Key Features: Free classic Arcade Cabinets
I ended up in Get Well waiting for a birthday party to start. The guests were late, so I had some time to kill. It was 9:00 on a Saturday night when I walked in. The place was starting to fill up, but there was enough room to move around.
Walking in to Get Well you notice the immediate draw at the back; the free arcade games. Everyone who wanders into Get Well seems to head right to them - and there's a reason for that. You have to get your money's worth somewhere. A pint of beer is around $7.00, add on another dollar for tax, and another for tip, and you're looking at a $9.00 pint.
There are people who will pretend this is standard Toronto prices, but they are misinformed. Five dollars is normally my upper limit, and there are enough places willing to satisfy that price rang.
Still - I was not in any of those other locations. I was in Get Well, so I headed to the back and took a look at the machines. Here's a rundown:
Jukebox - broken.
Frogger - broken
Random Pinball machine - broken
Galaga - broken
Well that's less than ideal. But there were still a number of machines up and running. You could play all you wanted on:
Pac-Man
Centipede
Dig Dug
Tetris
Gauntlet
The only problem is some of these machines are very popular. For the forty five minutes I was near the machines, there were two girls playing Tetris the entire time. They never left; this is their prerogative, of course, but it highlights an important factor - the games are the main reason to come, and if they're not accessible, why stay?
The Gauntlet machine is 4 players, but the two groups I saw cycle through were limited to two players, and did everything they could to position themselves to block the other two joysticks to ensure it was their game - and their game alone.
There was no willingness to play with others, no Arcade-like camaraderie. Just people who felt entitled to monopolize. There's no way to throw your quarter down, take your place in line.
There is also a Dolly Parton pin ball machine, and an Operation Wolf gun game. But, these you had to pay for. One quarter, one play. In line with so many other machines it's difficult to drop even a quarter, when the previously mentioned entitlement that all should be free begins sneaking up on you.
By 9:45 the place was packed beyond movement. To get from one end to the other you need to force your way through the middle of no less than three circular groups that form, all of them giving looks of dislikeament. A most cromulant look, to be sure. It's as if they don't realize that they're forcing such an action by taking up the entire throughway.
And the heat - it gets hot inside. Maybe it's the two dragons with glowing eyes over the bar, maybe not - but it's cramped, overheated, and over priced. I see no reason to return.