Trying something new ⛳️👾

Hive account@flowerbaby had told me about Malibu Jack's a few times in the past, but we had yet to ever go there because the nearest one was about 3 hours from where we live. She brought the place up again recently and I started looking over https://www.malibujacks.net/ once again. I was very surprised to find out that they just opened up a new one much closer to us in Ashland, KY. This new location had a soft launch back in January of 2022 and is ready to visit now, with a grand opening happening towards the end of April.

As soon as I realized how close it was, we made plans to finally check out Malibu Jack's. I had never been to one before, but she had visited the one in Lexington before. They call it an indoor theme park but don't let that make you think that it is all roller coasters. There are a few small carnival-style rides, loads of arcade games, mini-golf, go-karts, bowling, laser tag, VR, bumper cars, and more.

On the way to Ashland, we stopped in Barboursville and ate at one of our favorite restaurants called Oscar's Breakfast Burgers & Brews. We got a table outside and ordered a few burgers and some flapjacks. I was unlucky enough to have a view of this dude's crack throughout the entirety of our meal. Otherwise, it was fantastic and we both got way too full, but that is better than being hungry.

Malibu Jack's is totally massive. It resides in the old shopping mall in Ashland and takes up pretty much all of that area besides one end. You can see from the photo, that this place is already really popular and the parking lot was full of people when we went.

Although this is the ideal place to take kids, it is also a fun place for adults. There is a variety of things to do and the place is laid out pretty well. It is all pretty simple too. You get a free Malibu Jack's debit card and have the option to load credits on it. The more that you purchase at once, the better the discount. You can refill at any time and your card is good for all of your visits so you don't have to spend everything in one day. Most arcade games are only $1 and then the bigger activities vary depending on what it is, usually no more than $10.

One recommendation I have is to avoid the line upfront because you can get your refillable debit card at one of the many self-service kiosks throughout the place. There was a line of 30+ people all waiting for the same thing when in reality all they had to do was explore the place a bit and they would have found out that they didn't have to wait in that line.

Although the parking lot was packed, the interior was spacious and didn't feel like there were too many people. Most things didn't have a wait and if they did it was short. We went in the early afternoon on the weekend, I'm sure through the week it is even less busy. Although as more people find out about this place, it will surely become more difficult to find open spaces like this one.

The first thing that we did was play some Malibu Golf, which is 18 holes of putting. We always enjoy this game and this was no different. The course wasn't anything special, but it was at least new and in great condition. We got behind some parents with their children and that got annoying quickly. Plus the people behind us were some rowdy kids with their non-disciplinary father. It still was fun, but being sandwiched between two annoying groups of people would have been nice to avoid. It still went smoothly.

I found this next picture to be quite hilarious. There was a set of emergency exit doors that had a giant sign that said "THIS IS NOT A DOOR". Okay then, what the hell is it? Please explain. I'm sure they just had this there to keep kids from trying to leave the place, but I still got a chuckle out of it.

Our mini gold match was close, but in the end, I was a few strokes ahead of Hive account@flowerbaby. We only had a single hole in one, so it is safe to say it wasn't our best day of golf.

Next we played some air hockey. This brought back memories of my childhood when we used to have a table like this. It was so much fun and although I thought I was pretty good, Hive account@flowerbaby ended up beating my ass in front of a bunch of people.

There were many different sports arcade games. We did the football throw and played Connect 4 with basketball shots. There was also a baseball throw, but we didn't do that one.

We tried to play this racing game together, but when we sat down and had already swiped for her, we found out my machine was down for maintenance. This was something that disrupted our play multiple times throughout the day. I'm not sure why, but many times the games were offline and unable to be played. There was still plenty to do at least.

One game that I kind of wanted to play, but never got to was Halo Fireteam Raven. I used to love Halo and I figured this would be a cool arcade game to get into since it had giant guns that you get to point. Every time we went by it, somebody was playing it. We eventually got tired of trying and just gave up.

One of the coolest looking games they had was the largest Pac-Man screen that I have ever seen. It was totally massive and made it very easy to watch the gameplay. I didn't do great but did end up getting my name on the high score list. I decided to list myself as Damien because I thought that it sounded evil and might make somebody laugh later on.

This Alpine Racer skiing game was pretty cool. You had to move your feet to aim your character in the game. Both of us enjoyed this and had several laughs. I also must add that my girl's booty was looking rather juicy in those jeans on this day.

All of the kids around were in heaven. You could just tell they were so happy to be able to play around in a place like this. I don't remember a time when I was a kid when I was able to just burn through $50 at an arcade. I always felt bad asking my parents to spend money on something that would only last a few minutes. As an adult, I felt that it was okay to splurge this one time although the games are nowhere near the quality of what I am now used to with my PS5.

The carnival area in the back was really cool. We both enjoy playing skeeball and played several games. We were getting to the point of having way too many leftover credits, so we had to burn the somewhere. This didn't really seem like a place we would come to regularly, but this trip was still really fun.

This Hot Wheels racing game was kind of lame, but at least it showed our faces on the screen. I much prefer the Hot Wheels racing game that I have for PS5, but this is Malibu Jack's, not my damn living room.

We both got totally pissed at the hunting game. I have hated this type of game ever since I was a kid. It never seems to aim where you want it to and the animals come and go so quickly. We still got some laughter out of sucking, but it was a quick way to finish off our last credits and finally leave the joint. We didn't do bowling, go-karts, laser tag, bumper cars, or any of the VR. That stuff had longer lines, cost more, and really just didn't. excite us much.

On the way back home, we finally got to try this new smoothie place that opened up called Pulp Juice and Smoothie Bar. It was literally the best smoothies that we had tasted in a long time, plus it was affordable. It makes me never want to go to the smoothie place that opened up at my gym recently. Their smoothies really aren't any good, they are half the size and twice the price. I am not falling for that rip-off anymore.

We went to a few of Hive account@flowerbaby's favorite stores and also the mall, then it was time to head home. We stopped at my parent's house to visit briefly on the way home. They just got a new couch and are about finished setting up their new living area in their basement. It looks amazing and I was happy to see them again.

Overall, it was a great day and we arrived home totally exhausted.

My NFTs: @daltono/nfts