Play! Hoboken

Love this place! Me and my gf come all the time to shoot pool or maybe play some pinball. Rates are fair and the facility is great, tons of options depending on what you're into. What really makes this place is the staff, always incredibly friendly and accommodating and make your time there really great. Wish I found out about Play! sooner!

TL;DR owner called the cops on me and my kid for playing pool while we waited for a chess class. Would give 0 stars if I could. Stay away from this place. The owner threatened to call the cops on me when me and my kid played on the kid-sized pool table (see picture) while waiting for a kids' chess lesson to begin. As you can see, the pool cues and balls were readily available to play, no signage anywhere that it was pay to play. He quite rudely told me that I was "damaging his pool table" and that I "wouldn't be able to afford to replace it if I damaged it." I've played pool plenty of times and I can tell you that I wasn't doing anything that would damage a table. When I asked him for clarification, he raised his voice at me. I told him that that was no way to speak to people and he told us to leave. When I asked if he was being for real, he repeated that he wanted us to leave and were not welcome to attend the chess class that we had paid for in advance. So rude and humiliating in front of my 9 year old who was so excited to play chess. When I asked for a refund, he refused to refund me in cash then and there. When I told him I wouldn't leave without a refund, he told me he would call the cops. I told him to go right ahead! My poor kid cried and said, "I guess I'll be playing chess by myself tonight." I didn't stay long enough to see if the cops were gonna come or not, was a total waste of my time. I left after he ensured that he had refunded me in full over paypal. Don't operate a business for games and toys for kids if you can't handle normal kid stuff. Totally ridiculous and uncouth, and I wouldn't recommend anyone to go if they're looking for a family-friendly time. Not unless they wanna be profiled as a brown working class mom and harassed and kicked out for no sensible reason.

Wish I could like this place since it's the closest hobby shop to me but the management needs to really evaluate their relationship with their customers. They jack up prices on everything such as card sleeves ($17 instead of $13) and make you pay $15 just for the privilege of sitting down to play magic commander even if there aren't enough people to actually play. I overheard the manager yelling at an employee for not taking away someone's Gatorade they brought with them. Maybe if they stopped jacking up prices on the drinks they provide and start thinking about their core customer demographic and churn instead of looking at them as cash providing flesh sacks people would consider becoming return customers instead of choosing to play at a beer hall in NJ City. I suggest the managers learn how to cultivate a consumer base instead of complaining about them behind their backs when they don't think anyone is listening.