The Game Night Menace: Arcade, Bowling and Board Games in Manila

For an arcade in Metro Manila with a bowling alley on the same floor, go to Level 3 of Gateway Mall 2 in Cubao, where Timezone Gateway 2 and Paeng's Gateway Bowl sit side by side. Play the arcade first because it closes with the mall, eat, then bowl until midnight.

How the quiz picks a Game Night Menace

Choose "Something to do with our hands" when asked what makes a good night (the one that lists bowling, arcades and a mic), and pick a new place on the second question. "The place nobody's posted yet" leads here at any pace and in any room, except that "Somewhere in the middle" or "Out out" at "The loud table everyone wants to join" makes a Barkada Captain. "Something a bit different" leads here after "Somewhere in the middle" or "Out out", in the corner table or the warm room; after "Slow and easy" it makes a Tambay Loyalist. Pair the hands answer with "The sure thing" and the result is never a Menace: it is a Tambay Loyalist, an Easygoing Regular or a Barkada Captain.

The Game Night Menace page puts the night as something to compete over, then food to argue about it. It is one of the eleven archetypes, and it is about how a person likes to spend an evening, nothing else.

The order of play in Cubao

The order comes from the closing times. Both game venues are loud, take big groups and are not bars.

6:00 PM, the arcade. Timezone Gateway 2 has arcade games, short-lane bowling, private karaoke rooms, photo booths and VR on one floor. It keeps mall hours, so it shuts at 9 PM from Monday to Thursday and on Sunday, and at 10 PM on Friday and Saturday. It takes party bookings.

7:15 PM, dinner. Stay in the Gateway malls. The three options below are all indoors and close by.

8:30 PM, bowling. Paeng's Gateway Bowl has 24 lanes and six billiard tables and is open from 10 AM to midnight daily, so it is the stop that can run long. It costs under ₱500 a head and accepts group and occasion reservations. Allow about 75 minutes. Ask for lane rates, game prices and karaoke room fees when you book.

Bowling at under ₱500 a head and dinner at ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head put the night at up to ₱2,000 a head, before arcade games.

Food to argue over

• Palenque is the easy call: a regional Filipino food hall on Upper Ground B with stalls such as Palm Grill and Nasi by Bale Dutung. Walk in, no booking needed. Expect ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head.
• Food Express on Level 3 of Gateway Mall 1 is the cheaper call, a food court that costs under ₱500 a head, with stalls such as Bebang Halo-Halo, Sisig Hooray and Salo Lechon Belly Kitchen.
• Dookki keeps everyone's hands busy through dinner too: unlimited cook-it-yourself tteokbokki and Korean hotpot, on Upper Ground B.

All three keep mall hours, so on a weeknight order by 8 PM.

Smaller games for a small table

The Brewman Coffee in Cubao Expo has board games and books to borrow with its espresso drinks. It is open from 10 AM to 11 PM, Tuesday to Sunday, and from noon to 8 PM on Mondays. It is a quiet café, so keep the party small and the trash talk low. Cubao Expo is about a 12-minute walk from Gateway Mall.

What the other areas can offer

Outside Cubao, the options are a trivia night and a theme park.

BGC. Brick Wall Comedy Club at Uptown Parade runs trivia nights along with stand-up and open mics, which makes it the BGC pick for keeping score.

Pasay Bay Area. Star City in the CCP Complex is a theme park with an inverted coaster, a snow attraction and the Star Wheel, open from Wednesday to Sunday. Expect ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head.

Plan the rematch

The night-out planner covers Cubao now and will build this night around a start time and a headcount of up to 15; the other areas come next.

For the details on each venue, read about bowling at Gateway Mall 2 and the arcade and its karaoke rooms. For a quieter kind of score, there is comedy and trivia in BGC, and for a full group plan, the barkada night out guide.