours and it felt like time flew by we had such a good time. It’s BYOB for food and drinks, and you can purchase bottled water and select snacks should you need them. There were all types of games and the pinball selection was great as well. It’s a great place to spend some time and feel like a kid again. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because we ran across several games that we couldn’t get to play, including the one I was most excited for, Bust a Move on the NeoGeo 4 in 1 machine. We will be repeat customers for sure, you should check it out, too!

Went early on a week day. Not crowded at all. Got to play everything we wanted without waiting for games to open up. Had a blast! Played, smiled and laughed with the girlfriend for about 6 hours before we realized what time it was and that we had to bail for food. Definitely coming back

Things have changed a bit since some of the older posts here. The Game Preserve has moved into a space in a strip center west of 45 on Sawdust. More people are finding this gem, but they have expanded thier space and parking. Still BYOB and food. Please don’t screw this up, people. I got the family month membership for $ 70, which is a steal for my wife, three boys and me. They do frequently pull games down for maintenance, but they also are adding more and more games all the time. AC system works well, considering the heat from the games and the crowds on the weekends and the hellish Houston July temperatures. They even have a small comic book store hidden in there where people apparently go and chill and play role playing games. Overall, this blast from the past is right up my ally where I can unleash my inner child/​nerd with fellow like minded individuals. Staff is really friendly and the owners are nice. They seem to be doing pretty well and of the 5 or so times I’ve been there, we have had nothing but fun.

FUN! Byob. (I think you could bring upper own food too). UNLIMITED PLAY. Old school arcade. For the young and old. Chairs and couches and even some tables and stools. I don’t care who you are you can find something for someone in this place. From ninja turtles, donkey kong, mortal kombat, hunting games, ddr, mario, pinball, old school before I was born balance games and stuff. With the movie «Pixel» coming out this is a good time to expose this to kids the REAL DEAL!

Great Family friendly Retro Arcade.
Super cool selection of classic arcade and pinball games in the woodlands area.
their new location knocks it out of the park.
these guys are committed to collecting the best classic games and are always adding to new titles the game room.
Come by and check it out, this a real deal game room that you can reminisce about the old days and introduce the kids to some of the best games every made!

I hate to say it, but I was really disappointed with this place. It sounded pretty cool, but it just didn’t deliver. I paid $ 30 for the day for me and a friend. Unfortunately, we lost interest after only a couple of hours. Half of the games were either broken, or out of order, including the DDR machine and the Elvira and Back to the Future pinball machines, (which were two of the coolest ones they had). Some of the games allowed me to play them once and then stopped working. Most of the games that I WAS actually able to play were super lame and some of them just flat out didn’t work well on free play. Would not recommend.

What a wonderful idea! Bringing back classic arcade and pinball games and mixing them with more modern ones? Absolutely.
Their location has changed for the better, and the membership price is reasonable. Definitely worth checking out for a group of kids, families, or the twenty something that wants to reminisce. There is something to do for everyone here.

Are you a child of the 80’s? Do you like pinball, Robotron, Centipede, Asteroids, Dig Dug? Maybe you like DDR or even air hockey.
This is your place people! $ 15 gets you unlimited play for as long as they are open that night… or $ 30 gets you unlimited visits per month. $ 30 gets you the months worth of visits, plus 5 guest passes per month. That is incredibly cheap entertainment!
Get your fill of Asteroids, play Tempest, listen to the awesome 80’s tunes in here — if you’re an old fart like me who remembers the 80’s as a teenager, you will be thrown WAY back in time to your prom and video arcades. Except you wont be having to drop hundreds of dollars on quarters to play — play as much as you want — just don’t hog up the machine! Let others play — –there are literally 4 rooms of games in here… and they are expanding all the time! This would be an amazing first date place :) Except now you can legally drink while playing video games :) Plus they play awesome music, like Rush, Pet Shop Boys, anything from MTV days (when they actually played music) — if you want, there are two jukeboxes in the place. Play whatever you want :)
So, go get your game on, BYOB here, and enjoy! If you can’t have fun here, you’re not trying :)
Pro Tip: this business is hard to find — gotta watch for it. Take the Robinson exit, watch for the signs on the right — you’d never even know it was there unless someone told you about it.

There is an arcade. In the woodlands. They have around 100 pinball and arcade games at this moment and they are always adding more. You pay 25 $ once a month and then every game is FREE PLAY. It’s BYOB. That’s right. You can drink and play arcade games. You get 5 free guest passes a month to bring your friends. They’ve got Mario. They’ve got Dr. Who pinball. They’ve got the X-​men arcade game. They’ve got TRON. They have the atari STAR WARS. Street fighter II? YES. AREA 51? You bet. Do you know how good it feels to actually beat Area 51? You’re going to finally forgive your mom for never having quarters. You’re going to finally get closure from that time you went to the mall and TILT wasn’t there anymore. For 83 cents a day you can bring hope and joy into the life of someone that really matters. You. That’s less than the cost of a cup of coffee. Ask yourself — Can you really afford not to sign up?
I wish there were more than 5 stars

Such a fun place! $ 15 and all the arcade game and pinball machines you can play! Totally family friendly and BYOB so it’s a win win for all. The games are a blast from the past and it’s so cool to play games from your childhood.

Where can one go for that «arcade excitement» you once had when you were a kid growing up in the 80’s? Downtown to that «overly crowded» arcade business that is attached to a seemingly biased doormen bar on certain Fridays? There are a few of you who know what I’m talking about.
Trek about half an hour North down I 45, get off of Robinson Rd. exit and look for it on your right hand side, it’s in a business park so do not expect a stand alone building. Once you get into the door and greeted by a person that will either check your membership or take your payment ($ 15 for an all day play from 4 pm to close, closed on Mondays) or do what I did and just get a $ 50 membership paypal reoccurring, It’s worth it!
After a less than brief look around you will walk into a few rooms with wall to wall of your favorite video games which you’d swear you would not imagine seeing again! I would imagine there are about 15 pinball machines, old and new, various stand ups called «caberets» and a few side downs, dance revolution, snack bar, juke boxes and a little room to watch television.
Rusty as I have met which I believe is one of the four owners is a very down to earth person who will not hound you around the business but will also make rounds to make sure nobody is abusing the machines. I mean, come on, if you are an owner of anything who wouldn’t do this right? He even suggest if you like to bring in food, drinks from the outside, there are at least 2 booths where you can bring this in. You can bring your own alcohol but in moderation, don’t ruin it by getting drunk and boisterous in here ok?
I had the great experience of getting in here right as he pulled up, entering and feeling a good 70 degree air conditioning room but quickly shoots up as each machine generates it’s own heat so make sure you bring a light shirt, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
There are two juke-​boxes also on free play with a variety of music and if you get here during a busy time you might get a little tired of hearing the same 80’s music since it’s played on «popular hits» for the 80’s but it is part of the atmosphere in which these machines were raised too.
Each machine may I add is set on «free play», no need to bring quarters since it’s $ 15 for all afternoon when it opens. I think I might have already said that but wanted to make sure you saw it.
Out of all of the machines that I have noticed here I would say the «out of order» ratio would be around 20%. It still is not bad since there are always other machines to play but I will get back with you on how resilient they are at repairing their machines.
Clientele…the «gangster ghetto» wanna be gang hasn’t found this place yet so step in before one finds out and brings his friends. I’ve seen a mix of people and which important to my eyes are the father and son pairs like I have done to show them what things used to be like when we were kids. Each machine played will throw you into past memories of when you were a teenager saving your lunch money to sneak off to your nearest corner store to waste your time.
Parking is adequate for what it is at the moment but may get a little tricky if it is filled up, we’ll see how that goes. The pictures I have posted do not do justice for this place but instead it beckons you to come here and experience it for yourself. Please, be my guest.

Awesome place. Lots of well maintained video arcades, pinballs. They even have a Skee Ball and a DDR!