SkateNation Plus

I’ve been here several times with groups. The staff is good about being quick to get everything sorted and ready to go skating.
The ice rink is always reasonably clean and the ice is groomed several times a day.
My one gripe is that the arcade games are often broken or malfunctioning. That’s pretty important for the group I bring there. When they do work they are pretty expensive. Probably one of the more expensive arcades in the Richmond area.

I came with my kids, their friends and dads to do some laser tag fun and burn some time. As we waited the kids wasted money on a bunch of very low reward games. In Vegas, you expect low payout on the main strip but better payouts off strip. While I expected the ticket prize lameness from Dave & Buster because of their great games, here it was just a rip as we waited. Maybe a few hundred points for a small wrapper of chicklets.
The games we were playing were fun at first but rapidly became boring. Once everyone figured out to just sit under a base shooting their «flag» the game went to «waste of time».
Trying to get scores afterwards completed the lameness. Their PC/​connection was way flaky and we gave up. You know when you go to a place that has a very flawed process/​system and they don’t even try? This was that. They eventually out lasted us. Kids would go back, I’d rather just throw my cash across Broad Street.

Review is primarily for the arcade, which is beyond bad. I took 4 kids today, planning for 3 to play laser tag and me and my little one to play the arcade. Unfortunately, we had just missed a laser tag start and we didn’t have time to wait for the next. So, I bought $ 20 in tokens and we played games instead.
Most of the games are 4 tokens each, so the coins go really fast. Many of the games are broken, although they were fine giving us the tokens back for those games. At the end, we had like 210 tickets, which gets you nothing. The prizes are so cheap. For 35 tickets, you can get a piece of candy (twizzler, smartie), which probably would take $ 3 to earn. Maybe we could have traded in for a dollar store prize (which I would have wanted to toss pretty quickly). At the end, we got 2 laffy taffy and 6 mini tootsie rolls. At least they don’t clutter the house :)
Your best bet is the candy crane for one token. However, I’m never sure if I should actually trust the candy.
They have a few driving games, but not a lot of games that fall into the just play a while and have fun games.
I would choose D&B any day. Get a buy $ 20, get $ 20 free coupon there (email or grocery receipts) and it is loads a fun, plus decent prizes and much cleaner!

We were looking for something fun to do on a Sunday afternoon, and ice skating and laser tag won in the vote.
The rink was like most other rinks I have been too, except they have nothing to assist children or people new to ice skating. Most rinks will have buckets or chairs, but we were told they don’t allow anything on the ice here. It was sad to watch children hugging the walls and parents not being able to enjoy their time together. At $ 8 a person for 2 hours of public skate and $ 3 for each skate rental, it’s a bit spendy to end up not really having fun. So if you don’t know how to skate, it can turn real miserable, real fast.
Laser tag was fun. My husband and I were on opposing teams so each group of 11 years olds had the handicap of a slow older person with bad aim. Haha! It was a bit crowded even with only a 10 people playing. There was more bumping into each other than I am used to with most laser tag arenas. It seemed to be a bit too dark combined with too much fog and more obstacles than are necessary for game play.
There are lots of arcade games to help pass the time while you’re waiting for a laser tag game or killing time before or after public skate. It also looks like it could be an alright place to have a child’s birthday party. It may just be expensive.
If you participate in Hockey Night in Richmond, you can benefit from free skating and free laser tag, so that’s a plus. Guest skate is only $ 5 not including rentals if you need skates.
Overall, this place is nothing special. The employees don’t seem to enjoy their jobs much and the location is fairly dirty. It does allow something different to do for an outing with friends or family. Just don’t have high expectations and you won’t be disappointed.

What a pit. I’ve been dying to write this review since my daughter started skating but I haven’t because I didn’t want her to be treated badly. Which is not to say the staff is bad or anything (it’s okay, not great… some people are good, some awful). I just didn’t want the negative vibes. Anyway, here goes. Read all the way to the end for the positives.
It’s sad that there’s not another ice skating choice unless you go down to Midlothian (it’s owned by the same people but seems to not be in such terrible shape). SkateNation is dirty, loud, and in disrepair. The women’s bathrooms are always filthy, the faucets either don’t turn off or don’t work at all, and the stall doors are all banged up from skates.
The rink walls desperately need painting. During the holiday show in 2013, the lights cut out half way through the show, and they didn’t even turn the heaters on for the stands!
The locker rooms are gross and the bathrooms off of the locker rooms are rarely cleaned.
The games in the arcade area work shoddily at best. And if your kid does win tickets, be prepared for attitude if you get the wrong cashier and your kid takes time picking out prizes.
The parking lot is awful. Full of pot holes. It can’t handle the crowd on Learn to Skate nights and people end up parking in the dirt in the median.
There’s no waiting area for parents who have kids taking classes. And I have been kicked out of the café seating area because they «had to set up for a party.» I was kicked out at 9 am and the parties start at 1 pm. You couldn’t have waited until practice was over?
The pro shop is open about 5% of the time. Probably 100% of the time that the hockey people are there, but I’m just speculating.
Speaking of hockey, those guys rule the place. They get preferential treatment, for sure. Though this seems to be universal at all rinks.
I’m giving Skate Nation two stars as opposed to one only because the Learn to Skate program is run well and has good instructors. Robbie does a great job and is the bright spot at an otherwise dismal place.

I came here to play laser tag with my roommates and two other people. In total, there were six people playing at once. Any more may be a bit crowded. We were in the «free play» mode, or whatever it’s called. I’ll say, it was heaps of fun and quite a workout. Thirty minutes went up pretty quick.
The only bad thing is the location — but in all fairness, I hate all of the Short Pump area. Short Pump is yuppie central; it’s eight lanes of soccer moms in SUVs they don’t know how to drive.

Had the best team building event here with my job… We did a quick 30 minute staff meeting and then hit the ice skating rink, and some highly competitive lazertag… Yes. I was on the winning team. We whooped all teams butts and earned bragging rights. One issue about skatenation… Is it possible to turn up the air conditioning inside the lazertag area… Everyone comes outsweating like pigs. We were all drenched!
One other thing, it looks like they removed a bunch of the video games from the arcade area. they put in a bowling alley lane and it takes up too much space. They need to update their arcade games.
This is a great place to let off some steam. Had a blast!

This is a nice ice skating rink. The rink is a bit smaller than Main Street Arena in Charlottesville, but the rental skates are way more comfortable. The programs are nicely organized and the coaches are professional ice skaters. This rink also has an arcade and and cafeteria area. A Free Skate Sesion costs $ 8 and Skate Rental costs $ 3. So your looking at about $ 11 per skate time. They also have classes that teach you the basics of ice skating. Overall this is a pretty nice ice skating rink.