365PDX#146: Wunderland Arcade & Theater

Posted July 28, 2010

365 Things to do in Portland #146: Electric Castle’s Wunderland

Several times a year I find myself at the Wunderland. Usually it’s when a friend brings their pre-teenager over to our house and we have a couple hours of free time. I’ll admit, I’m usually the one that suggests we walk a few blocks down Belmont street to play some video games.

Wunderland has 5 locations- two of which are in the Portland area.  I usually head over to the Wunderland Avalon, located in the Belmont (Sunnyside Neighborhood).  If you find yourself East of 82nd, you can also check out the Wunderland Gateway on 103rd and NE Halsey.

At The Wunderland, you pay a few bucks to get in,  and they have  over 100 “nickel” games (most of which cost 3 nickels to play).  I’ve found they have mostly shooting games (where you kill evil zombies) and driving games (I like the one with the tractor trailer). They also have some  skee-ball, where you can win tickets to redeem for prizes, pinball, air hockey, as well  as a few other semi new arcade games.

The Avalon on Belmont also shows  fairly new movies that are just a couple bucks to watch. The theater is small and the seats are comfortable. The sound is nothing to rave about, but the price is about 1/3 of what you’d pay at Regal Cinemas.

Wunderland isn’t fancy or even the cleanest place around, but it does a great job of providing a few hours of good old fashioned arcade gaming fun.

Wunderland Avalon is at 3451 SE Belmont

Wunderland Gateway is at 10306 NE Halsey

Both locations are open 11am til midnight daily.