Premium Games: What Makes Playing at Ricochet Different?

Not All Games Are Created Equal

You can find a dartboard in a lot of bars. You can buy a ping pong table and put it in almost any room. But simply having games and creating a great gaming experience are two very different things.

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At Ricochet, games aren't decoration or something to do while you wait for another drink. They're a central part of why the space exists. That's what we mean when we talk about premium games. It isn't about making games complicated or exclusive. It's about taking familiar games people already love and giving them the equipment, space and environment they deserve.

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Games You Already Know How to Play

One reason social games work so well is that they have a very low barrier to entry. Most people understand the basic idea behind ping pong, darts, shuffleboard, Skee-Ball or hoops. You don't need a rulebook, a membership or twenty minutes of instruction before you can start having fun.

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And when you do want a little guidance, our staff is happy to show you the ropes. Bumper pool is a great example — it's a game a lot of guests have never played before, and our team loves walking people through their first game right at the table. And you definitely don't have to be good.

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In fact, some of the best matches at Ricochet happen between people who have absolutely no business taking the game as seriously as they suddenly do.

That's part of the appeal. The games are familiar enough to jump into, but competitive enough to keep you playing.

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The Equipment Matters

If a game is going to be one of the reasons people come through the door, it should be worth playing. Every game at Ricochet is carefully curated to provide the optimum playing experience — far beyond what you'd find in someone's basement. Our equipment is the same you'd find in tournament play, so whether you're a casual player or take your Skee-Ball score personally, you're playing on gear built for it.

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We put thought into the equipment itself, how it's maintained and how much room players have around it. A great ping pong table squeezed into an awkward corner isn't a great ping pong experience. Neither is a dartboard where you're constantly worried about someone walking behind you. The physical layout matters just as much as the equipment. Ricochet is designed around playing. The games aren't competing with the space. They're part of the space. Check out the full games and pricing lineup on our games page.

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The Environment Matters Too

Premium doesn't mean formal. We want Ricochet to feel energetic, social and comfortable—the kind of place where you can grab a drink, challenge someone to a game, move on to another one and settle in for the night. Music, lighting, drinks, service and the people around you all become part of the experience.

That's an important distinction between Ricochet and a traditional arcade. We're not trying to create a room full of machines where everyone plays individually. Most of our games are intentionally social. They put people across the table from each other, beside each other or on opposing teams. The game creates the reason to interact.

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Play One Game or Make a Night of It

Maybe you came in because you love darts. Maybe your friend talked you into ping pong. Maybe nobody in your group expected to care about Skee-Ball until somebody put a score on the board that everyone else suddenly needed to beat. If you want to turn the whole night into a competition, ask about Bar Olympics — our own scorecard you can use with your group to track results across different games and settle, once and for all, who's the best. That's how a night at Ricochet tends to evolve.

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There isn't one prescribed way to experience the space. Play one game all night. Bounce from game to game. Get competitive. Don't keep score at all. The point isn't mastering the games. The point is playing them together.

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More Than a Bar With Games

That's ultimately the difference we're trying to create. A bar can have games. At Ricochet, the games help define the experience.

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We take the quality of the games seriously because we take the experience around them seriously. The equipment, layout, atmosphere and hospitality all work together to create a place where people have something to do, something to talk about and usually something to compete over. You don't come to Ricochet because you need somewhere to play darts. You come because you want somewhere worth spending the night. That's what premium games mean to us.

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Ready to play? Book your table at Ricochet Des Moines.