Rec Room

Wohooooooooo!!! So glad we have a place like this in Memphis. So much fun. We went there on a Saturday night. It was busy but not over crowded.
They have ping pong, board games, foosball, jenga, arcade games. They also have large screens with different video games and one screen playing football games. They have different sitting areas that you can rent. Pretty neat! One side they have the bleacher seats to hang out.
Have pizzas and beers! They did not have any food trucks when we went.
All in all, a fun place to hang out with friends. Will be coming here more often!!!

If I could give 6 stars I would. If you haven’t been, you need to go. Like now. This warehouse is converted to 6 massive living rooms with giant projectors and all the classic consoles for gaming or watching the game. We went on a busy Sat night and the living rooms were booked until 2am but we were thoroughly entertained with arcades like TMNT, Street Fighter, and NBA Jam. If that’s not enough, there is also foosball, ping pong, and giant Jenga blocks. Look forward to watching the playoff games and redeeming myself in ping pong.
Also, all the arcades are free! FREE. Can’t beat that. So grab your friends, order a pitcher of beer and let your inner kid out.

Visiting briefly New Year’s Eve while getting out the cold for an outdoor performance in 20 degree weather. The staff was extremely accommodating. The atmosphere is divey but cozy. I will return for lunch soon.

Perfect and easy place for 8+ birthday party for boys. Would also be great for any day to watch or play games. Great for adults too.

I think this place should simply be called FUN! I went to the Rec Room for a friends birthday and we had a blast. I mean whats not to love… video games and alcohol. Hello I’m sold lol. I like that this place is pretty laid back and you can just have a good time hanging out with your friends, playing vintage and/​or new games, chatting and drinking. Plus there are several different areas to sit, some are free and some you do have to pay for. Living room rentals are $ 10 M-​Th, and $ 25 F-​S which is not a bad price at all. They also sell food as I saw someone order pepperoni pizza which looked delicious. All in all, the Rec Room is the place to be to have a good time!

It is a cool place. Food trucks are not there every night. I went on a Tuesday, and the only food they have is frozen pizza. Nintendo 64 games look terrible.

I found the Rec Room on Unilocal while I was in Memphis. It’s a warehouse with a few living rooms set up with huge projection screens that you rent by the hour. In addition they have some of my favorite 1980s arcade games and a few pinball machines. The bar has a good beer selection ($ 4 Stella Cidre — I’m there!) and they were serving frozen pizza. Did I mention that many of the arcade games are free play? Also I got to sit at the bar and play Super Nintendo. I’m sure I was one of the oldest people in there but it was great. I’m coming back to Memphis just to play Burger Time some more!

This is a great place, I wanted to kick my sons a$$ at old school street fighter so we rented a living room and picked the super nintendo system. we had a great time. The place is clean, the staff is super friendly, and the old style arcade games are free. after our house was up on our living room we grabbed a board game and watched the football game that was on.

A pretty cool concept! Everyone seems to love this place a lot more than I do. The rental living rooms are interesting, and the patio is pretty — has jumbo Jenga and twinkly lights. The games are cheap and the living room rental is $ 10/​hr on week nights and $ 25/​hr on weekends, so pretty inexpensive. Overall vibe is super casual and chill. My one complaint is that a large pizza costs $ 16, and they are literally frozen pizzas they pop into an oven and are pretty underwhelming as far as taste goes. I’m happy to pay $ 16 for a pizza if it’s delicious, these were not. The staff was a little short with me when I had questions about making change since the coin-​maker was down, but maybe you’re just supposed to know that stuff? Not my fave place in Memphis, but unique enough that we’ll probably come back.

The concept of Rec Room is super cool. The idea of running a business that’s meant to be reminiscent of someone’s living room on steroids is a great one, to be sure.
The space is huge. Located in the ever-​growing Broad Avenue Arts District adds to its appeal to 20 and 30 somethings. The place has a large bar area, huge screens on the wall for movies and video games, and arcade style games ranging from Pac-​Man to air hockey. They even have a huge selection of board games if that’s what you want to do as well! Food trucks are regular visitors here, which is really cool… having the opportunity to support more than one local entrepreneur is always something I love! There is a great patio area just outside the main door that I think would be great during warmer months. They’ve got ‘life size’ Jenga, people! That in itself should be a selling point, right?
My first time here was for an event, which this space is perfect for. My only complaint was that the building staff were almost invisible. That may have been the point since there were some caterers there, but I like to see involved staff regardless, and I didn’t see that. Mind you, that was not the case any other time that I have been… if anything, they’ve been extra available and friendly on other occasions.
Overall, the atmosphere is fun loving and happy. It gives you an outlet to let your inner child shine, so take advantage! This is a one of a kind spot in Memphis and is incredibly cool. Definitely a great way to relax after a long work day or week!

This is a great idea! Bringing back childhood fun like Mrs. Pac Man, tv’s everywhere for the sports lovers, board games for those like me! I saw a STACK of board games aside from the herd of video games! Love, love the concept!
They are pretty new, so I’m fully aware that there are kinks to work out. For example, ordering a tall vodka tonic and getting a double!
Overall, I’m keeping this place in mind for those days when most want to watch the game and a few of us just want to hang out! I see an enthusiastic game of Sorry! in my future one Sunday afternoon!

I love this place. We’ve been here a couple times to watch the Broncos games. The pizza, beer, free popcorn, and cheap wine are right up my alley on a Sunday evening. They also have a lot of other games going on as well! I suggest a reservation, so you and your group can grab a couch in front of the big screen.

In concept, this is a neat place. Old school games (and some newer school ones) at the ready to play, with private seating for rent? Great! The place is big enough, but not as large or open as I expected. The seating area carpet was pretty dirty with paper bits visible. The sofa seemed pretty clean, and I envied the cupholder seats of the sectional that our birthday girl got to enjoy. The feeling of the place is a little like being in a gigantic garage full of video games and worn out sofas.
What we didn’t love was the self-​service bar– leave a tab open with your name and go to the bar to get drinks. No servers available. The place was understaffed; no employees were visible except for two behind the bar. A greeter or host would be beneficial. Once we were settled with our drinks, we were 15 minutes into our 1 hour of living room time. Playing the old school games was enjoyable, but I wish it were a little more cush. It felt like being on a bad date with that guy who lived with his parents. Fun, but hard to see a future there… probably REALLY great if you are under 25. Parking was very slim, even at 5:30pm.

When I first pulled up I was a wee bit skeptical, but my friends were absolutely raving about it! So glad I went in. It took me about a minute to actually soak up everything that is the rec room! Sidenote: They do have bathrooms inside, but only one stall per gender…:(.
This place is so cool. So stinking cool. I wasn’t super into the old school wall games, but those living rooms was where it was at. They’re four living rooms, which consists of some pretty dang comfy couches and a big screen projection of the game your playing. I’m a huge mario kart fan, but the games they have are absolutely endless! Im pretty sure they also have every video game model all the way back to Sega! LOVED THAT!
So going about getting a living room. 25 dollars for an hour, which isn’t bad at all considering you can split that amongst whomever is playing!
Oh, they also just got their LIQUOR LICENSE!

I’m 100% on board with this trend of combining arcades with bars and Rec Room seems to be doing a great job of it for Memphis.
What I liked most about Rec Room’s setup (as of this review) is that it allows people just to hang out and have a good time without having to rent one of the «living room» spaces. The free arcade and table games (they also have board games) are more than enough to provide entertainment for hours and you can always watch one of the living room groups racing or fighting on the projection screens. The screens also seem to be set up for a lot of sporting events now as well.
I also appreciated that it wasn’t too hard to get in on an empty living room for just an hour if they had space in the reservation schedule. There was food from vendors both inside and outside plus bar hot dogs when I went, so you have plenty of options. Beer selection was okay, but of course it would be fun to see more.
Some feedback things: the beers weren’t always clearly labeled on the draft choices and you only get them in a dinky clear plastic cup (not even a red Solo cup?). Service at the bar could be improved and there’s a bit of a hipster attitude about being too cool for customer service from a couple of the people (several others were great though, so it’s hit or miss). Might also be nice to have some clear «open» sign since when I went around 5 PM it looked deserted out in front (though it certainly wasn’t inside). I hope they can keep getting new games and repairing some of the older ones too over time since I could see how if it got crowded it might be less fun (I went from 5 – 8 both the times I went and it was fine).
But as far as having a blast with friends for a very good price, Rec Room can’t be beat. 4.5 stars with plenty of room for getting even better.

i LOVE the rec room. I came here one night for my brother’s bday party (which ended up not being there, but long story short I ended up hanging out at rec room anyway by myself) and the space is just so conducive to fun and having a good time. Its great for gamers like my brother and me but also great for those that aren’t as interested in console or arcade games bc they have ping pong tables around the area for people to play on.
in terms of food & drink: I’m addressing this one first because this was one of my biggest questions. There is ONLY drink inside the rec room (beer, sodas, etc). There is food OUTSIDE the rec room at a food truck literally 2 steps away (you’ll see it when you enter). however, there is not food inside the rec room. I dont know yet the policy of bringing your own or bringing a cake to celebrate a special occasion, but will update when I find out that policy.
How it’s set up: basically there are like 5 big sections of leather couch chairs arranged in small circles each with a big coffee table inbetween them. They all face a big projector screen where you can either watch the game (sports) or you can play the console games they have available for you to play with (rock band, mario kart, etc). or you can bring your own. Then surrounding the corners of the rooms, they have old school arcade games you can play too and ping pong tables. How the couches work: you have to rent them out for $ 15/​hour for you and your friends, but if you have a big group of friends, its not that much out of pocket!
I would highly recommend the rec room for watching games and playing console games with your friends and just kicking it and having a good time. :] Im’ so glad that they opened up!
Note: it looks kind of sketchy from the outside, esp at night, but really its just a large warehouse looking thing that has a sign in front that says rec room.

Ummmmm love this place! It is everything I wanted for Memphis without knowing I even wanted it until it presented itself all wrapped up with a pretty little bow (obviously not literally)!
This place is still in their newbie stage, so they don’t have their liquor license (and word on the street is that they will eventually have food)…but now they have food trucks parked out front, which is amazing. Food trucks are my fave. Plus it gives you variety!
I’ve never been a gamer… arcade or otherwise, but I do appreciate them and how cool it is we have something like this in Memphis. I have a feeling this place is just going to get better and better after they work out the initial kinks/​growing pains.

When I first heard that a true arcade bar was opening in Memphis I was ecstatic and I couldn’t wait to check it out. Saturday we loaded up the family and headed down Broad Ave. and explore the new arcade.
As we walked in you couldn’t help but notice the six gigantic projector screens with everything from the NCAA tournament to classic Contra showing on them. The other three walls are lined with classic arcade games and table top games.
First off let me say that I’m very happy that the Rec Room is family friendly for a portion of the day, but I think 9 p.m. may be a little late for the cut off. I think 7 p.m. would probably be a better switch over to 21+ only.
We spent the first 30 minutes getting the lay of the land and ordering a few tasty beverages. After playing a couple classic coin-​op arcade games, we decided to take the plunge and rent one of the six available living room areas. The living rooms are one of the things that makes the Rec Room unique.
You rent one of the living rooms for $ 25 an hour and select one of their consoles, ranging from NES to Xbox One, and a game for your group to play. The game is projected on a 25 foot by 25 foot screen in front of your couches. You can switch out games and at any time and or order drinks by activating a little dome light at your coffee table.
When we went on Saturday they were running a $ 10 an hour special on the living rooms until 5 p.m. We stepped up to the game desk and requested a Wii U, Mario Kart and four controllers, within 10 minutes we were slinging turtle shells at each other. We played for about an hour and half and then stepped out side to grab some grub.
They don’t serve food inside, but there is a rotating schedule of food trucks parked outside, Saturday’s selection was Stick’em. After loading up on some steak, chicken and fries on the patio, we headed back inside and took another run at the arcade games, Foosball table, ping pong and air hockey.
Everything besides the living room gaming areas is free to play.
I really love the open space and ambiance of the room, I just wish they had other places to sit down other than the high school gym bleachers. The owners seem to be taking feedback seriously and making changes on the fly, so I have high hopes this place become awesome with in a few weeks as they continue to tweak things. They already lowered their prices on the living areas from $ 40 to $ 25, which I think is closer to the sweet spot.
My only gripe is the beer prices seem a little steep for the craft beer and they were out of pretty much all of their domestics when we went in on Saturday, but again, I’m hoping this is something they will continue to work on.

We went last night on a double date. We had a good time watching the Grizz game and drinking some cold ones. They had the typical Wiseacre drafts and the blueberry Sweetwater. They also had 16oz Bud heavys.
What I liked:
1. The atmosphere. It is definitely that do whatever you feel like atmosphere. It is like being a kid again, but with alcohol.
2. The reasonable prices. There wasn’t any kind of a cover and the Bears were between $ 4-​$ 6 depending on size.
3. The food truck outside. Forget grilling their own food, they just ask someone to come do it for them. It supports local business and takes some weight off of their plate.
What I didn’t like:
1. The diverse age group. I wish it was a 21+ place. That would definitely make it more enjoyable. I have a kid, so I’m not a kid hater, but a bar + young children is never a good idea.
2. Folks hogging the sticks. It would be nice if there was some sort of rotation system. We were there for about two hours and never came close to getting an opportunity to play N64 or something like that. People just sat and never moved. I’m all for people having fun, but sharing is nice.
Keep up the good work! This is definitely a neat idea. I really like it.

Cool place with an excellent concept. The bar was not too busy even for a Friday night. I liked the beer selection– mostly local brews.
The staff seemed courteous.