This won’t be much of a post, but I want to bring up the Manitou Springs Penny Arcade and the rest of Manitou Springs in general. It’s such a charming place!
Manitou Springs
Manitou Springs is a small tourist city just west of Colorado Springs, located at the foot of Pike’s Peak. It’s known for its natural mineral spring water, which you can taste from eight historic fountains around town. (It’s similar to Hot Springs, Arkansas, but without the big bathhouses.) You can get a map of the springs and a tasting cup from the visitors’ bureau.
A creek runs alongside Manitou Springs’ pretty main street. There is lots of unique shopping and dining, but things really shut down around 4-5 pm – you have been warned!
Parking in town can be a bit tough, especially on the weekends in summer. There are some lots at the edges of town where you can park and walk in instead. In the evenings, I didn’t have much trouble at all.
Manitou Springs Attractions
There is a lot to do in Manitou Springs besides shop, eat, and taste mineral water. The north side of town backs up to Garden of the Gods. Cave of the Winds is another popular destination, as well as the Manitou Cliff Dwellings (which I wanted to see but didn’t manage on my trip.) I enjoyed the Miramont Castle Museum, a Mediterranean restaurant, and a burger bar on the main drag.
Other famous attractions are the Pike’s Peak Cog Railway to the top of the mountain ($60-70 per person) and the Manitou Incline, an extremely steep trail of 2,768 steps up a mile of old cable-car track. The 12-mile (one-way) Barr Trail to the top of Pike’s Peak also begins here.
Manitou Springs Penny Arcade
One of the more unique activities in Manitou Springs is found right in the heart of town – the Manitou Springs Penny Arcade. Spread across several buildings, the penny arcade is technically free to enter and walk around but bring lots of change if you want to play any of the classic games.
The Manitou Springs Penny Arcade is not your average arcade! There are machines over 100 years old to newer games and everything in between. Cabinet games are stacked row on row, inside and outside, air hockey tables, driving and shooting games, fortune telling machines, classics that you’ve never seen before, and several copies of favorites. Outside is a collection of around 80 coin-operated kids rides featuring a variety of characters, both new and old. My only disappointment is that none of the photo booths seemed to work.
Make sure to bring all your change! While there are bills-to-quarters change machines throughout the arcade, some games only cost a dime, nickel, or even a penny. And some cost $1-2 in quarters if you’re feeling flush.
End your visit in the skee ball building, where you can rack up tickets to exchange at the toy counter. A few other games reward you with tickets, but not most of them. Make sure to visit while this gem is still around. There seem to be rumors of it not surviving much longer, and I’m sure it was hit hard during the pandemic.
Hours of Operation
The open hours at the penny arcade can fluctuate quite a bit and I think is a little at their discretion. If there’s no one around, they may go ahead and close up. The best I can tell is that in the height of summer, it’s open from 10 am-10 pm, maybe 11 on weekends. In the winter, it seems to be 11 am-5 pm or 6 pm on Friday-Sunday. I swear when I was there, it was open until 7 or 8 pm.
I also saw one website that mentions that the arcade won’t open unless it’s 50 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer, since several of the machines are outside (but under cover.) The penny arcade doesn’t seem to keep a website of its own, and its own Facebook page is woefully out of date.
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