Bonkers
Category: Arts & Entertainment [Edit]
Neighborhood: Financial District483 Pine St
(between Belden Pl & Kearny St)
San Francisco, CA 94104
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 11:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. - Good for Kids: No
52 reviews
Neighborhood: Fisherman's Wharf
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15 Reviews for Bonkers
Man I'm an old school video game and pinball nerd but I stopped by here last night while riding around trying to figure out where to eat dinner. Anyhow, there were four legs protruding from under a table, and I didn't really care to find out if it was a couple of corpses or some folks sleeping, or just some severed legs. The guys who worked there were watching TV and seemed a bit jittery when I peeked behind the wall to the area where the legs were.
That's off topic though - as Margie B said, more than half the machines seem to be broken and they have a rag tag grouping of games. The most interesting one for me was Raiden 2. Alas, my hunger pangs overwhelmed the urge to play games and I bolted after the walk around of the place...
It looks to me like this place has just reopened as I walked by and saw their big OPEN neon sign lit up.
I got all excited because I used to date Pacman a little while ago, and anytime I can get near him and his old friends i feel all warm inside.
So I ventured up Bonkers' dark, freshly painted staircase.
But I did not see my long time lost lover.
No.
Instead, I saw a few working machines outnumbered by broken ones.
I noticed a half passed out man, sitting in front of his poker machine, trying to finally win.
I got a glimpse of another old man, practically hidden in a closet, ready to change dollar bills into quarters.
I did not hear any music other then the few arcade sounds here and there, avoiding a complete silence in a very awkward way.
I played one game and left right away.
It might have been better for Bonkers not to reopened.
It is now cold, uncomfortable and quite uninviting.
I don't think I'll return anytime soon.
It took my Pacman's 3 lives. But he still has my heart.
People thought this was:
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The internet. Console Gaming. Computer reliance. These are many of the causes that have lead to the death of video arcades. Once they were many, thriving, flourishing, but mighter beasts of individualty came to crush them beneath their heels. Such is the course of evolution.
Hidden away in depths of the financial district, one of these lost gems of ages past has managed to hold on, if only barely. Crawling up the gritty stairwell, I am greeted by a hall of fallen arcade boxes, many displaying the faded art from games of their former glory, replaced by games barely known or recognized. . Half of the games or off or broken. Those that remain run a limited selection.What was once the SImpsons, then Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, now replaced with Dungeon and Dragons. The Darkstalkers arcade box features a a broken joystick, easily removed from its rightful place and only capable of moving right or up. In the corner there is a small section of video gambling with four locals huddled around. This place is a pit.
And still, I love it.
I am reminded of my youth, and what must have been bonkers former glory. Teens and 'tweens surrounding each console, jawing and braying, excitement and fervor fillingthe air. Challeneges, cooperation and community unique to an era. This stands a testament to a lost time.
I pour quarter after quarter into Dungeons & Dragons, move on to Alien vs. Predator, Tekken Tag and make my challenge against a fellow at Darkstalkers. I watch as a starlet plays her hand at the Star Wars pinball game, smooth, precise and without distraction. The flippers of the pinball move like a ballet. The kicks of the Tekken fighter form modern dance choreography. This is my theater. The games are my stage.
Bonkers, my heart (and quarters) are with you.
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A tattered awning alerts you to this "amusement center" located in the city's Financial District. Upon entering, a wooden staircase greets you. Make your way to the top to find a whole floor loaded with old school video arcade games, as well as a number of pinball machines. I enjoy a game of pinball now and then, and while the machines look a bit run down and grimy, they're still loads of fun--and not to mention, cheap. Two dollars worth of quarters in hand, and you can easily waste away your lunch hour here.
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An old video game room from a distant state of mind. Through the unmarked door between an alley and a downtown bar, up a rickety worn staircase to a dark musty walk-up, you walk into a Quentin Tarantio location shot in East Hartford, 1972, just before somebody gets killed. Papers all over the floor, tiny office rooms strewn with debris, window light shafts streaking the dusty air. And there they are, an odd assortment of pinball and video machines, new and old. Ms. Pac Man to Pirates of the Carribean. But mostly from the era where the FBI was telling you not to do drugs. A soda machine. No food, no booze, no logo gifts, just slots for your quarters. It opens early and closes early. Your boss will not find you here.
Someone must care because the machines are in very good condition. You don't find pinball play this good in a bar, although you do pay a little extra for the privilege of doing it amidst the skyscrapers and the office workers on lunch break.
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Yeah, this place is a dive, but...where else can you play cheap ass, old school video games here in the Financial District?!?!?
The dirty, run-down feel of the joint is definitely part of the charm.
They have 4 or 5 pinball tables and lots of old arcade games with a handful of more "recent" (1990s) ones, too.
Almost all are .25 or .50 cent games...where else can you find that in the era of the $2+ game?
I highly recommend you stop by Bonkers someday to satisfy your arcade fix. Don't pay $2 for ONE game anymore...that's a rip-off!
5 stars for the nostalgia-kick and for being cheap.
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It's BONKERS that this arcade closed. :(
People thought this was:
Funny (1)
Bummed...they are CLOSING...
PINBALL ALERT!!!
Pirates of the Caribbean (POTC see: http://www.ipdb.org/ma... ) - new condition : $.75 = 1 game
Star Wars (Pinball 2000) (see: http://www.ipdb.org/ma... )
Buy'em now while they're hot... SORRY they're all gone (except the 2 above)!!!
All the machines (pins) went for $500 a piece!!! Dang...
People thought this was:
Cool (1)
Bonkers is the last Arcade in San Francisco. In the 80's and 90's San Francisco had many lush arcades but due to many factors, many of them closed down.
Bonker's features about 5 or 6 Pinball machines and over a 20 or so arcade machines on the second floor. Machines range from Classics like Pacman to fighting games like Marvel vs. Capcom. Make sure to bring 1 doller bills, since the change machine only makes changes for dollar bills but there is usually an attendant there that can break a $20 bill.
The pinball machines were in great shape, some of the fighting games controls could use some tweaking but were very playable. Most arcade games were 50 cents while classic games were 25 cents. Pinball machines were 75 cents for a five ball game. Pinball free replay scores didn't seem too high either, so you are getting a lot of bang for your buck.
This is definitely a spot to check out in the downtown financial district. It's also around the corner of many good French and Italian restaurants. The hours of operation are 11am to 7pm weekdays and closed weekends.
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I'm going to date myself by saying this, but I'll never forget when I first saw a pong game in a restaurant waiting area in FL. It BLEW MY MIND! When one of my buddies got the original Atari, I almost had a stroke. So...I've got a soft spot for older video games and the arcades that still carry them. Yeah, the new graphics and sound are OK, but I still believe that a game should cost a quarter.
Bonkers is the video game arcade that time forgot. Incongruously located upstairs from Brindisi Cucina di Mare--turn the corner from bustling and hip Belden alley, climb up the stairs and you'll find yourself face-to-face with Pacman and a bunch of old video games...most all of which seem to cost a quarter. Their hours are very odd and unpredictable. Every time I've gone in, the only people in the joint are a woman and her toddler-aged daughter, who's frequently having fun in a play pen. How they stay in business, I have no idea. Though, one can venture a guess.
I'm a total sucker for 2D downward-view jet fighter games where you kick ass as long as you keep getting power-ups, but are completely screwed if you lose your life--lacking firepower, even a 100 extra lives won't help in the slightest. They've got several of these, so I'm happy as a clam.
Props to ye olde schoole.
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Cool (3)
It seems odd that the entire Kearny Street in the shadow of the BA tower is a depressing, aesthetically blighted corridor crying for urban renewal. Yet this is the case, and Bumpers adds to this, as a depressing aesthetically blighted pinball arcade up a rickety flight of stairs.
All that said, and forgiven, Bumpers saved me a few years ago when I had a wretched temp job in the BA tower for a few weeks. It was one of a series of jobs, copying, filing and sorting documents at depopulated and dying tech firms --- as the SEC circled and the last bits of capital burnt away. I remember another such job where I toiled at the copy machine, while the CEO's dog roamed around the newly built building under whiteboard predictions of impending and certain fiscal doom, the dog would wander into empty offices, howl occasionally, and pee on the legs of unused, still wrapped Aeron chairs.
It makes little sense that I wanted to spend my lunch engaging in yet more repetitive tasks, but Bumper's had the Ninja Turtles' pinball machine. That's the one I could never play as a kid 'cause I never had the quarters and the tough older teens hogged it all the time even if I did. At Bumper's, and employed, I could play with the Turtles all I wanted, thus escaping from both that squalid stretch of Kearny Street and the blasted economic realities of late 2000 SF.
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Cool (2)
It's really a 3 star arcade, but since it's the ONLY one I've seen in the downtown area, it get's that extra star for being THAT special.
It's a great idea to waltz in here during your lunch hour and let off some steam while playing a little Street Fighter or old school Off Road. The pinball games are pretty sweet, although a little expensive ($.75), but the aesthetic of actually being inside and arcade makes it worth it.
It is kinda weird though to see a small family sitting on the office's floor watching cartoons. Otherwise, it's good to be there playing games just like I did as a tweeny.
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5 stars for establishments promoting positive use of the word "bonk" and derivatives thereof!
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wtf, everyone loves this place? it was rundown, pretty trashy, and the pinball i played was NOT cheap. we played 2 different arcade games: 1 of them the action button didn't work and the other one the joystick didnt move left..........yea...real great place.
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Cool (1)
ever since they closed that great arcade on broadway where all the little asian gangster kids would go to chain smoke and play street fighter this is the only arcade i know of. still full of little asian ganster kids playing street fighter, and not as good a selection of pinball, but the atmosphere is great. mind the missing step and broken handrail.
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