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Nickel City
Categories: Active Life Amusement Parks Arts & Entertainment Arcades Amusement Parks, Arcades [Edit]
1711 Branham LnSan Jose, CA 95118
(408) 448-3323
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
92 reviews for Nickel City
Review Highlights
"This place is old school for games."
(in 6 reviews)
"And there are even some old classics that are FREE to play."
(in 10 reviews)
"i kick ass at puzzle fighter."
(in 7 reviews)
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92 reviews in English
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Review from Jeff M.
San Jose, CA
1/8/2012 1 Check-in Here
Fun fun fun.
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Review from Slim Y.
San Jose, CA
10/10/2011
I REALLY missed the arcade that used to be at the Great Mall so I did a bit of searching online and found Nickel City. I had wanted to go for a few months now but finally had the time this weekend. I didn't know what to expect since the ratings in Yelp seemed to be either really positive or really negative.
I liked the fact that admission is only $2 and that there were free arcade games (Frogger!) and that even when the games cost "10 nickels" it really was just 50 cents. I can see that this place is pretty run down and that it doesn't have as great of prizes as other arcades (Grand Prix, D&B's, etc) but with games that cost only nickels to play and offering such great old-school games (X-Men!) it's worth it to swing by.
As for the condition of the place...well, it's a bit run down. But I think this is more due to age than anything else. I could see that the staff tries to keep the place as clean as they can (food & drink are not allowed inside) but the place can have the tendency to make you feel dirty when you leave. But I mean, that's the same as all the other arcades- people touch other things then rub their hands all over the games...what do you expect? The games are old the place is old-the games have probably been touched more than a dirty mistress but hey, it's worth it for games that are probably not around in other places anymore.
Overall, I'd say if you're an arcade game buff this is definitely a place that you want to check out- cause who knows how long these things will be around? -
Review from Alfonso C.
San Francisco, CA
12/4/2011
Went here on a Sat Night... I had a nice time here... Seeing the arcades brought back memories of spending my Quarters as if they were Pennies! Now I am lucky to spend 5 cents! I found some free to play Atari arcades, they had different versions of Street Fighter, X-Men, TNMT, a whole bunch of racing arcades... I like the air hockey a lot. Some arcades require 2,3,6, and 8 nickles to play... I didn't mind. I was happy that a place still exists that has arcades as if it was the 90's!
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Review from Sean M.
San Jose, CA
6/29/2011 9 Check-ins Here
How could I not stop at a place called Nickel City? I have no idea if you're selling lychee candies, mealworms, empty tin cans or what, but I'm curious. I walk in....
Miss PAC Man? X-men? Street Fighter? Ninja Turtles? NBA Max Hangtime? A nickel? Get the eff out!
I don't know how I never was aware this place existed but I wasn't. Ignorance saved me some nickels though cause now that I know about it, trust I'll be back relatively often to bust out some old classics.
While apparently being owned by Capcom they have a variety of old school classics. Not lots of reeeallly old ones, I'd say more in the mid 90s to mid 2000s era. The earlier 90s was my arcade time period so I was excited to see some I remembered from back then. And even some that came out around the time I was born! Miss PAC Man, Frogger, Dig Dug, etc.
So, to clear it up, not EVERYTHING is a nickel. Some are 3-8. But I mean even at 8 nickels(40cents) that's not much money to pay for a game. And there are even some old classics that are FREE to play. $2 to get in, big deal.
Totally a great place to take the kids on a really hot or really rainy day when parks may not be an option. Or when you're just feeling like a good place to play some games. -
Review from Jenny A.
6/18/2011
I feel dirty everytime I leave this place. Probably cause all the games are old and sticky.
$2.00 to get in, not a bad deal cause they have a bunch of free (OLD OLD OLD) games. Some games are a nickel a play, most are at least 3 nickel a play. Racing and shooting games are a lot more.
A lot of games are out of order and a lot of games are faulty - uh hello where are my tickets?!?!?!?! I come here to play Puzzle Fighter and on this occasion, the screen had broke, so I didn't get to play. I spent most of my nickels on ticket games. We ended up with 400-something tickets.
The prizes here SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!! Crappy eye-ball rings, bracelets, useless cheap toys from the 90s. Seriously SO disappointed in this place!!! They need to revamp their games or SOMETHING. This place is not what it use to be when I was a kid.
ALSO!!! In the party room, there was an annoying metal/scream-o/rock band playing music in the dark for an audience of 2. It was RIDICULOUSLY loud the ENTIRE time. Seriously?? Youre going to allow a disgusting band to play music in the party room when there are families trying to play games?! Ugh sooo annoying!! -
Review from Hana X.
Saratoga, CA
7/30/2011 1 Check-in Here
WAHT THE HELL, WHERE'D PUZZLE FIGHTER GO!?!?!
and whats up with your gem fighter's sounds?? its like.. distorted old school 8 bit characters drowning.
got 4 jackpots on the Slam-A-Winner and now i have a star wars kite and lots of pink starbursts! :D
i dont want to start schoooooool -
Review from Robert Y.
6/26/2011
Nickle arcade? not exactly but good concept
They charge a $2 admission fee, and the rides/arcades varies from 3-9 nickels each play. Some machines also have tickets that are won and can be redeemed for prizes. Some of the more notable games were bball, a broken air hockey, guitar hero that REQUIRES QUARTERS ONLY, the ambulance driving game (health care professionals). If you invest $20 in nickels, you will receive 2 free admission passes ($4 total value) for next visit.
The major knock about this place is that a lot of the machines were broken. They do have a bunch of classic video games like pacman but it doesnt really compare to modern gaming. If you are an adult wanting to relive your childhood memories at the arcade though, this is the place to be. -
Review from A W.
San Jose, CA
11/18/2011
This place isn't a bad little arcade, especially considering there aren't many in the area. It's got a pretty odd assortment of games. There's the really old game section which has all the classic arcade games, then there's the newer section, which has a lot of new(er) shooting and racing games. There's some other games too, like basketball, a weird skeeball game, and other games for tickets you exchange for really crappy prizes that even as a kid I remember thinking were utterly ridiculous.
I don't like the idea of a $2 cover charge per person and I don't like the fact that the machines only accept nickels. It'd be one thing if the games were only a nickel, but almost all of them were at least a quarter. I understand the place is called Nickel City, but still, they can either change the name to Quarter City or just give out quarters instead of nickels. It got really tedious putting 8 nickels in the Time Crisis machines.
A couple machines ate some money but it wasn't worth reporting and a few of the machines were out of order.
This place could be better with a bigger selection of games that work and giving out quarters instead of nickels. Probably not a bad place for kids though. I could see it being a fun birthday party spot for them, but if you're old enough to drive, this probably isn't the place for you. -
Review from Jackie L.
San Jose, CA
10/31/2011 1 Check-in Here
Fiancee and I played Tekken until the very last level. LOVED IT.
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Review from Tina A.
San Francisco, CA
6/27/2011
Pro's:
- Free play machines: mostly old school 80's arcade games - oldies but goodies, pacman still is really exciting
- Nickel machines: most games range from 4 - 9 nickels. even though you might think: 9 nickels?? thats outrageous! then you have to remember that it is 45 cents...dirt cheap for a legit arcade game these days
- Decent variety of games: (many Konami games) ParaParaParadise, Beatmania, DJ Hero, Guitar Hero, Capcom fighting games, Tekken, Time Crisis
Con's:
- $2 Admission
- about 1/4 of the machines have a defect or are broken (DDR, basketball, air hockey, just to name a few)
- lamer-than-usual prizes
- the whole place (i'm talking about the floors to the machines) feels sticky and dirty like a 50 year old movie theater
If you are a big video game person, by all means come here and play because it is so cheap. Kudo's to this business for staying alive! -
Review from Eric G.
Fremont, CA
2/20/2011
Not many arcade joints around these days. Thank God for Nickel City!! #1. its $2.00 to get in...and then once your inside all the games operate on Nickles!! Dont have any nickels? you can get nickels at the register by the bag.
#2. ummm... did i mention you can play some of the arcade games for free??? My wife and I played Altered Beast from start to finish for free :)
They have ticket games like Rock n' Bowl. They have air hockey. And they have classic arcade games like pac-man, dig-dug as well as street fighter, killer instinct, tekken, and Teenage mutant ninja turtles. They probably have over 100 games total.
Very very impressive! Im definitely going back!
You get 5 stars, Nickel City! :) -
Review from Laura S.
Fremont, CA
1/3/2011 1 Check-in Here
A friend of mine dragged me here. We're big fans of mini-golf/dave and busters/etc, so this isn't a stretch for us. But I think we found chuck-e-cheese reject machines.
When you walk in, there's a admission fee of $2. At an arcade. First red flag, like they know the machines suck so bad they'll need it.
The air-hockey was OK. As for the rest, the ticket machines rarely dispensed tickets. The other games were either too old or had broken displays to hold any interest.
There are kids running around minus parents, so for those trying to save a buck on day-care, you may have found a dream. -
Review from Nick C.
San Francisco, CA
6/16/2011
$2 dollar admission fee. Pretty random...
Honestly, this place has a lot of potential to be a great arcade but it has its flaws. For one, a lot of the machines weren't properly functioning. Also, the prizes were nothing special and not a big variety to choose from. Nickel City does have a cool collection of vintage old school games and offers a nice variety of all sorts of different games. The fact that the games run on nickels is a cool touch so you do get to play a lot of different games however some games are overpriced to play. They also have a section that features free classic arcade games which is awesome. Parking is free and the lot is good sized so it should be easy to get there. I can't tell you how they deal with parties because I wasn't there for that. Overall, it's still a good place to have a good time with family and friends. Its fun so isn't that the point? -
Review from Dolce S.
San Francisco, CA
9/27/2011
A fun, noisy, relatively inexpensive place to take the kids if you want to max out on electronic games for the day.
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Review from clay b.
Capitola, CA
8/29/2010
The economic model for this place makes no sense. It's only two bucks to get in, many of the classic video games are free to play, and the rest of the games fall into the two to five nickles per play price range.
The redemption game payouts are generous and the the redemption prizes moderately priced. We've only been there four times and I think we've won just about everything they have.
It's almost always empty, the staff is really nice and they fix machines quickly when they jam.
At only two nickels per play I can throw as much skee ball as I'm physically able. I only stop because all that hunching and throwing gives me a headache after a while.
The single nickel games redemption of chance are really addictive but it's an affordable addiction.
I don't know if it's a tax shelter, a money laundry operation or the owner just has a personal commitment to providing really cheap family fun. Whatever the reason, I'm glad it exists.
Nickle City is funky, fun and cheap. How can you go wrong with that? -
Review from Vanessa G.
Gilroy, CA
11/8/2010
I live in the area but have never been to NC so went for the first time ever this weekend.
It's such a boys paradise. It's a few bucks to get in & they sell bags of nickels worth $3-5 & you go crazy on the games. There's racing games; street fighter; shooting games; basketball; skee ball; a hockey table, etc.
O! and for the teens there's another little side room that has local 'bands' playing. For about $7 you can spend a few hours playing video games..this was def not something I'm into but came at the bf's request. It's super cheap in comparison to Dave & Busters but you most def get what you pay for. A lot of the machines were broken & that's a bummer. The prizes were dinky toys. But I will say...if you have young children this is def an enjoyable place for them. -
Review from Michael P.
San Jose, CA
5/19/2011 3 Check-ins Here
Great place to gt out with friends and family to play some games and have some fun!!!!
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Review from Katz D.
San Jose, CA
11/16/2010 1 Check-in Here
Hmmmm.... Wasn't really happy about the whole place. Machines look old and quite a number of them weren't even functioning well.
They still have the free game machines and again a couple of them weren't working :( -
Review from Erica C.
Saratoga, CA
11/22/2010
Booked a birthday party here. The place had just been remodeled and as the owner said "everything is new" - got into the party room and the walls were painted and it looked very nice EXCEPT the chairs! They were nasty stained all over.
The lady who was my go to gal, talked to me about the soda and water choices that were included in the price per kid. I told her that when I booked, the gentleman I spoke to said there was juice as an additional choice. I said perfect as my family doesn't drink soda. Well...when I got there no juice was to be had. 5 stars for them going out to the store to get the juice (although I had to ask her 3 times to go + it was room temp. warm). Kuddos for the pizza, it was yummy and ordered when we arrived and it was there pretty soon after.
Kids had fun, ran around crazy. The machines to turn in your tickets kept on getting jammed and the line to get prizes were pretty bad (It was a Friday but still slow at the prize giving side). Prizes were pretty sad too! As a surprise to my birthday boy and 15+ kids, I hired a limo to pick them all up and take them to our house. My "go to gal" must have thought all the kids were out in the limo when she sarcastically said, "I live in Los Gatos so I can have a limo pick up the kids" but my daughter was in line getting her prizes and heard her say the comment. Shame on her for saying that. I work hard to make a nice party for my children to remember + I don't even live in Los Gatos! -
Review from Anya F.
Palo Alto, CA
2/10/2011
So, they have a bunch of free games. Some of them work; some of them don't. Some of them only let you play 1-player even though it's substantially more epic with four people (Either TMNT or Xmen). The service is very good.
The games jam coins a lot. I attribute this to the children.
Most of their games are from Japan and have Japanese all over them. I'm sure it helped with costs.
They have lots of shooters but some of them don't work very well.
I'd come here again. -
Review from Crystal O.
Campbell, CA
11/19/2010
This place is old school for games. They have a lot of vintage games. But, a lot of them don't work. They also have a section in the place that don't cost anything to play other than your entrance fee. You pay to enter (a small fee) and buy bags of nickels to play games. Some games take up to 6 nickels per play.
The ticket counters are broken down kinda often and the lines can be long to get your tickets counted in order to redeem them for prizes. We will still come here occasionally but won't be there often because of the inconvenience of the ticket counters and the staff attitude. -
Review from Allen L.
San Gabriel, CA
8/11/2010
Nickel City is a fun place for those of you who are looking to get your arcade video game fix on. Nickel City is quite cheap and you use nickels instead of quarters to play. Some games may cost you 3 nickels but you can't go wrong with that. The most expensive machine I believe is about 50 cents but that beats your every day prices at other arcade machines at movie theaters.
You have to pay $2 to get in Nickel City unless you have a free admittance coupon (my cousin had one). There are prizes that you can win if you play games that give you tickets (like most arcades). You can also just pay the $2 and stay on the free games. The free games consist of old school classics and the best part is, you can keep continuing to play after you lose or die. You don't have to worry about feeding the machine. You do have to worry about the machine actually working. I've played a coupe of machines where the joystick or buttons wouldn't work.
Some games are out of order too when I go. The Time Crisis machine was pretty bad as the sensor wasn't even registering on screen. That's not good if you're trying to win.
You can easily find parking here.
It is a hit or miss when you go here. Sometimes you'll have a great time, other times you'll be fuming that all of the machines don't work. Enter at your own risk! -
Review from Ed S.
Portland, OR
8/21/2010
Went to this place with low expectations, but was pleasantly surprised by the variety of arcade games available. There are rows of newer sit-down-racing and light-gun games, but the back walls host an array of common and obscure classics set to free-play. I spent so much time in the free-play section, I didn't even get through my bag of nickels by the end of the evening.
I'm a fan of shoot-em-ups (side and vertical scrolling shooters) and I was impressed by the selection available at Nickel City. Most of the nickels I spent went into -- Raiden Fighters 2, Dimahoo and Giga Wing. On free-play were U.N. Squadron, Carrier Airwing and Chariot (a cute'm'up).
Also saw some fighting games I'd never seen before, including a 3D Street Fighter (not SF4) and Fallen Angels.
It must be said that some of the classic machines were dead (or off) for whatever reason. Also, a few of the working machines had CRT issues (wavy or off-color screens). I ran into a couple of machines with controllers that only half-worked. The glitchy CRTs can be kind of charming, but broken controls really ruin a game.
All in all, a nice variety of games peppered with obscurities and curiosities. Well worth the price. A good little dose of arcade videogaming to tide one over until the next California Extreme Arcade Expo (every summer in Santa Clara). -
Review from R L L.
Poway, CA
6/6/2011
If you have kids, this is the place to be! We've been coming to Nickel City for years, but after the new ownership a few years back, it has become even better (and much cleaner)! My boys *always* ask to have their birthday party here, where the parties are both economical and enjoyed by their guests!
There are quite good game choices, liberal "tickets" and a broad range of prizes for redemption. Some of the games are in disrepair, but I find that to be true at all of these arcades and the staff always responds to issues they can fix.
My teenager has fun with games for older kids and, well, yep Mom and Dad jump in, too! If you don't play, the waiting area is a great place for parents to chat or catch up on reading.
This place is a favorite of ours! -
Review from cammy g.
Redwood City, CA
11/14/2007
One of my favorite movie scenes ever. National Lampoon's Vegas vacation. Clark goes to downtown Vegas to try to redeem his luck at the casinos, but utterly loses to games like rock-paper-scissors and guess a number from one to ten. If you gamble and have been to downtown Vegas, you get it.
My last trip to Nickel City relates playing games like catch the ping pong balls in a net and drop a ball in the hole. Random? Yes. Yet did I do well? No. Nickel City is your poor man's Dave and Buster's. That's not to say it wasn't a lot of fun.
$2 admission. Buy $2 or $5 bags of nickels. There's also a change machine for nickels. A little over $20 kept the six of us busy for a couple of hours. The prices of games range from free to 10 nickels. An annoyance is the number of broken games throughout the place.
Most of my nickels went to Hoop Fever and getting beat up on in Puzzle Fighter. Sure, I can play Puzzle Fighter on the Playstation at home, but of course, I watch movies on tv when I have them on dvd. What's your point?
Ms. Pacman is always a classic. But the last time I checked, Ms. Pacman wasn't a little yellow square chasing around other colored squares. Yeah, this place needs a little fixing. -
Review from Chrissy N.
San Diego, CA
5/31/2010
Man, this place has been around for EVERRR. I remember coming here when I was a little itty bitty tike.
The entrance fee is 2 bucks and games can cost between a nick and 50cents (for most games). The atmosphere is very..loud. Lots of kids running around and parents tend to sit in the parent "waiting" area in the front. Over the last few years, they've had local bands play here, so the 'scene kids' have been all over this place, but whats. They gotta go somewhere right?
Also, this place ALWAYS smells musky and dank. It kind of grosses me out, but honestly, it's to be expected.
This place brings back a lot of memories so it's hard for me to give them a terrible review. I'll definitely be back when I'm back in SJ. -
Review from Kristen T.
San Jose, CA
6/9/2009
This place is fun...if you're seven or younger...
First we had to pay an entrance fee..which i did not know about. I think it was $2. (not that much..but still!) Then the games weren't even that good and sometimes you had to use more than one nickel to play! (DECEIVING!!) The place also looks really run down and dark. The games aren't even that cool..a lot of them are kind of old.Listed in: Please baby dont
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Review from Keit K.
San Francisco, CA
10/18/2010
Nickel city = $2 entrance fee arcade, old games take 2-8 nickels to play each, most games are broken or malfunctioning, crappy redeemable dollar store prizes.
The purpose of this arcade is to scratch your itch if you are craving arcades but are too poor or on a budget.
The one "out of order" claw machine cost $0.40 to play, stuffed animals are small while the claw is huge. I think, the workers put an out of order sign on the claw machine because they want kids to use their nickels to get prize tickets instead. -
Review from dana v.
Austin, TX
Great price per hour entertainment! It took over an hour for me and my companion to blow through $3 worth of nickles.
Many of the classics are represented, some of the new stuff, but not much of it. Among their best games is an awesome air-hockey meets foos-ball game that is way too addictive... and probably 20 years old. You call it geriatric, I call it retro. -
Review from Nate M.
Washington, DC
1/7/2008
Keep your kids close by. Theres a number of creepy folks here that look like they're ready to snatch 'em once your back is turned. Old lady in brown trenchcoat playing bust-a-move for hours, I'm talking to you.
Good thing they put the Para-Para-Paradise in the far corner. That way I'm only embarassing myself in front of my niece and nephew instead of people by the door.
I wouldn't go back here. I'll take 'em to Chuck E Cheese next time. -
Review from Scott K.
Saratoga, CA
7/10/2011
I had a lot of fun here as a kid. They have no pinball machines though. So i wont be coming back.
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Review from Mike M.
San Jose, CA
9/12/2009
Couple of notes...
1.They charge you admission upon entering. ($2.00,so why is it called Nickel City again?)
2.The games are NOT 5 cents as the name of the place may lead you to believe.Yes,the machines take nickels,but most games are 4 or 5 nickels each to play.
3.The place is dirty and old like an old Golfland arcade.
4.Yes,there are free games,but most of them are broke.
5.Yes,there are other games and most of them are broke as well.
Today,I spent most of the time there playing Tetris for free,since it was one of the few games that worked ok.We tried playing countless others,but the joysticks were malfunctioning.They said to let them know which games were broken so they could fix them,well how about all of them?
Bottom line,if you're looking for cheap fun,come here.If youre out on a date,take her to Dave & Busters.Their games work,the place is more well kept and there arent a bunch of toddlers running around with $3 bags of nickels. -
Review from Carrie C.
Philadelphia, PA
4/7/2010
I was so excited to visit Nickel City for the first time since I had heard of it as a kid. An arcade where everything is a nickel instead of a quarter?? That's pretty much heaven. I hadn't stepped foot into an arcade since Tilt in Vallco Mall closed down.
Driving up and parking in front of Nickel City was in itself kind of discouraging as it looked pretty dirty and run down from the outside. Also, I was kind of taken aback that we had to pay a $2 cover charge per person in addition to paying for the games. But still, $2 for a day of fun is worth it.
The newer games cost about 9 nickels, which I thought was outrageous! I know it's only 45 cents, which is still cheaper than a lot of other places, but putting in 9 of anything (nickels or tokens) seems like A LOT. I do think that air hockey for 8 nickels is worth it though, as it's normally $1 everywhere else. There are a few older games that are 1-4 nickels, which I mainly stuck to. A big plus that made coming here worth it, though, was trying out all the cool, ancient free play games in the back! However, a lot of the machines were broken and just sitting there taking up space.
Overall, it was a fun few hours, but I wouldn't make the 30 minute drive down here randomly unless I was really craving air hockey or puzzle fighter for 5 cents each game. It didn't live up to my expectations, but it's still kind of a cool place to visit once in a while. -
Review from Ian S.
3/9/2007
I was working in San Jose for a few months at one of the offices that a larger company acquired and everyone else bailed in typical Silicon Valley Style for other people to clean up the mess (that would be me and others).
It took a little while to figure out, but San Jose is basically a dead town at night. There was Agenda
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
and a couple of restaurants where the SJ yupyups hung out.
That got old really really fast.
What did not get old was getting the guys together here with a flask and drinking and playing video games until we couldn't hit buttons or laugh any more.
$2 to get in the door and $5 for a ziplock of nickels and you were good to go for just about as long as you like.
The oldschool games such as Shinobi and the like were free which left more nickels for the token-devouring beasts like gauntlet legends: the dark legacy. I used to play Shinobi for more than an hour on one credit. They just don't make games like that anymore.
Oh. Other reviewer: You are talking about Altered Beast.
I think my character was something like a level 90 Valkyrie by the time my consulting engagement was up there. Collecting each of the runes in multiplayer was a couple hour task. After you had like 8 or something, you could go and kill some huge dragon after going through a portal. Who bothers with stuff like this anymore besides people playing world of warcraft? This stuff was a lot more fun and social and you could slap your friends upside their head if they were screwing up.
It is a real tragedy that venues like this don't seem to have a business model anymore. No one even seems to make decent standup games anymore, no one goes to arcades to play them outside of university student unions, and japan apparently.
SNK and NEO-GEO are toast.
It's a sad world.
People should enjoy venues like this while they last as things like this are what made the nerds that built the internet and drove the last couple technology revolutions. -
Review from emily w.
San Francisco, CA
8/8/2007
After many tantrum and whining session every time we venture down to San Jose, I finally cave and comply to take Matt to Nickel City.
Upon arrival of the dimly lit, burber carpeted arcade, my first thought was "Great. I'm the only chick in here. That's white. and over twelve."
Matt, on the other hand, once we paid the staggering two dollar entrance fee and crammed our pockets so full of quarters the seams were bursting and popping, began racing around the aisles jumping up and down and clapping and giggling like a fat kid ravaging the free samples in Costco. Did I mention that Matt is my boyfriend, not my son?
Despite my cynicism, the fact that pacman fucking pwned me, and that the wall of free games is no longer a wall, but has been reduced to four lonely machines in the corner, Tetris proved quite entertaining (I gravitate to the classics), as did the hunting game in which one ravages unsuspecting ducks.
I attribute the lack of a fifth star to the very sparse"prizes" (all I got was a shitty -and faulty- yo-yo) and the absence of pinball machines and ski-ball. -
Review from Vivian H.
11/17/2008
Nickel City taught me that I should never go to a casino when I'm of age.
I was glued to the machine with the hundreds of nickels being shoveled almost off a platform. I dropped nickels like dropping off the kids at the pool, hoping for several nickels to fall off the platform, giving me many tickets. And it wasn't like the tickets would get me great prizes, 'cause they all sucked. Yet, the thrill of trying to get those nickels to fall enthused me.
I originally wanted to go to an arcade for skee ball.. Nickel City's skee ball is lacking.
My boyfriend and I earned 349 points. Got some lame panda in a clown suit and some candy. -
Review from Sasha S.
San Jose, CA
4/25/2011 1 Check-in Here
wasted money only to find out controls were busted or censors were horrifically off on shooting games...
the ticket games were worth it.... the prizes... ehhh..
Three stars for free games tho... -
Review from Emilia V.
2/21/2010
Your first question is probably "why is a 23 year old female writing a review of Nickel City?" Fair question: the bf always sees this place when he comes to visit, so I finally gave in and said we can go to the place I celebrated by 11th birthday, circa 1997.
Now, if I were writing this review in 1997, I would have given it 5 stars. At 11, I loved that I could play sooo many more games for the $10 I'd get to spend here than at any 25cent arcade. I would spend all of my time at the machines that push nickels off the ledge, concentrating on the perfect place to drop in my nickel to receive maximum payout.
Flash forward to 2010, and I was not a happy camper. More than half of the machines are out of order, and several of the ones that should be working don't: the air hockey game took our 8 nickels and nothing happened! The change machines don't work either, so you have to ask the overly-bored (and probably high) employees to break your dollar bills.
It was a Saturday night so some high school band was playing in the back room. Back in the day, I would have absolutely loved this but it didn't exist then and was a bunch of noise now. But I guess it accounted for the amount of people that were actually there: they seemed to all be there for the show, and then playing the games as a BTW sort of thing.
Honestly, I was very saddened by the visit. Something that I loved as a kid is undermaintained, dirty, and just gross. I think it could be a really cool hangout for middle/high schoolers if it were cleaned up and things actually WORKED. I think arcades are a ton of fun and a little work could make this place cool.
But all in all, there were two high points to our trip:
1. Watching the bf play the video games of his childhood (so cute) and
2. Getting $-sign blingin' necklaces as prizes. -
Review from jordan a.
San Francisco, CA
2/25/2008
The place is pretty dirty and oily. Every time I've been here the toilet is always clogged with a turd the size of Andre The Giant's arm and of course nobody does anything about it because its mostly kids working there and I know THEY don't want to deal with the mess. So be prepared to try and cut the turd with a well aim pee stream or piss at El Pollo Loco across the lot.
I have no problem with the games because its all games i love playing and most of the games i play are free because they're old. Sure I can pay a few nickels to play some young kid to destroy me in Capcom VS SNK2 or I could just play X-Men and The Punisher/Nick Fury game for free for hours on end. Although I am awesome at Marvel VS Capcom2 and I will destroy you, I dont care if you're 10 years old, I WILL END YOU.
I haven't been here in a number of years but I'm pretty sure nothing has changed. Its probably the only arcade in the Bay Area that's actually worth going to because its cheap as hell. Anyway Arcades are supposed to be filthy dank pits.
Bring lots of hand sanitizer! -
Review from Veronika P.
San Jose, CA
10/1/2011
My boyfriend and I always take his 5 year old niece and 10 year old nephew here often. The games are cheap and entertaining for them. This please keeps them happy and occupied. They do not have many ticket games and their prizes aren't that great, but the kids seem to like it anyways. As long as they enjoy it that's all that matters.
