Playland-Not-at-the-Beach

Growing up in San Francisco, my dad has a lot of great childhood memories from Playland at the Beach so I thought this would be a perfect place to take him for his birthday! They’ve got quite an impressive collection of memorabilia from Playland, Sutro Baths, etc, and it was a lot of fun to watch my dad relive his childhood days and it was a great history lesson of sorts for me.
They also have an impressive collection of miniatures, a magic show that is a lot of fun with a lot of corny humor, but my favorite part was all of the vintage pinball, arcade, and carnival games, the vast majority of which are set on free play! You literally could spend hours playing here, going from machine to machine! My dad never thought he’d ever see some of those games after he grew up and we practically had to pull him out to go home. Great fun for kids and adults alike! I’ll definitely be bringing him back for another visit!

Playland-​Not-​At-​the-​Beach is a great place that can be appreciated by kids and adults. I arrived on a Saturday around noon with my boyfriend. There were parking spaces available when we arrived and when we left around 4:30 PM. For the duration we stayed, we were able to see the magic show, all of the exhibits, and play all of the games we wanted. We looked at all of the rooms and then went back to play more at the pinball and arcade area. This is on a day when there were two birthday parties going on and many kids running around. During the entire time there, I had a couple kids politely ask to be next on a game and just one kid ask to play the shooting video game I was in the middle of playing with his hands pulling away the gun. As long as you’re just here to have fun and not create high score records, this won’t be a big deal.
We really enjoyed the amazing exhibits of miniature worlds, the most impressive and unique being the miniature circus exhibit. There is an incredible amount of detail in each piece of the circus and it gives you a feel for the culture of traveling circus and all that goes into the event. We could have spent an hour just looking at all of the detail. There are also amazing displays of miniature towns based on Charles Dickens classics, old horror movies, San Francisco, and the north pole/​Santa land. You can look at these with little interruption since the kids are mostly playing the games.
There is a variety of games that were available, ranging from carnival games to balance puzzles, arcade games and pinball machines. They have arcade and pinball games that are both old and newer, though don’t expect high tech modern video games. It was the first time I had played a low tech driving and shooting game that seemed to count score based on sparks. The more modern video arcade games included a basic shooting game and a machine that has the two player bubble puzzle game and a spaceship shooting game. There was a lot of pinball machines like you’d find at the pinball museum in Alameda. I prefer this place to the pinball museum for a 4.5 hour stay because of the variety if activities.
As for the magic show, I initially wondered if the show was just for kids, but I ended up going anyway and enjoyed the tricks and the dynamics between the magician and the kids. The tricks are basic (no rabbits pulled out of a hat here!), but were pretty well executed. I’m glad I watched it. Also as suggested by others, ask to see the Sutro bath and cliff house video if it’s not already playing. It’s a neat snippet of history.
For $ 15 dollars ($ 13 with Unilocal check in), you really get your money’s worth of fun here.

We brought the kids here for an afternoon and had a great time. We loved the hokey old-​timey games, and everyone enjoyed lots and lots of pin-​ball. Were disappointed that a bunch of the machines were not working, but we still got our fill. The miniature tableaus were fun to check out, especially in the haunted house room. It’s so great that a place like this exists in the Bay Area. Reminds me of childhood afternoons spent at the old Musee Mecanique at the Cliff House, Laughing Sal included!

Went here today for the first time and we will definitely return. We all had such a great time and the staff here is awesome. The kids loved the magic show., don’t miss it 1pm/​3pm. My favorite part was the unlimited play pin ball machines.

I didn’t know quite what to expect when I came… looked at the website but really skimmed, to be honest. Was looking for a Christmas vacation activity for my daughter. We stopped at Weinerschnitzel down the street, and then the first time I drove by I passed the building. My heart kind of sank because the place looked so small and was right in next to a shop. When I walked in, I did not get the sense that there were any other guests there. and I thought the museum would be tiny… so that disappointed me. But then… we walked in the first room (where the movie was), and there was a craft for my daughter to do! That was perfect! And then I realized that the museum was NOT tiny –in fact, I got lost a couple times! Doing the scavenger hunt really made the day interesting and fun for both of us. That was a stroke of genius, whoever can up with that. I kinda get claustrophobic around too many people, and it got kinda crowded for me in little spaces… but overall we had an excellent time! We saw the magic show that came with admission… very nice! The day we went there was a magic show at 1 and then at 3. Plan your trip to include the magic show. I am a history buff and into nostalgia, so the place was fun for both my daughter and me. I also liked that she could do games without us having to pay extra. Oh, and when you look at the map on the website, be aware that the «villages» are not lifesize, but miniature. Make sure you push the buttons under the displays to turn on lights and make things move.

This is where my husband wanted to spend part of his birthday. I went in knowing that it had something to do with the former theme park in San Francisco. What I didn’t realize, is the place is like a fun house. The way it’s laid out. You walk into one room, and it is different from the next room. You make a turn and you’re in a whole new theme. I like that. There is a magic show, that was too much fun. Got me hooked wanting to see another magic show, but in an adult environment. Which are offered in LA and SF.
The owner told us that there are some nights for adults only, and you can bring your booze and play in the arcades.
What you’ll experience is historical rooms, free pinball (included with your admission), largest miniature set of a circus, magic show and an area to eat. Go in with an open mind and you’ll have a blast. But if your uptight and expect a modern squeaky clean place, then you need to make a 180* and go back to San Francisco.

Fun and different place to visit for playland history! They have a lot to look and and an interesting miniatures area. Plus, unlimited play on pinball machines! Can’t beat that, I love pinball!

Definitely a hidden gem and great museum in the East Bay. Lots of great and interesting history on when Playland-​Not-​At-​The-​Beach used to be in San Francisco’s Richmond District, which was way before my time.
It’s $ 15 admission to get in and there are a number of shows offered (which I didn’t have time for), and quite a few good exhibits and archives. Oh, and yes, there are those vintage games and pinball machines that you can play over and over again, most of them included with your admission. And there is a Laughing Sal without the loud sound effects. During the summer, it’s open daily, but the rest of the year, it’s open only on weekends.

This place is trying to be both a museum and children’s birthday party venue and succeeds at neither.
It’s in a questionable part of Berkeley on San Pablo ave. The facility is dusty and random office junk is hidden by partition walls and other misc artifacts they think is worth displaying for some reason.
Highlights of my visit were a grainy pixelated short video, a creepy «laughing sal» and hearing a supervisor questioning an employee (volunteer maybe?) about a paperwork mistake.
The museum is about the San Francisco bathhouse, but the museum is in Berkeley, not San Francisco, so actually seeing the bath ruins would require a separate outing.
I was visiting as part of a university course, but I definitely would NOT take my daughter here.

I am writing about my wonderful experience in booking a birthday party at Playland-​Not-​At-​The-​Beach in June. From start to finish, everyone I experienced were great, I started in chatting with Frank about general information about the location to Kendra (Operations Manager) with the finer details of the party to the hosts of my child’s birthday party (Alexia & Adam?).
The day of party, the hosts were helpful and constantly were available to answer questions and assist us as needed with setup and breakdown.
There was a scavenger hunt which helped understand the layout of the place.
There was a magic show which incorporated my child into the act that everyone enjoyed.
Most of the games were available but the «rolling the bowling» was not in the Carousel Carnival during that day.
A lot of people enjoyed viewing the miniatures of the circuses, Christmas and Halloween — I think most are hand crafted.
I was glad that they turned off the sound the Laughing Sal — can be annoying after some time.
They also gave us a sneak peek of the Walt Disney Room — very cool if you like Disney.
In all, a great place to take your family and friends for a few hours.

This is a wonderful place to indulge in the nostalgic pleasures of yesteryear. The miniature circus scenes are intricate and hold one’s attention for many moments. Fans of Charles Dickens are in for a great treat, as are fans of the Yuletide. Also, devotees of the macabre have much to enjoy from the Halloween/​horror themed scenes to spooky pinball machines to an old penny operated flipbook of Lon Chaney as Erik from The Phantom of the Opera, unmasking himself to reveal his horrid face.
Be sure to buy an It’s-It!

3 – 8 yr olds LOVED the arcade and most of all the tickets and midway games.
They spent most time there. playing games and winning tickets. all included in the admission. So fun. The grown ups wondered playing pinball not even realizing you can earn tickets as well. So Go and have a blast. Entertainment coupon for this location makes it even a better place to explore.

It’s great to see there’s still a flicker left in the flame of SF’s greatest amusement park Playland at the Beach. It’s really a shame that Playland was bulldozed for condos in the early 70s but the tradition lives on at Playland-​Not-​At-​The-​Beach.
We booked the whole place for a party once and the staff couldn’t have been kinder to everyone. There’s so much to do that no one wanted to go home at the end of the night.

Finally! I have been waiting until I thought my daughter wouldn’t be freaked out by the clowns in order to go here. Now she is 6 and we finally got the chance to visit this wonderful place.
Yes, it is a little expensive if you don’t like to play pinball, but if you do – Hallelujah! All games are set to free play and you can play over and over and over. Awesome. The only bummer is that my absolute favorite pinball machine, The Addams Family, was out of order. Boo hoo.
We chose this day to come because Mike the Magician was performing – and he is awesome. Boy can he entertain the kids and adults alike. We had him perform at our daughters 5^th birthday and he was awesome. All the kids were in stitches and were amazed by his tricks.
My daughter was a little scared of the clowns in the beginning, but soon discovered the joys of pinball and we were there for 3 hours. :)
They also have tons of stools to the little ones can see and play the games with ease. How great is that?
Loved this place. Me and my daughter definitely want to go back!

Pinballs, carnival games, antique penny arcade machines and lots and losts of historical sings, photos, artifacts and, oh yes, a 300,000 piece hand carved and hand painted miniature circus!!! Lots if photos of the original Playland-​at-​the-​Beach Amusement Park, Sutro’s Baths and The Cliff House. Great gift shop too!

Playland! Corny, kitschy and fun for every age! I took my sister here for her tenth birthday and we had a blast. Most games are included in the entrance fee and are of the carnival variety with similar winnings, and a ticket system like Chuck E. Cheese. When we visited there was a birthday party going on and the staff made sure to recognize my sister’s birthday and convince her to attend the show (PNATB usually has some sort of act or attraction on the calendar each day) she even volunteered in the magic show led by a budding local 13 year old magician!

(This review is for the «Playland Exclusive Party» event option)
I worked with Playland to host a semiformal event for my sorority. I had a strict budget and was having trouble coming up with something fun to do and finding an affordable venue for 40 people, but I soon discovered Playland after looking around Unilocal and found that the private party packages were a very affordable option!
Kendra is one of the most sweetest people, ever. She gave my friend and I a tour of the place and kindly explained the whole reservations process and event information to us. The whole party package is superb — you get the whole venue to yourselves, you’re allowed to bring your own food, and you can have a treasure hunt and/​or performance (we chose a magic show) for no extra cost.
While we were waiting for her to type and print out the contract and policies, she turned on the pinball machines for us to play! It was a great preview.
A week before the event, Kendra e-​mailed me about the final details (party size, theme, guest list, set up options, rooms we’d be using, supplies I should bring, kitchen features). She let me decide how to schedule the activities for the night and accommodated my requests to come early and set up.
The event was on a Friday night. I came in that afternoon to set up the tables (placing the chairs and table cloths), decorate a bit, and drop off beverages and dessert in the refrigerator. The staff kindly offered to help me get everything out of my car. So easy!
When night came, we all arrived at the venue. (The party package comes with a 3-​hour slot, and we decided on 7−10pm). There’s plenty of parking in the lot in the back (super awesome since we’re all from Berkeley where parking’s a nightmare). We were able to check in without a hitch. The guest list basically consisted of each girl’s name with a «plus one» by their name. It was super convenient that I didn’t have to track down the name of everyone’s guest.
First activity of the night was Dinner. I chose this to be first in case people were hungry, since 7pm was probably a later dinner time for some people. I love that we were able to bring our own party trays of food; I’m positive that being able to choose my own caterer helped me adhere to my budget. I’m also thankful that there were enough tables and seating between the Penny Arcade Room and Midway Party Room for the 40 of us. I put all the food and drinks on the counters in the Penny Arcade Room, and people were allowed to move to where ever they wanted after they got their food.
After dinner was the Treasure Hunt. We gathered in a seating area that the staff graciously arranged for us. Kendra explained the activity, then we split into teams of 4 and were on our way! It was a scavenger hunt that let us really discover the venue (there are so many displays and machines that it is easy to wander off and become lost, haha). It was also a nice chance for people to bond together.
Next was the Magic Show. We went back to the seating area and awaited for Frank to appear on the stage. Frank did an amazing job of making our group laugh and there were several opportunities for volunteers! I think his performance set a good and happy tone for everyone for the rest of the night.
Then it was time for Free Play. Everyone had access to the pinball machines and carnival games. A lot of us also took this time to take a lot of pictures since there were a lot of fun displays and backgrounds… not just because we are a bunch of sorority girls ;) The venue was big enough so that it didn’t get too crowded in places and no one really had to wait too long (or at all) to play something. People seemed very happy with the place!
Lastly, it was time for dessert and prizes. I stored pies in the refrigerator for dessert, so all I had to do was take them out and people helped themselves. Everyone got tickets from the treasure hunt and the games, and were able to trade them in for prizes (toys, trinkets, and lots of cute stuffed animals)– a nice final touch and a neat souvenir! At around 10pm, we all gathered to the Penny Arcade Room (took a few moments because some people still wanted to mingle around), closed the event, and happily went home. Cleaning was fast – we basically just collected our trash and restored the chairs we used for dining.
Overall, this was a very pleasing experience! Kendra was so easy to work with and really catered the event to the wants and needs of my sorority. No hidden catches. And it was great being able to exclusively reserve the whole place to ourselves so we could be as crazy as we wanted without disturbing other guests.
AND ONE MORE THING – I was also happy that I got to relax and participate in all of the activities for the night! After figuring out and dealing with most of the logistics beforehand, the staff took care of everything else that night to make sure everyone, including me, would have an amazing time.
Thanks for the wonderful experience, Playland!

I’m looking forward to having another b-​day celebration here next month.
Five years ago I had a milestone b-​day potluck party with the theme of
Summer camp – Frank and Richard made these great invitations and a summer camp book with rules and songs. We had exclusive use of PNATB and ended the party with
campfire songs and a magic show!
People had fun eating, socializing, playing pinball and skeeball and the Boardwalk games.
I LOVE the dioramas with detailed scenes of a circus, San Francisco, Christmas land,
Dickensian scene, Halloween dioramas and other marvelous scenes. They are all so magical.
Even if you don’t come here for a party you’ll have barrels of fun.
Every weekend has a certain theme with magic shows and other performances.
There are also Adults only nights some Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Every person I’ve taken here is awestruck It’s not BIG and overwhelming like the major theme parks around but the admission prices are well worth it.
At first glance they may seem to be expensive but for 2 hours or more of fun it is
still a better bargain than a movie.
The staff and volunteers here are awesome! Such enthusiasm and dedication!

Don’t judge a book by its cover.
My cousin had his 30^th birthday extravaganza here a few months ago. Yep, you read that right, people, and we had a blast complete with magic show (with numerous puns — my favorite!) and even a scavenger hunt.
At first glance, Playland Not at the Beach may seem a bit dark, run-​down, uncertain. But take a walk around, take a moment to give this place a chance, and your view will start to change.
Playland Not at the Beach is a place of nostalgia that all ages can enjoy. Older folks will recognize memorabilia from the actual SF Playland. Young adults will recall artifacts from SF’s now defunct arcade at the Cliff House. And the youngin’s, well, they’ll just be in awe.
The staff is as awesome as Playland Not at the Beach itself — patient, knowledgable, and just downright fun to be around. They certainly helped to set the tone of the place.
So trust me, even if it’s just a one-​time thing, give this place a try. Be open-​minded. You won’t regret it.

Playland-​Not-​at-​the-​Beach knows how to tap right into the ol’ nostalgia vein — I think my girlfriend and I killed at least a half-​hour playing Skee-​ball and Sidewinder. And is that an arcade machine with Donkey Kong?!
They have a great selection of pinball machines (Funhouse, The Addams Family), a number of vintage games, and a large set of diorama sets themed around different eras. There was also a magic act with a flea circus — I think we were out of the age range for the show, but it was still a fun experience.
More space to move around and explore would be nice, but you could tell that Playland is a labor of love — it definitely adds to its charm.