We Had So Much Fun At iPlay America

I received ride passes and game cards from iPlay America to facilitate this post. All opinions are my own. Or my kids'. Or my husband's. All the (dreadful) pictures are mine, but you can get a really good look at iPlay America on their 3D tour. 

On Saturday, we should have been going to the welcome picnic at our local lake. Except that Saturday's weather was not the kind of weather for picnics, swimming or even being outside. I love my home state - and we have some lovely days - but it seems like New Jersey's weather is getting worse and worse. Which is why whoever created iPlay America and placed it within a half an hour of many shore points is a genius. Now when it rains during your beach vacation, you can just go to the indoor boardwalk at iPlay America.

We got a tour when we arrived. Here is the very kind Eric showing the family one of the cooler arcade games. It's set up like a giant square, with two sections that are like the boardwalk and two sections like the city. The giant arcade sets in the center. 

It kind of reminded me of a family-friendly casino; all bright and exciting and with no connection to the outside world. 

I think this is how you bribe your kids to leave. 

We spent a lot of time in the arcade area. There were games for every skill level and every preference. All the kids played several rounds of skee-ball and Hot Guy found plenty of complicated shooter type games. 

This is what we did while waiting for each kid to have a turn at the Go-Karts (they all had to go with an adult). The fishing game was pretty easy. 

But they had a good time doing it. 

And there were prizes after each turn. 

The Go-Karts developed quite a line as the afternoon wore on (when we go again, we will go at 10am when they open, because it got much more crowded in general around 3). The kids loved their rides around the track. 

One of the first things we did was laser tag. Well, Hot Guy, Ironflower and Lovebug did laser tag - Hugmonkey freaked out as everyone was putting on their vests so he and I left. Lovebug was apprehensive (he doesn't like the dark), but he fell in love with it. Hot Guy says they have a great system and area for it. Next the family daredevils did the kiteflyer, which they described as very fun. 

There were lots of air hockey tables in the central arcade area. We LOVE air hockey. 

And there was a huge climbing structure for kids over 32 inches tall and less than 100 pounds. 6 credits gets kids unlimited play time there. It was Hugmonkey's favorite thing; I kind of enjoyed relaxing and watching them for a few minutes, to be honest. The area near the climbing structure also had a bunch of games geared just for preschoolers - the air hockey table there was the perfect size for Hugmonkey. 

Hugmonkey did not want to do the bumper cars. Hugmonkey might have been a little overwhelmed with the noise. As Hot Guy pointed out, "It's like a carnival without all the carnies." And carnivals - especially when they're indoors - are loud. So that would be my complaint, if you forced me to have one. But I'll take the noise level for the cleanliness of the facilities and the kindness of the employees at iPlay America. 

Lovebug went on the boat ride (similar to the Dumbo ride at Disney) while Ironflower went on the giant swing. Needless to say, I could not get a decent picture of her on the giant swing. But to be fair, this was after we all went on the dragon ride. Which is a spinning ride. Did I mention that I had a horrible head cold going on? Yeah, spinning around and around is not good when your sinuses are already messed up. I was dizzy for the next half hour. 

I did manage to get a photo of a party room, though. My kids would flip out to go to or have a birthday party here. 

One thing I really liked is that instead of collecting all those tickets in the arcade, everything was saved on your card, so you didn't have to worry about losing tickets or whatever. And when you collected your prizes or were finished with your ride cards you could drop them in one of these boxes to be recycled. 

There are lots of places to eat; many are boardwalk style places for treats like funnel cakes and frozen yogurt. But there's also a huge sports bar with really yummy spinach dip and very tasty chocolate cake. It was great to relax there after our busy day. It had pool tables and giant screens for sports; I saw one dad relaxing there with a beer while his older kids went off and did various activities. 

It took us about an hour to get there and it was TOTALLY worth it. I highly recommend it.