With Orange County locations inside The Shops at Mission Viejo and Santa Ana’s MainPlace Mall, Round1 is essentially the modern version of Chuck E. Cheese – no, not Chuck’s Arcade – a family-friendly entertainment center with arcade games, redemption machines, food, and enough square footage for kids’ birthday parties. Unlike Dave & Buster’s, Round1’s offerings vary a lot between locations: The Mission Viejo location only has arcade and Victory Zone redemption machines, while the larger Santa Ana space also has bowling lanes, video bowling, pool tables, and even karaoke. In addition to a handful of classic video games, Round1 includes a selection of comparatively recent imported Japanese arcade games, frequently rhythm/music- or driving-themed, and high-profile machines from U.S. developers (Raw Thrills) or brands (Marvel, DC, King Kong, Mission: Impossible).
Like most other modern arcades, players need to buy prepaid game cards to play on the machines, and additional activities have separate prices – $11 to $19 for billiards, and various complicated prices for bowling, video bowling, and karaoke. Japanese foods including ramen, karaage, and gyoza are available in addition to pizza, burgers, wings, and fries; sodas and Icees are among the non-alcoholic drinks, with beer, wine, and basic cocktails at relatively low prices. Parking at both locations is free.
