Red River Lanes reopens in north Fargo as Xcalibur Entertainment following extensive remodel

FARGO — Ellis Bonn’s smile grew, her face filled with hope, and then the joyful squeals bubbled up.

As she and her grandmother, Cheri Stangland, watched, the metal claw of the Taj Mahal machine latched onto a big purple stuffed animal – half the size of the 3-year-old – and slowly, smoothly, maneuvered to safely drop it into the game’s prize chute.

Ellis grabbed her prize, showed it off to her mom and grinning grandma, and hugged her squishy new best friend.

She couldn’t have been happier if she had plucked a sword from a stone.

Ellis was one of the happy early customers at Xcalibur Entertainment.

Xcalibur, the result of reimaging, rehabbing and rebranding the former Red River Lanes bowling center and Slammer’s Sports Bar, held its grand opening Monday, Sept. 16, after several soft opening days to work out glitches.

“We love it,” Ellis’ mom, Erin Bonn said Tuesday. “She likes coming here. She calls it the game place.”

It was already the Bonn family’s second visit to the all-ages fun center at 707 28th Ave. N.

“I’ve lived in north Fargo my whole life. North Fargo needed this,” Bonn said.

Pete Stangland, who has lived on Fargo’s north side with his wife, Cheri, for 35 years, said Red River Lanes and Slammers were a regular entertainment stop for bowling and blackjack.

Now it will be Xcalibur.

“Who doesn’t like to spend money and win prizes?” he said, grinning as granddaughter Ellis showed him her new stuffed friend.

“Now that they have a more robust food service, there’s another good place to eat in north Fargo,” Stangland said.

David Samson/The Forum

The arcade at Xcalibur Entertainment has more than 60 new games.

The 12 remaining lanes of the bowling alley have also been modernized. with five huge screens covering the width of the alley above the pins. Another 17 smaller screens run in line above the seating and scoring. The lanes are United States Bowling Congress approved, with league play Monday through Wednesday.

David Samson/The Forum

What was Slammer’s is now the Broken Shield Bar. The Broken Shield feels like a more open space than its predecessor, with 14 big-screen TVs, a new bar (with 16 taps) and more gaming, including two blackjack tables, darts and electronic pull tab machines.

Everything in the building is new. Seats, carpet, arcade games, even the bowling balls and shoes. Meanwhile, the entertainment center’s LED lighting can be programmed to different colors throughout Xcalibur.

The kitchen has been expanded to offer burgers, appetizers, salads, desserts and pizza. There are also three party rooms for small private and corporate events.

“A lot of people are glad we are back,” Sales Manager Shashika “Sha” Fernando said Monday.

“People are really happy. Everything in here is brand new,” Fernando said. “There’s a full service bar. There’s a full-service restaurant.”

Helmut Schmidt / The Forum

The arcade is a brightly colored playground for kids of all ages.

Even Fernando has a favorite game – sharpening his axe-tossing skills with the Bay Tek Axe Master.

The claw machines have plenty of footballs and stuffed animals big and small to tempt players to try their luck and skill. There’s air hockey, and basketball shooting and pitching machines.

For kids “of a certain age,” there’s a wall-sized ”Space Invaders” game next to racing games and shooting games, including “Big Buck Hunter,” “Jurassic Park” and “Halo.”

A virtual reality Rabbids roller coaster ride adds moving and shaking to the experience, Fernando said.

Arcade cards are purchased at kiosks not far from a toy-filled ticket redemption center.

On Monday afternoon, Adam Hauff had brought his children, Lilly and Harley, to play games and bowl.

Helmut Schmidt / The Forum

“Their favorite stuff has been the arcade,” Hauff said.

He likes the changes that went into creating Xcalibur, so much so that he figures it could end up a regular stop.

“I like it. It’s looks good,” Hauff said. “It’s nice to have something like this up north (in Fargo), because there’s nothing up here like it.”

Alicia Swanson and Jamie Thingvold got several laughs playing the games they had played as kids.

“It’s fun,” Swanson said. Her favorite game was the claw machine.

“I just like using them, and I like the air hockey (game), too,” Swanson said. “I’m still surprisingly good at it.”

Thingvold also said air hockey was one of her favorites, though “it’s been years” since she played.

“I have a habit of scoring on myself,” Thingvold said.

Xcalibur’s Entertainment Manager, Tony Nichols, expects the arcade will be a big success.

“It’s needed up here. It’s kid-oriented. It’s a breath of fresh air,” Nichols said.

Bowling used to be one of the most popular sports in America.

At the height of the sports popularity in the 1960s, there were about 12,000 bowling centers in the United States. Over the decades, that number eroded.

As of 2023, there’s were about 2,700 bowling centers in the United States, per IBISWorld. That was down about 3% from 2022.

But the game still has a strong following.

According to Bowl.com, about 1.2 million people bowl in leagues certified by the United States Bowling Congress, with about 67 million people bowling outside of league play yearly.

The number of arcade complexes has remained roughly steady between 2018 and 2023, IBISWorld reports. In 2023, there were 6,156 arcade, food and entertainment complexes in the U.S, down about 1.7% from 2022.

Charley Johnson, president and CEO of Visit Fargo-Moorhead, said Xcalibur should be a solid draw for north Fargo.

“I think anytime you improve an entertainment option around town, it’s good for visitors and good for the residents. It looks like a fun place. I hope it does well,” he said. “I think the north side is always looking for entertainment options. I think they’ll do great.”

On Monday night, MJ Jones, who for decades owned Red River Lanes and Slammers with her husband, Charley Jones, was bowling with a couple friends.

“I like it. It still has the old bones. It still feels comfortable,” said Jones.

Charley Jones passed away in 2022, though before that time, the couple had passed the majority ownership to their son, Mike Jones, she said.

She still holds a small stake in the business, she said.

Jones marveled at how well the place had been designed, and praised the perseverance of her son in bringing it to fruition.

“This is his dream. He put this together,” she said.

Creating Xcalibur was a long process. Eight of the alley’s original 20 lanes were ripped out in the summer of 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic was twisting supply chains and getting skilled labor was tough.

Progress was halting until this year, she said.

“It’s been a long road and everything got so expensive,” Jones said. ”I’m just so thankful to see this done.”

Xcalibur Entertainment is open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.

To learn more, go online to

Xcaliburent.com.