Played May 27th, 2014
Reviewed by the Pink Putter
During our time in Japan, we took a 2.5 day excursion out of Tokyo and down to Kyoto and Osaka. Admittedly, we didn’t plan this part of the trip out so well and I was under the weather for its duration. Regardless, we were on the hunt for mini golf and after some internet searches we found out about Round1.
From what we can tell, Round1 is a sport and entertainment chain local to Osaka. You pay by the hour and have unlimited access to bowling, billiards, basketball, volleyball, archery, batting cages, tennis, roller skating, arcade games, indoor fishing(!), reading rooms, karaoke and more. This location also had a full floor of pachinko and another of skill crane games. We went first thing on a weekday morning, so it was really quiet. We paid for one hour and it was around $20-$25 each.
Rating:
Whiff – Round1’s mini golf was possibly the worst course we’ve ever played. It was on a rooftop on the 6th floor, squeezed in the corner next to some small volleyball courts. The holes were short and nearly impossible to play without the ball rolling in some direction off the green. The turf was torn up, the holes were in no specific order and there were no scorecards. There were no obstacles and nothing fun or challenging about the play other then how poor it was. Mr. Tee and I spent 15 minutes putting around randomly, then went on to enjoy the rest of the activities Round1 had to offer. Our conclusion was come to Round1 for all its other offerings, don’t come to play mini golf. If you live in Osaka, you’d be better off buying this for your bathroom than putting at Round1.
Pros:
Lots of other fun things to do at Round1
Cons:
Poorly maintained
Dull, unexciting play
No obstacles or design challenges
No scorecards, no par
Nerdy Notes:
- real metal putters
- flags in holes, out of order
- unlimited play included in the hourly rate for the entire facility
