Fun & Games at Kingpin

Once you step off Whiteman St, behind Melbourne’s Crown Casino complex and into the foyer of the Kingpin venue, the qualms of life quickly disappear as you enter a timeless zone of fun, games, joy, and camaraderie.

The decor of hundreds of bowling pins facing down from the ceiling and walls frame the elongated bar surrounded by private booths combined with the excitement of games and fun to be had literally lures you in to want to be playful.

 The super friendly staff greeted us, located our booking (yes, you need to book ahead), and directed us to our bowling strip, #11, my number. As we headed in that direction, we couldn’t help but stop by the expansive main bar. Here, the cocktail menu was overflowing with choices -to jump-start, we opted for a ‘Dutchess’ of vanilla vodka, limoncello, fresh pineapple, lime, rose candy, and fairy floss – which was absolutely “Yummy!” and a Lychee Rose Martini, which was very smooth. 

The snacks and food choices are equally as tempting. We opted for The Parmesan Truffle Potato Gems, Halloumi Chips, Crispy Prawn Tacos, and Pork Belly Sliders.

These were followed by a Pina Colada served in a themed metal goblet which set the mood for what was to come…

It had been some time since my last game of gutter tossing (Ten Pin Bowling), which with a good measure of self-diminishing humour morphed into my previous form of actually hitting some of the pins over. 

Our meals, which were all absolutely delicious, were presented whilst we continued bowling. Between sipping cocktails, eating & high-fiving, we got past the ‘trying too hard’ and trusted our hand-eye coordination to watch the pins fall as our reward. 

Funnily enough, the only Strike-Out that appeared on our game’s ledger, was achieved by rolling the ball awkwardly, kid-like from between my legs rather than the proper adult way. Who would have thought?

The excitement of the game had us bursting with so much positive energy! We were having so much fun and couldn’t wait to rematch another round. (note to self, make sure you book multiple games)

Having finished bowling, we relaxed in the privacy of a rounded booth, which all of a sudden became intimate as we continued our final drink called “Promiscuous”. Although everything we had up to this point was gob-smacking delicious, this enormous cocktail served in a huge balloon glass was on another level of delight!

The energetic atmosphere at Kingpin located in the Crown Entertainment Complex, is easy to adapt to. We couldn’t help but enjoy the busts of laughter from a large group of teens, even as we noticed others were more competitive.

We proceeded to play a few rounds of pool while observing the diverse mix of people thoroughly enjoying the venue. There was a large group of work colleagues having it out, all in good fun. Despite the apparent competitiveness, there was a lot of comradery – making this a great team-building or workgroup venue for obvious reasons. 

Then there were small groups of millennials enjoying the cool tunes, hanging out, and bowling for fun; a young couple out on a date; and families with all ages in their group including Nanna to the little one in a pram and all in between, plus a large birthday party imminent to take over the long table dressed in Kingpin plush crowns and other merchandise.

Next, we explored, Yes! The games room looked like a bright and colourful bag of lollies through the glass that separated the two sections. People of all ages were having a blast in there, so we couldn’t resist.

Now, we are a pretty chilled bunch, but once we had narrowed down to the basketball connect four-in-a-row machine it made room for a little competitiveness. One, two, and three games were not enough, so again we swiped our rechargeable games card, and with each game, we collected more points for the prize hub at the end.

There is literally no end to the games and fun offered at Kingpin, the hover-puck games (always a classic), the shooting alley (all laser now), motorbike racing, car racing, sensory ride, and virtual reality cartoon ride with headsets and moving ride car, done in pairs…

We defeated oodles of alien monsters in a shooting frenzy together with a father-and-son team which left us all feeling that we had saved the world. We became trigger-happy & shot crazily at anything that moved. We had a Marvel cover photo taken, shot some hoops, did a horse race (albeit I kept hitting the barrier, poor steed), and did another car race with booster buttons that flipped our cars – just glad it was all just fun and games! Otherwise, I would have died a dozen times.

With shock, we realised that 3 hours had passed since finding our way into the games room. We checked our points balance and proceeded to check out the merchandise store, opting to get something the next time and to collect more points on our forthcoming visits to Kingpin.

It never occurred to me, nor did I desire to go bowling or visit a games room on a business trip. In hindsight, the Kingpin venue in Melbourne’s Crown Entertainment Complex provides the ideal activity to take your team to, or for a light-hearted rally after a conference.

It’s also perfect for that birthday party you don’t want to do all the organising for, or any outing with family, friends, workmates, or a date night. 

Or ‘just because we all love a bit of fun’ and at any time of the day, because at Kingpin it is always on its own fun-time-night-time timeline.

Honestly, it turned out to be the most fun we all had on the whole trip. And rest assured, like the Terminator, “I will be back!”

Kingpin Melbourne
Our Rating:
5 out of 5 Smiles