Great spot for little kids to burn off energy without spending a ton. Simple and fun. Definitely hope this place sticks around. There is a small admission fee to play, and the games run on a swipe card system now. The staff was super friendly. The games are older and it is a bit run down, but honestly that doesn't matter at all to my 6-year-old. We went right when they opened and it was a chill, relaxing vibe since it wasn't busy at all. It is a little dark inside, so I just wish the lighting was a bit brighter. You can play a ton of games without spending a fortune. Each game is 15 cents now... inflation haha The games are really fun, points are easy to get, and you can save and stack your tickets for prizes. My 6-year-old and nephew had a blast, and I'm not even gonna lie, I think I had even more fun than them. This is one of those classic Merced spots that never gets old. read more

It has been a while since we came ....we were excited to see that the AC was working this time. Sooooo great in the 100+ degree heat. We were initially bummed that they changed to cards, but .....happily....the games are still the same price. You can register your card and save your money/points for next time! read more

Oh Wow Nickel Arcade - Entry - Arcades Near Me - Merced, California

Fun to play arcade games using modern card to swipe and redeem points easily. Definitely must go if you want have fun while on budget. Haven't tried birthday party so ask them if you want. read more

Oh Wow Nickel Arcade - My family likes to play on weekend with hubby and kiddo - Arcades Near Me - Merced, California

See all

Brought my family here and we all had a good time. It is a fun place if you have a few hours to spend.

Very fun. Very cheap inside for the arcade and everything against the back wall is free. They just charge a door fee for entry and give you a wraparound your wrist like at a fair to indicate that you paid the entry fee. You get a card and put your money into it. The card keep track of both the amount of money and the number of tickets you win. Most games are between 5 cents to 15 cents. I think there are a few that are more but I don't think there is a lot of those. I really enjoyed it with my family and didn't feel like everything is too expensive to play, like in some of the other arcades that I've been to before. The place is very clean. Big plus for me. read more

So impressed by this place! Staff was super friendly! My two boys had such an awesome time. $20 on a card lasted them 4 hours! Games for all ages and I loved that they had games that also took coins! Such a better option than the expensive arcades at restaurants or theme parks. We will definitely be back! read more

This was our first visit here at this arcade. We had a great time. We spent very little money which lasted a long time. Everybody was super friendly, and it was clean. I would highly recommend. read more

Was using the women's bathroom and the workers opened the door and came in claiming they had to be in there and keep the door open. My privacy was invaded and will never be back. Disgusting how men abuse power to do devastating things like this read more

Wonderful experience! The staff is super friendly and helpful. Wide variety of new games and older classics. Really cheap and fun. My boyfriend and I spent hours at this place. 100% would recommend if you're a gamer or just like arcades. read more

I can't believe that one of the machines got stuck and the manager of this place came and unstuck it the item that my kids were trying to get was in the claw of this machine instead of giving it to them he through it back so sad read more

Love this place, fun and affordable, thank you guys!! Perfect place for the kids and adults too, good prizes and welcoming environment. read more

I loved it! The kids loved it! We truly can't wait to go back! There is an entry charge but after that... it's all nickels. If you are looking for a fun, inexpensive time with kids.... This is your place. read more

My kids love going here just wish they rented out the room for birthday parties would love to do my kids birthday party there

This place is fun! I think it's very reasonably priced. You pay admission and then all games are a nickel. read more

I've gone to Oh Wow Nickel Arcade so many times with my friends! $5 could last me a great while and the prize options are very cute also~

Games are old and outdated. Staff is friendly. Place is old. A lot of the games don't work, once we got lucky one game kept giving out tickets still couldn't get the dragon statue. One word of advice UPDATE read more

Not like the arcade when we were kids in the 90s but it have a little bit of everything. Pretty much all age can enjoy for less than a few bucks. Unless your trying to earn a big prize. Sometime the customer service can be a hit or miss but your more there just to let the kids have a few hoir of fun. read more

Very fun, fair and affordable arcade! Had lots of fun for hours and won a lot of tickets. Highly recommended

Had a lot of fun! Only $2.95 per person and most games were only $0.05 to play! Some were up to $0.20! Take $1 and $5 because they have coin machines to divide your money into nickels. Also don't forget a ziplock to store all of your nickels! But if you do forget, you can purchase a styrofoam cup for only a nickel! They even had some FREE PLAY games for when you're out of nickels! While I had a great time, I was upset to see how many times the machines wouldn't work after I shoved in a few nickels. And since they're "only nickels" I didn't bother to report it to get my $0.05 back. However, overall, I'd totally go again! read more

Great place to take chdren. Staff is always helpful and best of all you don't have to spend a fortune just to take the kids out.

I love this place! And like another review on hear i cant give it 5 stars for just a few reasons. 1. Sometimes the machines eat your nickle, and i know what your thinking "Its just a nickle" But when you think of it all those nickles add up. And the poor girl that is working there is always being dragged around to fix machines that eat peoples money or jam on tickets. This brings me to 2. The tickets jam! And ive noticed that they dont really give you as many as your supposed to get a lot of the time. But once again for a nickle, what are you going to do? All and all i love this place. We go every Thursday night because its .95 cents to get in. If you want to get anything worth while your going to have to save up your tickets. But if your just there for entertainment then its no big deal to spend $1 on 4 jolly ranchers i guess:) read more

I think this place is great, I'd love to give it 5 stars if I could, but I have a few gripes that disallow me from giving them 5. First the good, this place is freakin CHEAP. I went there with my gf and we paid 1.80$ total at the door, and spent an hour and a half in there, and only walked out down like maybe 4 dollars total? That's BOTH of us + the door fee. We played a bunch of fighting games, ddr, some samurai game that makes you feel dumb because the calibration is bad because its like an even crappier version of the wii, air hockey! And they have some other stuff like you could find at johns incredible pizza, the things that give you tickets to trade in for random crap. If I had kids, this would be the place to bring them. They burn lots of energy playing games for super cheap. I enjoyed it and im not as picky as most people. Now the gripes. 1. bring some hand sanitizer, since this is a little kid haven, everything in the place is sticky. I'll be the ceiling is sticky. EVERYTHING. 2. A few of the arcades dont work. and by this i mean that either the stick or buttons on one of the two sides dont work. This kinda sucks because I wanted to play fighting games vs my gf. If you wanted to play one player you're good to go, because at least one of the two works perfect and the other one usually doesnt work at all. 3. The games are a little dated, some of them are classics yes but not all of them. Overall I enjoyed it and it was cheap, I would have had so much more fun if we could have had working machines to play vs. on but that wasnt the case. :( Open till 10. read more

This is probably the best place for family entertainment in all of Merced County, you can bring the whole family and only spend around $2 per person to get in and 5-15 cents per game. All of the games here are older, but classics never go out of style, you can find games here from every generation in every genre. When your change runs out, don't fret, this place has an entire wall of free play games, so the fun never has to end. I usually bring my family here to kill time and avoid the heat of the valley, but I've also thrown plenty of birthday parties in their private room, it's cheap to rent and the kids always have a blast. read more

Not from the area, but decided to take my two little kids here (ages 4 and 6) on a Saturday night and we had a great time. You can't go wrong for $2.95 per person and games ranging from $.05 to $.15. Your money will go a long way in here...$15 lasted us almost 3 hours...yikes! Pros: Cheap. Ticket games for prizes, small rides, and free games, hardly no wait on most of the games. Cons: Older run down games,many games out of order. read more

We just spent the last two hours playing in this place! My kids had so much fun and it was not expensive!! We paid to get in which was 2.95 a person and then used 10 dollars to get 10 dollars worth of nickels and we all had a blast! I definitely think if your strapped for money or appreciate the arcade scene then this is an awesome place!! Definitely will bring my family again!! read more

More of a place to take your kids when its way too hot to be outside and they are driving you nuts inside the house.. very inexpensive hence the name "nickel arcade" that's right every game is a big nickel and they do have a nice selection of free games in the back of the building.. You can have birthday parties here.. a lot of the kids games do pay out tickets for high scores.. the toys are what you would expect from any arcade.. whack. Its a good little place for the kids to stay entertained and you might find some games to play your self.. read more

Awesome place I found on Yelp, saw good reviews so my family decided to check it out. It was 2.95 per person to get in and all games were a nickel to 15 cents, some were even FREE! $20 bucks literally went a LONG WAY! We were there for two hours..and my kids literally played every game. They had similar games to Chuck E Cheese but the arcade games were a little old school. They even had pacman which I liked. Overall if you dont want to spend much, this is the place to bring the family. read more

Oh Wow Nickel Arcade - Arcades Near Me - Merced, California

First off I wanna say as a kid this place was my childhood I loved going here and always found it fun. Recently I had gone with some friends and all I can say is wow. Mainly good wow because the place looked cleaner then I remembered and the place was brighter ( I personally loved when it was darker it gave it more of that arcade feel but I understand kids are afraid). Also the staff was very nice and friendly. The only downside is that a lot of the machines don't work especially the pinball machines I believe only having one work. I personally don't mind the outdated games I find them fun and enjoyable. Truly I would give this place a 5 out of 5 because it was a blast going again I just feel like the games could be just a bit more newer and hopefully fixing the ones that don't work but this place is always a blast to me! read more

AWESOME CHEAP FUN! Only 2.95 to go in and most arcade games cost only a nickel. Some take 3. Bring 1 and 5 dollar bills and they have a change machine. My son (4 1/2) and I spent about two hours here and spent less than 10 bucks. They have little kid games (wac a mole, fishing, bowling, air hockey, etc), some rides, lots of car racing, lots of shooting games, and some free ones in back. I miss arcades and my only complaint is that they dont have more classics (pinball, simpsons, xmen, donkey kong, joust etc). Its a blast! We drove 45 min away to here and might come back because it was cheap fun entertainment! Its hidden away in a grocery market shopping center and it seemed busy with lots of families. Worth a drive from Ceres 45 minutes away! read more

See all

Great place for kids and parents.lots of fun.five dollars will last forever here.pheww happy happy. read more

Oh Wow Nickel Arcade - Candy machine. - Arcades Near Me - Merced, California

Awesome arcade! We are from out of town and we're looking for something awesome to do with our five year old. This arcade is so much fun! The machines are clean and the majority are working perfectly. The attendant is super helpful and kind; he went out of his way to make sure we got all of our tickets (some machines ran out as we got paid out) and even let us know about the free games on the back wall! We will definitely come back to Oh Wow every time we are out here! read more

Omg. This place was awesome. The games are older. But still loads of fun. Super cheap. The games were 5 cents to 20 cents. We left after two hours. It didn't seem that we spend two hours there. Will be back. Just wish it wasn't 45 mins away worth the drive tho. read more

EPIC. I could only use that word to describe it but yelp keeps saying my review is to short so, EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC EPIC.

Fun games, friendly staff! Though I'm a grown adult, I still love arcade games! This place is really fun and has all the games kids and adults LOVE! I have taken students there on field trips and have gone with friends on the weekends. Either way, it's a great value. read more

I absolutely love this place!! It is honestly one of the best things to do in Merced. Their prices are very inexpensive and all games were 5-20 cents! It honestly doesn't even matter what age you are, you're going to have a blast at Nickel Arcade! read more

It's a fun family place to have fun even on a budget. I wish they would expand and include food as my little one and I get hungry after hours of play. But overall I enjoy it. read more

Son had been here with one of his friends previously and said it was a lot of fun, so I decided to take him today. Pretty cool place. There is a small entry fee (probably to keep out the malcontents who seem to be taking over Merced) but after that every game runs on nickles. Most expensive game was three nickles, but most were only five cents. Some games give you tickets which can be redeemed for cheap prizes (like Funworks) while other games are just straight arcade games. There isn't any of the latest arcade games, but there are some good old retro games. Probably the neatest thing is that there are numerous free-play games along the back wall....you can't beat Galaga and PacMan for free! Son and I spent three plus hours there and only used around $10 in nickles. Air hockey table is a little worn, but again for the price it can't be beat. There were a few wierdos there (one guy looked/smelled like he had just rolled out of the gutter), but overall it was a fun, cheap way to spend a Saturday afternoon. read more

do they have alot of game? yes the only problem is, their games are like from the year 2000, no new or up to date games. some game arn't even working. read more

Good cheap place to take the kids... Feels a bit like a dungeon here... It's dark and musty... But once your in there for a while you don't seem to notice it.... The kids have fun here and love collecting the tickets and grading thier little toys at the end of the day. They have deals you just have to find them or print them out... read more

We bring our boys here regularly. They love it & they can play for little money for hours! It's a good size. I love playing the games myself and winning tickets to a prize :) great place for those rainy days. read more