After attending the Arcade Expo show in Banning, California, we spent a night in downtown Los Angeles before flying over to Dallas for the Texas Pinball Festival.
We picked an affordable hotel on Sunset Boulevard and after checking in, went out to explore the area. As we walked up Sunset, we stumbled across a brightly-lit business called Button Mash.
The name rang a few bells, and sure enough we could see some pinball machines through the front window, as you can see below.
It was time to investigate.
Button Mash on Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles
At first, Button Mash was a confusing proposition. In the windows facing the street we could see people eating at tables, so was this a restaurant?
So it’s a restaurant?
We tried to get in to find out, but the entrance seemed to be through a store next door called Pwnshop.
There is another entrance on the opposite side, but from the street it’s not clearly marked. Anyway, we eventually got in and found a mix between a bar/arcade (colloquially known as a ‘barcade’, even though the people who own the Barcade trademark get upset when we use that generic term) and a restaurant.
Most ‘barcades’ focus on the games and the beer, with food almost an afterthought. Button Mash dedicates roughly the same space to dining tables as it does to games, with most of the gaming space given to videos.
The video games area
Seating in the video games area
To the left of the video area is the bar. This isn’t the typical sports bar design, and only has a few seats available if you’re taking a break between games.
The bar
They have a reasonable craft beer selection, with twelve taps featuring an eclectic mix of styles, including one cider.
The beer tap list, with more options in the fridges below
On the other side of the bar is the pinball area. This contains eleven games, ranging from 1987’s Arena to 2019’s The Munsters.
The main bank of seven pinballs
The pinballs are split into two banks of seven and four with the newest, most popular titles nearest the window.
The second bank of machines
The full list of
