Boomtown or Doom Town?

 On Friday before leaving, I stopped in the Atlantis arcade to use up the rest of my gaming card. I took a ride and played some games.

 I grabbed some hot dogs from their fast food counter because I got a bit hungry.

 I went to the prize counter to turn in all my tickets from the week. I got a few items and some bracelets.

 We left Reno and wanted to stop for lunch and last chance gaming before heading back into California. We stopped at Boomtown which is a hotel that has gambling, restaurants, and an arcade.

 I heard this was a fun stop for families either on their way in or out of Reno. I was told about how it was a great place many years ago. But I was less than impressed.

 They had a lot of games; unfortunately, at least half were out of order or were just closed. They had a mini gold course which was closed. Their small indoor rides were not running. They had some fun looking things to do but they just weren't working.

 They did have the Wizard of Oz coin dozers, but these did not dispense tickets when coins were dropped. They only counted the chips and cards that would fall. Other arcades counted all coins in the ticket count. And for the very cheap items that were available for tickets, this was clearly a rip-off.

 We ate lunch at Mel's Diner which is adjacent to the arcade. They have the juke boxes in there with a variety of songs customers can play by dropping in a quarter.

 I got some clam chowder which felt nice to eat.

 And I got a tuna salad sandwich. These are so good. I want to make my own at home.

 Back in the arcade, these wooden statues are there for photo opps. They go along with the theme of the old west/ghost town feel of Boomtown.

 This is the carousel that was not running.

 This Pooh bounce house was also out of service.

 Teddies that could be won for too many tickets.

 I was very unimpressed and underwhelmed and was ready to just get back home.

I got in the car and once again enjoyed seeing the snow up close as I drove through Tahoe and back to my own cozy den. I do love travel, and this was a fabulous vacation. And I am of course now planning my next one. Where will I end up next time?