Oh Wow Nickel Arcade - Merced, California

Shelly

This arcade game room is actually quite fun. I was more interested in getting the kids out of the house and didn’t really care too much about winning the tickets - although that is part of the fun for the kids. The people here are super friendly and there are a lot of games to choose from, all costing 20 cents or less to play. $10 will last you a good portion of time and overall, the kids had fun doing so.

Red Herzog

Low entry cost for even more low cost fun. They are several one nickel games and they go about to 4 nickels a play. A good balance of games to at and earn tickets on. The attendant working the counter was awesome at handling everyone's request as well as maintenance staff dealing with game malfunctions while we were there. Highly recommend it for families with young kids looking for a fun night out or even a date night for the gamer at heart. We look forward to coming back.

Pao Xiong

Fun place, arcade games are cheap. Tickets games are not worth it. Expect to spend $20-30 each kids if they doing tickets games. $10 is plenty for arcade. I think it was about $3 entrance fee.

Regina B (RejB)

One of our fave places to go hang out spend time as family.

Love how this place continues to improve. There's a new added machine and ease of use using a card system to get points.

Staff is friendly, the entrance price is affordable, and the games are fun to play even with kids around.

Wish they have way to celebrate birthdays

Sergio Rio

With arcades costing over a dollar a game, it's nice to enjoy a location that is fun and cheap. While there is entrance fee, after that, the games are either 5 cents or 15 cents. For over 2 hours, I paid less than $10, including the entrance fee.

Alexis Mendez (lXCalixGlitchXl)

First time coming here and I wanted to bring my little sister to an arcade because she's never been to one and every kid should at least experience going to one at least once because making fun childhood memories are the greatest feeling ever.
We were immediately greeted by the worker at the front desk and they were really nice and attentive. They answered all of our questions whenever we needed help with something.
My little sister was amazed by all the games (although some were broken/out of order because some kids here break the machines and bang them too hard) and she was shouting in excitement.
The entry fee is cheap about $4-5 per person and it's a wrist band.
You get a card that you get to put money in it and then you swipe it at the arcade games and it tells you your balance and how much a machine play will cost.
Most are around 0.05 - 0.20 ¢ which is very cheap. I was also having fun and I'm 24.
I saw some games from my childhood and it brought back distant memories.
My little sister really liked the ticket crane game lol.
She was winning a lot of tickets from the machine.
Also when you win tickets, the tickets go straight to your card.
They also have free games at the back of the arcade.
Not to sound mean but I think the best time to come is when they probably open or when all the kids are still in school because they kinda scream too loud and bang the machines and you just want some peace and quiet right? ?
The prizes are exactly what I remember from going to Chuck E. Cheese.
The ticket cost for each prize are reasonable and the bigger prizes ticket prices make sense. They are meant to be won in less than a day, you are supposed to build your tickets over time then buy one of the bigger prizes.
The amount of tickets you can get playing less than 2 hours is a lot. We got about 10,000 tickets of course mostly all of those were from my little sister.
Now imagine if an adult like me were playing to win tickets I'd probably be able to triple that amount but these games are for kids so it makes sense why it'll take some time for them to rack tickets up.
Also the card you can keep and keep all of your tickets and money in the card and it doesn't expire so you can come back and play on the same card or transfer it all to another card.

Also I heard a lady complaining about the A/C not being on and that it was hot but it was nice and cool in here and I heard the A/C turns on when it hits over 80 f.
I feel like people who give this place bad reviews are being petty and just are Karens because the A/C can't be turned on even though it's like 73 f inside LMAO. Or because the ticket prizes are too expensive and their children can't buy the big prizes like a bike for 130,000 tickets in a day ?.
We will be coming back again one of these days (especially me but alone ?) I also forgot to take pictures (bummer I know) but I'll take some when I go next time again and I'll update this review.
Forgot to mention I loaded up 3 cards with $30 left and we played there for almost 2 hours and we still have about $34 left of plays ?

Ashli K. P.

Great fun for everyone. We got a lot of tickets. $2.95 to get in, even if you aren't playing any games. The most a game cost was 20 cents, there was a lot that were just one nickel to play. Definitely recommend.

Low Down Dirty Shame

This is fun place to take the kids in the summer. But seems a bit high. Its $8.25 to SPEND your money there. The employees were friendly and helpful. But mostly the machines were outdated and broken. A couple of them didn't even give tickets. Others just took your money and not operated. Granted it was only nickels but if you on a budget it's gonna hurt. There was a place to throw birthday parties and sit and eat in relative privacy. But no where else. As a mom, leaving my kids there wasn't a option because of the panhandlers. Overall, it was very retro and glad my kids got to see what it was like without an electrical device in hand and interact with other kids.