Very cool arcade! most of the retro games are free to play with admission and the rest take a small fee. Wish they still did nickels since they have recently switched to reloadable arcade cards like everywhere else, but I'm sure that it is more economical for them to do that and I'd rather them stay in business than use nickels forever read more

I came here a couple times this past month and overall I really enjoyed my time here. I wish it was bigger, but overall, you definitely get what you paid for. They charge $4 to enter since they have 70 or so free to play games which are mostly all old school games. Depending on what day of the week it is, they also have specials that range from free entry if you purchase a $10 game card, or even free tickets just from buying a game card. The games are a mix of games you can find at your local Dave and busters, to some that you'd find at an abandoned garage sale. The only problem I had, was after hitting a few ticket jackpots, I noticed that the card never registered my tickets. I spoke with a nice worker and she promptly loaded some of the missing tickets to my game card. Just sucks that the game cards/arcade games are pretty unreliable and I wish they had a better system. Overall, the prizes were great but expensive for the ticket value they were listed at. On the contrary, the games were all 1-6 nickels as opposed to 1-6 quarters at a normal arcade which honestly was amazing and hard to find in today's economy. The couple of plushies that I was able to redeem and take home was enough for me to remember this fun and family-friendly arcade. read more

See all

A childhood and adulthood favorite for families or just want somewhere to go after happy hour that wont get you shot in the pocket. Go with 20 full of nickels and tell me you cant have a great time. Despite some games being inoperable 25% realize you are standing in a living relic and it wants you to play responsibly so be nice to the games. I been here long enough to remember going at 5 years old and can say I have proudly taken my nephew's for a great memory. With love read more

This nickel arcade is okay, they have half the games that are free play and then the other ticketed games cost. Some of the games that cost are broken, so you end up wasting a few swipes. The games are retro but not too many options so you run out of things to play. I think more options which everything working could increase the rating. One major con is the quality and prices of the prizes. An Airheads candy is 1300 tickets...for perspective, my partner and I each had $10 game card and got ~350 tickets each...so we didn't even have enough for candy. Prizes are also on the lower quality side, but for fun, it's okay. All staff is super friendly though, which is a nice plus. read more

I really enjoyed the games and the overall experience here! However, I was incredibly disappointed by the unprofessional behavior of a staff member. One of my children was spoken to very rudely with the comment, 'Stop acting entitled, can't you see we're busy. You're not the only one at the counter.' There were several children and adults waiting at the counter, and it is completely unacceptable to address a child in that manner. Any concerns about a child's behavior should be directed to the accompanying adult, not the child directly. This incident significantly detracted from what would have otherwise been a fantastic visit. read more

I went by myself for my birthday and I had so much fun with the coin pusher games. I won some great prizes!! Sad they don't do nickels anymore like the name says read more

This place was amazing and the kids loved it, of course it's gonna cost you some money, but grandkids are worth it in fact, every nickel

Good old school fun. The front games can entertain my kids for a while with skee ball and other gems. The back has free games like car racing and shooting games. We stay about two hours each time. Wednesday is free to get in if you put $10 on your game card. There are tickets you can earn from the front paid games for prizes. $40 for a family night at the arcade is a good value for two hours of fun. You will want to wash hands when you leave as the whole place is a little dated, old, and dirty but I keep returning because the kids love it. read more

The only reason I'm giving this place 3 stars is because my 6 year old and her friend absolutely loved it. Hubs and I didn't want to touch anything in there! So many of the games were not working and it isn't just a nickel for many of the games. Several of them require anywhere from 6 - 10 nickels. We went on a Saturday and it was absolutely mobbed with people. It was a rainy day so that may have contributed to the madness. Some of the games give tickets- which was a big deal to my little- so we played a few of those games. Though some ran out of tickets while you were playing and you just ended up wasting your nickels or waiting for a staff member to come fix it. The "prize" counter was equally mobbed. But somehow, we all survived- and like I said, my little loved it. So...maybe see if another parent will take your kid?? read more

Nickel-A-Play - Party & Event Planning Near Me - Aurora, Colorado

See all

Stopped in from traveling across the country with kids, the best experience. The free games were awesome and my kids were happy the entire time. The woman who I assume was the owner, was so nice when my daughter was picking her prizes. Great experience. read more

Fun, nostalgic and affordable fun in Aurora. Venture to Aurora and enjoy a fun time at the arcade. We recently went for an affordable date night. On a Friday they had a special for $10 we played arcade games for about 2 hours. We had a blast! Also, many of the games are FREE with zero tokens required to play. Some of the free ones are House of Dead, old school racing games and the Simpsons. Some of my childhood favorites. We also played lots of SKEE BALL, Guitar Hero and table hockey! We laughed and laughed as we played. Highly recommend if you're into old school games and enjoy the nostalgic arcade games. read more

See all

The nostalgia! Incredible staff. Affordable day/night out your kid(s). Also if/when a machine malfunctions, the staff is very quick to respond. 10/10 recommend this place as why we keep coming back! read more

I love this place! It's nostalgic and great prices. Most of the games are free, you just need a game card for the games that earn tickets or the claw machines, and those are also super reasonable. read more

This place was so fun and extremely affordable! If you enjoy playing games I highly recommend this place. It was definitely a hidden gem in my opinion. It is perfect for family time and a cute inexpensive date. The staff was very friendly and professional as well. read more

This is such a fun place to take your kids or if you are really feeling like recreating the 1990s for an afternoon a trip here without the kids would do the trick too. The variety of games included when you pay the "cover" is great and the pricing on the games that cost extra are not bad either. The ONLY complaint I have is that 50% of the free games were broken or on the verge of dying. I understand they are old and this place is cheap, but it was a bit of a bummer. read more

I would rate it 0 stars if I could. This place is absolutely disgusting and has terrible customer service. I will never bring my child here again. There was literally a kid there with his whole butt out the whole time we were there. Gross. read more

We go every week! So much nostalgia just as soon as we walk in . love it tetris mortal kombat tekken pac man taxi driver read more

Went out on a date here. I don't think this is a good date spot. This place is cheap but is better suited for kids. Place is a little old but clean. A lot of the machines works ok. I did enjoy myself there for the time being. You pay like ~$4/person and the majority of the games are free. Certain things you have to pay for like the table hockey. I wouldn't come back here again personally. This place is good for little kids if you're looking to go inexpensive as possible. Kids will have a blast here. read more

Nickel-A-Play - Party & Event Planning Near Me - Aurora, Colorado

Our first time and we will be back. Inexpensive fun and cool games (even Tetris!). Tajaneeke was wonderful as she was informative, friendly, helpful, kind and patient. Thank you for a wonderful experience. read more

Nickel-A-Play - Retro Games, all for free (only pay for the 1s w/tickets) $3.95 admission fee. - Party & Event Planning Near Me - Aurora, Colorado

Cheap fun for the family. We've been coming here for a couple years now. My kids love it and that's what counts.

I love coming here. A great variety of free to play games. The only games that do cost nickels are ticket games. Every time I come here I have loads of fun read more

I went here all the time yea a lot of things are broken but some are free it brings back memories of the 80 this is my favorite spot to go love this place read more

Nickel-A-Play - Party & Event Planning Near Me - Aurora, Colorado

My daughter has been very - VERY - much into 'Stranger Things' as of late. (The Netflix original series...she's not collecting strange things, like bleached bird skulls or Cheetos that resemble deceased modern-expressionist artist of the earlier 60's...) One thing she really wanted to do while we were in Colorado was try to find an 'old school' arcade. I was completely on board with this idea (of course), but the truth is...they are hard to find! They exist today, but primarily in the form of 21+ bars that are trying to be chic or appeal to nerd-core. It isn't that I'm against these things. I go to them, but it is a little disheartening when the nearest few you fine won't let you play Ms. Pac Man unless you are capable of ordering an $8.00, all-local hops, IPA first. Sometimes...you just need a place where you can order a 'New' Coke & Space Invader-it at with your 11 year-old daughter. Nickel-A-Play was the nearest spot we could find that came closest to this. It was a low key, dive spot hidden in a small outlet mall. It wasn't a large space, but did try and jam pack a lot within its walls. It was by no means 'fancy'. It has bland, stained, carpet that was that '1988 Plymouth Voyager Passenger Van Passenger Seat' Maroon. Its walls were 'Not White' White, and it was pretty dim, but had window light in the front. The staff, though, was chipper and friendly. They told us their set-up (games cost a 1-6 nickels that earn tickets, there are free games in the back', and per usual - tickets get you prizes). PRO: All the games we were wanting to play (old shooters, Ms. Pac Man, Galaga, etc.) were there and FREE! Their back, older arcade machines were pretty much all free to play. That was a HUGE perk. I mean, that is why we came. However, the amount of those games that were actually turned on at the time was pretty limited. We had one pinball machine up and we played that for awhile, but the weirdest thing happened...It started charging us when we returned a second time, ha! Clearly, Street Fighter Pinball had been their long enough to attain sentience and knew how to be a 'pinball shark' to children. Respect. CON: For those who, or have kids who, love to gamble with prize tickets...you're going to love this place! Not only are risking spending money to some prizes, but you are also gambling if the tickets will come out...and also gambling if the game will start up...OR GAMBLING that the entire thing isn't shut off! ***It's the Vegas Strip of Strip Mall Arcades!*** Truthfully, the ticketed games were running at about a 40% success rate. Plus they were essentially those found in an abandoned Showbiz Pizza from 1993. Oh - and one 'Deal or No Deal' machine. So there was that. SUMMARY: I probably wouldn't recommend this place as a tourist attraction or a major 'need to stop' to anyone. However, if you live in the area, have a kid that wants to play Ms. Pac Man, its fine & fair priced. SIDE NOTE: On the entryway wall...this place has every sports team EXCEPT The Colorado Rapids; their professional MLS team. WHY?! I mean...you have the Avalanche. Throw the Rapids a cardboard cut-out; c'mon! read more

I'm a granny who took my 6 year old granddaughter and we both had fun! Moneywise this is a great deal! Plus if you go on Tuesday it is two for one to get in. So we paid $3.95 for the 2 of us to get in and then bought five dollars worth of nickels. We played for over an hour and had a lot of fun! Some of the games are even free! Other games can cost one or more nickels - Depending on the game. There's a really nice variety of games - too many to mention- such as pinball, shooting games, basketball, and Air Hockey. At the end you can get different prizes by turning in the tickets that you won. read more

Love this place was fun for both the kids and adults in our party. There was an assortment of prizes to pick from. The staff was the best part of this experience they went above and beyond when it came to helping out the customers. Staff was very interactive with the kiddos. If you are looking for a cheaper options to keep the kids entertained for a few hours this is the place to go. read more

This is the only place in the Denver area that has a real Dance Dance Revolution machine. It gets five stars based on that alone. Even better, it's only 50¢ to play. Almost half of the arcade is free to play once you pay for entry, which is only a few dollars. If I were a kid that grew up in Aurora, best believe I would have begged my parents for my birthday party to be at Nickel-A-Play. This place is awesome for all ages. Although the building is a bit older, the bathrooms are still in good order and the staff is nice. If it weren't so far from where I live, I would come here weekly just to play DDR for about an hour while my husband played Crazy Taxi that has the original soundtrack by The Offspring. Overall great neighborhood arcade at a decent price with a great selection of games. I highly recommend. read more

The best! Where else can you wholly entertain yourself and the kids for two hours for $15 in the denver metro area? Umm, nowhere but Nickel-A-Play!! My kids love modern video games, but they really enjoy the throw-back games--Tetris, air hockey, race car driving, pac-man, Galaga. Plus, they have all those ticket games and an enormous prize bar. It's not fancy, but it's fun!!! read more

Enjoy this old fashioned arcade for ~1/4 the co$t of a certain Chunk O Cheese themed place! The kids I take are 4 & 6. We all have a blast, & are thankful there are games for every skill level. Lots of games depend on luck, & everybody gets lucky there! Prizes are numerous & fun. Expect great prizes (albeit plastic), for your winnings! read more

Nickel-A-Play - Assorted 5cent, 10cent, & FREE games! - Party & Event Planning Near Me - Aurora, Colorado

See all

Lots of the machines were broken. Of the ones that were not; most of them still malfunctioned. Guitar Hero was 100% broken. The guns on the shooting games either did not work at all or were seriously out of alignment. The spin button on the Wheel of Fortune game I played was broke; so you could not spin. You had to wait for the spin timer to run out; at which point you got a weak spin. Place was overcrowded. Overcrowding was due mainly to way too many machines in such a small space. Would have been fun if 80% of the games I wanted to play weren't broke or malfunctioning. This place needs a lot of work if it is to survive. read more

It's okay, could be MUCH better. Many of the arcade games were a let down Why? Just about every cabinet or shooter had some sort of issue. A button not working here, joystick there, broken steering wheel. The worse is when the operator can't even take the time to fix the issues, especially calibrating the shooting games and steering wheels on the racers. You'll be shooting at the enemy only for your gun to shoot left and to the corner of the screen. It would of been fun to play some shooters with my 7 year old nephew, but again, guns not calibrated or one was working, one wasn't, destroying the fun of co-op shooters. The ticket games seem to play better, but two out of 3 skee ball games weren't working, one of them as we were playing it. Overall, my 2 nieces (9 and 12) and nephew (7) thought it was okay, but they "kind of" had fun. Also, we went on a Wednesday so we should of got a 1 free admission if we bought $5 worth of nickels. We had a group of 5 people. He was going on that if my mom went through by herself and she bought the $5 bag of nickels, then we could do it (or that's how it sounded he wanted to do it). He tried to charged $25 instead of just taking off the 1 admission so we could all go in 5 people X $4 = $20, plus the $5 bag of nickels. Make it simple, 5x $4 = $20 + $5 for the bag of nickels, subtrack 1 admission, making it $21. Could we not do that for some reason? Anyway, your kids will probably like it, cheap fun, but just know that most of the free arcade games don't work 100% correctly. And sometimes the ticket games don't work right. As I said, okay, but could be a much better place if they took the time. read more

See all

It's a pretty cute little arcade you play all the ticket giving games with nickels but it's a bit of a misnomer since most of those take more than 1 nickel. There are however a ton of games in the back that you can play for free. read more

There is a cover charge, $3.50, but then you get unlimited arcade games. Some games are premium games and cost extra. It's a typical arcade, not spotless, not fancy, but just right. Birthday parties can be hosted there. The boys (8 and 11) and I had a great time. We were able to play and leave and play more later in the day. read more

Everytime we go to Nickel-A-Play, different games are broken. They do repair them, but not quickly. On the weekend, expect it to be very crowded, hard to move around, kids darting in and out, and HOT! There isn't much room between the games, and they don't regulate how many people they allow in at any given time. There is only one person at the prize counter, so you will need A LOT of patience. As expected, anywhere there are tons of humans, especially little humans, it is not the cleanest place. If you are a germaphobe, steer clear. This place will be a nightmare for you. Today was the first time we encountered the lack of customer service that I've read others write about. We won a prize from a claw machine, but it was broken. We spoke to Allison, the manager, and instead of replacing it like any other business would, her exact words were, "I'm not doing anything. The prizes are 'as is'." This has really put a damper on our enthusiasm for this business. It isn't about the stupid $.50 prize. It is about the principal of the matter. We usually come once every couple weeks. I'm not so sure we will frequent as much anymore. read more

Despite being a little run down, I love this place! Admission is only $3.50 and the games that don't run on nickels are free. This means all video games from shoot'em ups to old school arcade to racing are free with admission!!! Plus, they have different specials every day. If you play the nickel games, you get tickets that you can redeem for useless crap at the front counter! The kids that work here are really friendly and nice. I've never had issues with any troublemaker kids or little gang bangers. If you get hungry or thirsty, they even have vending machines. There's ample parking and the bathrooms are pretty clean. Overall, this is a great and inexpensive place to have fun by yourself or with your family! read more

Confession: I can never remember whether I'm a-geek-or-a-nerd. But it's whichever of those would go to the middle-of-nowhere Aurora to play Dance Dance Revolution for hours! Nickel-a-play is totally amazing. For-a-flat entrance fee of $3.50 (or, on Tuesdays, it's buy-one-get-one-free!), you are welcomed into a little slice-of-gaming-heaven. The name comes from the fact that many games are, you guessed it, a nickel-a-play. In DDR terms, this means a nickel-a-song. Having visited many-a-time, I have yet to use-a-bag of nickels. What I *have* done is beat Time Crisis II, because it falls into the amaaaaazingly unnamed cost category of free-a-play. As does Pacman and Tetris and pinball and shoot-em-ups and Street Fighter and whatever-else-is-back-there. I'm having little trouble randomly-hyphenating-everything-in-this-review. So! Let's just say that Nickel-a-Play is a great monetary deal, and a-lot-of-fun. Especially if you are whichever of a-geek-or-a-nerd that likes to bounce around on colored blocks to techno dance music, pretend to skateboard on an arcade machine, shoot pixelated villains with plastic guns, eat ghosts, roll balls into holes, and so on. Oh, and I've rarely seen any children here, so you won't have to worry about the 10-year-olds judging you for being in your late 20s and bouncing around. Dance dance on, my nickel-wielding friend! read more

I took my friends kid here while I was babysitting. I had a BLAST. All he wanted to do was get more tickets. Now here it is to explain this place: it is cheap, it is fun, it is a little run down and it's overall great. Some of the machines are broken but only a few. Now if you want an Highland Ranch/ Cherry Creek super clean, snotty kind of experience then avoid this place because you will be disappointed. But if can withstand a little culture and older product then you will love this place. My favorite machine was the carnival shooter, my kid friend liked the goffer hitting machine. They have some pretty decent race car simulators and pinball. I think this is going to be my go to 2nd date if he can keep up with me here then hes a keeper. They offer hand sanitizer and birthday parties for cheap. The teenage kid/guy that was working here the day we went was very help full. My kid friend only have 200 tickets left but wanted something that was around 300 points, the employee said to my kid friend "its your lucky day that prize is on sale for guess what 200 tickets". Made my kids day. You don't get that at a chucky cheese. And you ask what it cost me for our 3+ hours of fun we had here? $10.00 and even walked out with some cute toys. Defiantly going back. read more

Pinball at this location (for only 2 nickels per play!) - No Fear (Williams, 1995) http://ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2852 - Tales from the Crypt (Data East, 1993) http://ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=2493 I would give them 5 stars if they had more pinball. :) Playing Smash TV with unlimited lives is pretty fun! read more

I love this place! I have been going here since I was 15. Always cheap to play even when I bring my friends. I spent $14 for two people and I was there for 4 hours. The staff there are decent. There is always new faces when I go and I always seem to run into the girl who hates her job. That doesn't bother me, but it might affect others. I will return again and again. read more

Yes I AM a fan!! This place was unbelievable - especially after reading the other reviews, it holds true. First, cheap to get in: $3.50. After a bunch of skee-ball and giving away all the tickets I won to the luckiest kid in there, I couldn't believe how many awesome arcade games they had - ALL FOR FREE!! Are you kidding me!? Fantastic!! Paid to play a few games (skee-ball, air hockey, and Dance Dance Revolution.... yes, I got on that thing and danced!!) and I would be willing to pay so much more!! Went in the evening so there weren't that many kids there, and the few older ones were taking up the Time Crisis 4 shooter the entire time they were there. Got to play some of my old favorites, like Battletoads, NBA Jam, and a bunch of racing games. STILL ALL FREE!!!!!!@$!@$!#%@$!! WHAT A DEAL!! My total cost for 2 hours of entertainment: $9. For 2 people. My ONLY qualm, and it's not enough to keep me away, is that a few of the games weren't working properly and didn't seem to be getting repaired, and the bathrooms were a little unkempt. Again, not bad by any means. Should I have given them all 5 stars? Probably, but I'm a little particular about cleanliness. Maybe it was the end of the day, but I felt like I had to wash my hands after touching everything. So maybe bring something to sanitize your hands with?? CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK!! read more

I'm glad we had an indoor place for 7 kids to stay entertained for about 2.5 hours. Sure the machines aren't reliable, tickets don't always come out, putting in money doesn't always work, there's a lot of broken machines, and it's not very big, but it's not very upsetting when they offer a lot of free arcade games, each game is only 5 cents, and they can win a lot of tickets for some fun prizes. We went on Wednesday so admission was $5 for a $5 bag of nickels. Even exchange. Not sure what the price is otherwise. Kids had a great time. read more