Timezone Gateway: Arcade, Karaoke Rooms, Short-Lane Bowling

Timezone Gateway is on Level 3 of Gateway Mall 2 in Cubao, and it has arcade games, short-lane bowling, private karaoke rooms, photo booths and VR on one floor. It closes with the mall, at 9 PM from Sunday to Thursday and 10 PM on Friday and Saturday, so it goes early in a night and the bowling alley on the same level goes late.

What is on the floor

Five things share the floor:

• Arcade games. The part a group can drift through without a plan.
• Short-lane bowling. Shorter lanes than a full alley, as the name says. The full-size alley is on the same level of the mall.
• Private karaoke rooms. The reason a barkada books ahead. A closed room means the singing is only for the people who came with you.
• Photo booths. The souvenir at the end.
• VR. Also on the floor.

It is indoors, loud and alcohol-free. The branch has its own page on the Timezone site, which is the place to check current rates before the group arrives.

Closing time, and why it matters

The arcade keeps mall hours:

• Sunday to Thursday: 10 AM to 9 PM
• Friday and Saturday: 10 AM to 10 PM

That is early for a night out. A plan from Sunday to Thursday that puts dinner at 7 PM and the arcade afterwards leaves less than an hour of play. Reverse the order: arcade first, from about 6 PM, then eat, or eat early and be on the floor by 7 PM.

Paeng's Gateway Bowl is the answer to the early close. It is on the same level, with 24 lanes and six billiard tables, and it stays open until midnight every day. The natural sequence is arcade and karaoke until the mall shuts, then lanes until midnight. Bowling in Quezon City: lanes, shoes and rates covers that half.

Karaoke rooms at Timezone Gateway

For karaoke in Cubao, this is the option: private rooms on the Timezone floor, with party bookings taken.

Ask three things when booking: how many people a room takes, the rate per hour at your day and time, and whether the booking covers the room only or includes game credits. For a birthday, ask what a party booking includes. With a group of more than six, book ahead rather than walking in on a Friday.

A barkada night around it

Every stop here takes big groups, and the first three are inside the Gateway malls.

1. 6:00 PM, dinner. Food Express on Level 3 of Gateway Mall 1 is a walk-in food court costing under ₱500 a head. For a longer meal, Dookki at Upper Ground B of Gateway Mall 2 has unlimited cook-it-yourself tteokbokki and Korean hotpot, and Palenque on the same floor is a regional Filipino food hall with no booking needed. Both of those cost ₱500 to ₱1,500 a head.
2. 7:15 PM, arcade and karaoke. Up to Level 3 of Gateway Mall 2. From Sunday to Thursday that leaves until 9 PM.
3. 9:00 PM, bowling or billiards. Same level, open until midnight.
4. If the night is still going, Cubao X Brewery in Cubao Expo is an open-air taproom open until midnight, about a 12-minute walk from Gateway.

On Friday and Saturday everything in the mall runs an hour later, so dinner can move to 7 PM.

As a date, or on a rainy night

An arcade is an easy second date: there is always something to do with your hands, and losing at a game is a better icebreaker than a menu. The photo booths give the night a keepsake. Pair it with dessert downstairs, where the gelato counter on the ground floor of Gateway Mall 2 is a ten-minute stop, and go before 9 PM from Sunday to Thursday.

It is indoors, so rain does not change the plan. A rainy-night Cubao date that never leaves Gateway builds a whole evening that way.

Plan the rest

The night-out planner builds group nights for up to 15 people and knows which stops close early. Start from the barkada night out guide, or see the other activities in things to do in Cubao. For a costed celebration that uses this floor as its backup, read where to celebrate a birthday in Quezon City for ten. People who pick the arcade first are the Game Night Menace in the planner's archetypes.