diff --git a/src/cmd/internal/testdir/testdir_test.go b/src/cmd/internal/testdir/testdir_test.go
index f5bd44eef2..7ab1143584 100644
--- a/src/cmd/internal/testdir/testdir_test.go
+++ b/src/cmd/internal/testdir/testdir_test.go
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ var (
 
 	// dirs are the directories to look for *.go files in.
 	// TODO(bradfitz): just use all directories?
-	dirs = []string{".", "ken", "chan", "interface", "syntax", "dwarf", "fixedbugs", "codegen", "runtime", "abi", "typeparam", "typeparam/mdempsky"}
+	dirs = []string{".", "ken", "chan", "interface", "syntax", "dwarf", "fixedbugs", "codegen", "runtime", "abi", "typeparam", "typeparam/mdempsky", "arenas"}
 )
 
 // Test is the main entrypoint that runs tests in the GOROOT/test directory.
diff --git a/src/reflect/arena.go b/src/reflect/arena.go
index 694a3a136c..cac1a1da5e 100644
--- a/src/reflect/arena.go
+++ b/src/reflect/arena.go
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ import "arena"
 // specified type, allocating storage for it in the provided arena. That is,
 // the returned Value's Type is PointerTo(typ).
 func ArenaNew(a *arena.Arena, typ Type) Value {
-	return ValueOf(arena_New(a, typ))
+	return ValueOf(arena_New(a, PointerTo(typ)))
 }
 
 func arena_New(a *arena.Arena, typ any) any
diff --git a/test/arenas/smoke.go b/test/arenas/smoke.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..56dad53fd0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/arenas/smoke.go
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+// build -goexperiment arenas
+
+// Copyright 2023 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package main
+
+import (
+	"arena"
+	"log"
+	"reflect"
+)
+
+func main() {
+	a := arena.NewArena()
+	defer a.Free()
+
+	const iValue = 10
+
+	i := arena.New[int](a)
+	*i = iValue
+
+	if *i != iValue {
+		// This test doesn't reasonably expect this to fail. It's more likely
+		// that *i crashes for some reason. Still, why not check it.
+		log.Fatalf("bad i value: got %d, want %d", *i, iValue)
+	}
+
+	const wantLen = 125
+	const wantCap = 1912
+
+	sl := arena.MakeSlice[*int](a, wantLen, wantCap)
+	if len(sl) != wantLen {
+		log.Fatalf("bad arena slice length: got %d, want %d", len(sl), wantLen)
+	}
+	if cap(sl) != wantCap {
+		log.Fatalf("bad arena slice capacity: got %d, want %d", cap(sl), wantCap)
+	}
+	sl = sl[:cap(sl)]
+	for j := range sl {
+		sl[j] = i
+	}
+	for j := range sl {
+		if *sl[j] != iValue {
+			// This test doesn't reasonably expect this to fail. It's more likely
+			// that sl[j] crashes for some reason. Still, why not check it.
+			log.Fatalf("bad sl[j] value: got %d, want %d", *sl[j], iValue)
+		}
+	}
+
+	t := reflect.TypeOf(int(0))
+	v := reflect.ArenaNew(a, t)
+	if want := reflect.PointerTo(t); v.Type() != want {
+		log.Fatalf("unexpected type for arena-allocated value: got %s, want %s", v.Type(), want)
+	}
+	i2 := v.Interface().(*int)
+	*i2 = iValue
+
+	if *i2 != iValue {
+		// This test doesn't reasonably expect this to fail. It's more likely
+		// that *i crashes for some reason. Still, why not check it.
+		log.Fatalf("bad i2 value: got %d, want %d", *i2, iValue)
+	}
+}