If you want any refreshments, allow plenty of time, as the queue was an easy 20-plus minutes, so grab your seats first with your friend, then go get those munchies. Forget the refreshments if you have less than half an hour, or else you'll miss the beginning of the movie. The concession stand is in a large, central area where all the movie patrons queue up.

The signs above the theater only show a number, not the title of the movie, so you have to match the sign with the number printed on your ticket stub.

Once seated, the focus is usually off slightly. One can tell by looking at the sharpness of the lettering in the titles or the lack of it. This is because all these places don't have a projectionist checking the focus at the beginning of each reel. The sound is loud and all around. The seats are comfortable.

Come to this place with plenty of time to spare, because seat selection is scarce the closer it comes to show time, especially if you want to sit with your party.

Phone: (415) 369-6200

BART Powell St.

Muni 14, 14L, 30, 45, F, Powell & Hyde, Powell & Mason Cable Cars.

Second floor has the game zone which has a medium sized game complex. The selection is not so great. But they have a lot of kmulti player mode games, which is fun if you are here with your friends. I have been the other gameworks type places and this place was so-so in comparison. I expected THE Sony Metreon to have a better quality and quantity of games. there are other Bandai [Japanese anime merchandise store] which would be cool, I suppose, if you are an anime fan.

There was a row of about 6 computers which offered free internet access, except those cheapo bastards at Sony decided to rig them so that it is impossible to complete a short email, before the computer switches back to the default yahoo page. How lame! If it was me in charge I would rig the whole place so that the building has wireless connection so that travelers with laptops could come and access the internet in the building [I would buy food there if that was so].

The third and fourth floor has IMAX theater and regular first run theaters, I did not check them out. The top floor has a nice pagoda to the open air where you can sit outside in the sun and have a drink of coffee. But there are a lot of tikes running around excited and loaded up on sugar. There is a nice "Where the Wild Things Are" exploration center for kids, but overly commercialized. It is too bad the original opera for children is not shown here. That would be something I would bring my kids to see.

In conclusion, Sony needs to replace the manager of this great building which has so many unfulfilled potential.

To start with the Metreon is a movie theatre. It has 15 standard screen theatres and the largest IMax theatre in North America, a grand total of 3,900 seats. If you are spending the week in San Francisco you can catch two movies a day and not exhaust the Metreon. So far so good.

Then there are the attractions. Airtight Garage is a video games arcade styled after the work of French comics artist Jean Giraud, known as Moebius. The games are quite expensive, but they do include a multi-player combat game, which I gather is very popular with office parties. I preferred the bowling simulations, especially the one that allows you to send a giant bowling ball up and down the switchback streets of San Francisco.

The Way Things Work is, of course, a science exhibition based on David Macaulay's famous book. It was very busy when I went and we didn't fancy the half-hour wait to get in, but the accompanying shop was full of wonderful gadgets.

On the top floor is Where the Wild Things Are. This area is aimed squarely at younger kids, young at heart parents and all fans of Maurice Sendak's wonderful book. I went to Metreon with Kevin's sister, Kelli, and her son Shane. The lad was of course very taken with the Airtight Garage, but Kelli and I fell firmly in love with the Wild Things and could have played there for hours. Poor Shane's embarrassment knew no bounds. You can't take adults anywhere these days.

In addition, of course, there is shopping, including speciality stores from Discovery and Microsoft. And there is dining: nine restaurants, a bar and the inevitable Starbucks. As and when I manage to eat my way around this lot you will get reports. Kelli and I fell into Montage for a drink because we were dead on our feet. I know nothing about cocktails, but Kelli does and she was very impressed.

Use of Metreon's attractions (food, shops and movies excepted) is charged on a points basis. You buy a swipe card with a certain number of points on it when you arrive, and use that to gain access to the attractions or play video games. Points are cheaper if you buy more at once, and you can keep the card and come back another day.