For parents looking to provide their kids with some fun alternatives to texting, Snapchatting and playing Fortnite, State Amusement Billiards and Darts may have just the answer.
The business’s expansive showroom at 1358 E. College Ave., State College, is jam-packed from wall-to-wall with all of the ingredients for a fun basement or game room, including new and used pool tables, dart boards, air hockey tables, foosball games, ping pong tables, shuffleboard tables, pinball machines, classic arcade games, barstools, poker tables, jukeboxes and all kinds of accessories like cues, darts, pool table lighting and table tennis paddles.
“State Amusement has been in business since 1962, and we’re the only store of this type between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg with this much merchandise,” said owner Fred Wood.
But don’t let the massive inventory fool you; State Amusement is a very small local company with just four employees, including Wood, who has been a part of the company since he first partnered with the company’s founder, Randall Miller, in 1980. Despite the small size, Wood says, they can and do ship their products to places all over the world, from Lake Tahoe to the Bahamas and Grand Cayman Island. For customers within a 75-mile radius of State College, shipping and assembly is free.
“You won’t find that same personal touch at a big box store,” Wood said. You won’t find the same high quality products at the box stores, either, he said.
“We have to sell higher end quality in everything because we supply to places like fraternities at Penn State, and it gets used hard. A cheaper ping pong table will end up in the dumpster after a year of hard use,” he said. “Also, all of our pool tables are made in America, and that’s a big thing. If something happens to your American-made pool table, we’ll be able to fix it. We try to stock as much American-made product as we possibly can. It’s important to us.”
Wood said a bestseller for State Amusement is a multicade game featuring 60 classic 1980s video arcade games like Pac-Man and Galaga. At this time of year, he said, they sell a lot of fun wall art appropriately themed for a game room, including some for Penn State and Pittsburgh Steelers fans.
State Amusement is open for special holiday hours during the month of December, from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays, and on Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. Call the store at (814) 234-0722 for more information.
