You have to go into this experience knowing what to expect. As long as your expectations are set properly, you won't be disappointed. The location of this arcade is in a tired, worn down strip mall that has mostly empty stores. It's a little sad, honestly. I'd say most of the action is here and the toy store a few doors down. (There's also a police substation, but I'd hope most of their action is elsewhere.) Anyway, you pay a $3 entrance fee per person. Doesn't matter if grandma just wants to watch, she gets to pay. So plan for that. You can bring your own nickels, or they will supply them to you at cost (you pay for $2 in coins, you get $2 in coins). All the games accept nickels; some only a couple, others quite a few. Most of the games also spit out paper tickets based on your winnings, which you then redeem for prizes at the counter. Don't expect the prizes to be too alluring-cheap candy and toys akin to the dollar store is what you'll find. But it's plenty appealing to the kids-they love this stuff! From my observation, about 85% of the games worked, while a handful did not. That didn't deter my group, they just moved on to the next game. I saw hand sanitizer at the front counter as well as on a couple tables on the game floor. Everything appeared clean, just a little worn. The bathrooms were also pretty dated, but nothing terrible. Overall, if you're an eight year old kid with a pocket full of coins, I can see you finding a few hours of fun here. It would be cool if they had a snack bar or even a vending machine available to us hungry and thirsty moms who are 100% here for the enjoyment of someone other than ourselves. read more

See all

NOPE! I will not be going to this place again. We only went because we thought it was a NICKLE arcade but it was $0.45-$0.65 a game. There was knock-off games and some really old ones that you could barely see on the tv since it was so old. There's a entrance fee to anyone attending even if you're not playing. The cards/computer was malfunctioning since it said my cards didn't have any points when we had been playing games for a while.... They also do not give you all of your points for some/most games. It's clean I will give them that. read more

The facility was super clean and the staff was awesome. Brent was so patient and great with my kids .

You should change your name because nothing costs a nickel anymore. Seriously, .45¢ that's bananas. You can no longer have hours of fun. We spent $15 and was finished within 30 minutes. I also miss the actual nickels and tickets, I am tired of places going digital for everything. It takes the fun out of it. read more

The new manager has turned this place around. Machines are clean and working. Workers are so friend and helpful. Prizes are fun and games were great. Perfect for a cheap date night or fun with family. There was sanitizer stations everywhere and covid safety reminder signs too. We went there for a date night and it was so much freaking fun. If you haven't visited in a while give it a try. read more

Fun, clean, open setup. Packed with games for all ages. The employees are so nice! And they made my daughter's birthday so much fun, making everyone feel special when they picked out their prizes. read more

We loved it here!! Abby was SO amazing, kind and generous with my kids. She was so helpful, the place was SO clean and we used our get out pass which made getting in free! Highly recommend, would come back read more

Well I do have to admit since I've last been here they've definitely fixed a lot of their games and added some new games but not much. To be honest it's a very old arcade that needs a refresh bad. Most of the games are fixed half assed and look very terrible. A lot of blurry monitors or screen is going out but hey the games work lol. I took a lot of pictures of most of the arcade and most of the nonworking games please look at them if you need to see what is not working. There's a game in here that cost two dollars. My favorite game is now $.30 which is OK in the groove 2. I only come here to dance on the machine and exercise. They're price selection doesn't seem much. Bottom line if your kid never goes to arcades and doesn't play the latest games they'll probably enjoy themselves. Or if you're just trying to save a buck this is a great place to go. Sadly one of the basketball games doesn't count your score unfortunately. I'm not sure why the Darren owner would have purchased this place if he's not going to make a real effort into improving the arcade. Apparently they don't offer the season pass anymore either. And I guess you could go online and find a coupon. So hey I guess you're can go try it for free. But if you can't afford three dollars for an entry fee when I doubt you can afford the games LOL. read more

See all

The only saving grace is that it was mostly clean and the air hockey was nice. For kids? Not even great. It's more like 50 cent Cade because it's no longer buckles. Everything is overpriced and some 50 cent games last like 3 seconds. Wouldn't recommend read more

My kids have a blast here. And for the price you can't go wrong. $3 admission, they sell bags of nickels. We usually buy multiples of $5 bags. And you'll always find the mom's at the Utah slot machines. But it's where you get the most tickets... so, ya I'll be there too. The new owners have refreshed the place so it's not as dirty and gross like it use to be. Great place to spend time with the kids out of the heat. And the times we have come it hasn't been busy. So that's nice. read more

I came here in search of DDR machines in the area, but found In The Groove 2 (technically 3) instead! They let you put your own mixes on the machine so there are over 9500 different songs to choose from. The staff are super cool and the machine itself is in perfect condition. A+ for the gigantic fan for those of us who play constantly All in all, my new favorite dance location! read more

Sandy Nickelcade Arcade - Screen is super clear! - Arcades Near Me - Sandy, Utah

Cleaner than it used to be, but pretty expensive now (relatively speaking). Each game is .30 to .65 ea. took my kids 10 minutes to burn through $20 and they were pretty bummed about the prize options. read more

This place wasn't terrible. It could definitely use some better housekeeping as it was pretty dirty. But I think there was only a handful of games not working so from most reviews that's a positive. And the cost isn't bad for a few hours of games with the family. read more

I like arcades, but I'll breakdown why this was not my favorite. Broken Games that Look Like They Work: There were a number of games, the sniper game, hook pinball, a spider attack shooter game, and a few others that accepted our nickles but didn't work at all. Clearly broken or Out Of Order Games: There is a joke corner of games that are unplugged and a handful of out of order arcades, which is disappointing to say the least. Arcades with No Tickets: At least two games ran out of tickets while we were playing them, it kinda took the fun out of playing those games. Bathroom from a Horror Movie: The bathroom smelled like vomit and I am not exaggerating. Not pleasant to say the least. We had a fun group, but if you are looking for a quality arcade, this isn't your best option. read more

Sandy Nickelcade Arcade - The store front - Arcades Near Me - Sandy, Utah

This place was so run down I do t know the last time this was fixed up. Half of the games didn't work and the other half made you actually use coins instead of your card. they didnt have a lot of the arcade games that are the most fun as well. read more

I love Sandy Nickelcade and would highly recommend it to anyone! :D There are a lot of reviews saying how it is outdated however I love the retro atmosphere and the wide selection games that they have. It is also an awesome spot to take a date or for a family night out! Plus it's cheap AF so what do these people expect? At least you're not paying 20 bucks a person like Dave and Busters! :) read more

I love the Nickelcade! Its so much fun and there so many games to pick from. I defonetley recommend this place for literally anyone!

The arcade itself is fantastic. The workers were half friendly, half pretty rude. But no one goes to an arcade for the workers! Go with friends, enjoy your time, and enjoy classic games! read more

I almost gave it one star, but the kids really do love it. Me? Not a fan. It feels cramped and claustrophobic and the nickels really do go quickly. It also has a bit of a stuffy/smoky smell and an interesting clientele. I will say the food is cheap. I almost bought a large Diet Coke simply because it was only $1.50. Come to think of it, this place should almost get three stars because I can drop of the pre-teens and they're happily busy for a good couple hours! read more

We went there today and I was not only extremely disappointed, but actually disgusted. More than half of the machines were broken. We would put coins in and they would eat the coin and not work. That happened literally over 20 times. The video games were from the early 90's. There wasn't much good about the place. Tons of the machines were actually labeled "Out of Order" when 90% of them should have been. There was a nasty punk rock style couple in their late teens/early 20's making out on the air hockey table. The place was filthy. The manager was the same employee as about 6-7 years ago and seems sort of like a creeper. The prizes are truly crap. Don't waste your time. read more

Sandy Nickelcade Arcade - Are you kidding me? Even the ticket machine is out of ink! - Arcades Near Me - Sandy, Utah

What has happened to my beloved Nickelcade. I recently moved back to Utah and wanted to go to places I enjoyed in my youth, Nickelcade being one. Crushed to find that my two favorite games were not working properly, Big Breatha for example was a delightful game where you would throw balls into a fat womans mouth and watch as her belly expands, now you can only feed her one ball with no movement at all. What a waste of a nickel! And sadly most of the games are like that. There are some newer games in the back like Dance Dance Revolution but you do not win any tickets for these games. The only real redeeming quality in a otherwise dirty and run down place is the staff are fun to joke with and will give refunds for broken games with no 'out of order' signs without a fight. read more

We love the nickel cade! A lot of the games used to be broken but they have fixed it up so nice! The games work great. Very clean and fun! I highly recommend, my kids love it. read more

I'm a fan of trying out different Nickel Arcades; so when my boyfriend and I drove by this we pulled in to check it out. We were surprised by the number of actual games there (rather than some being just ticket games) but sadly, most of them were broken. There was an entire corner of games that were broken. The machines also tended to eat nickels, were more than Nickelmania/Nickel City, or weren't labeled to show how many nickels were needed. It was very gross inside as well. I have to say, if they spent the money on repairing their games, it would be a nice place. But sadly, most were broken or they were dying in the process of playing. read more

I have been to Nickelmania in Murray and decided to try out Nickelcade since we like Nickelmania. Nickelmania isn't open on Sundays, so we decided to go to Nickelcade and we were close by. It's $3 to get in per person, which I think is pretty expensive for what they have. I had a coupon for buy one get one free. There were 5 of us. I still think it's not worth it even worth it with the coupon. It doesn't have very much video games and a lot of the games required at least 20 cents to play. I think we were there less than an hour. I wouldn't waste my time coming here. It was very disappointing. You spend a lot more with less options to play. read more

We were reluctant to come here because of negative reviews but we went today with our 3 kids and we had a blast! There were only a couple of games that were out of order, the staff was friendly, we got TONS of tickets, and all of us just had an awesome time. We will definitely be coming back regularly. read more

Still wondering why I keep coming here. Maybe I need to see a shrink. Reason is I have kids. Came again for a bday and the first 3 games I sat down and fed my nickels into didn't work. No real surprise. Don't even bother telling an employee about a broken game. They just hand you some nickels and say sorry. Guess fixing it is not part of the routine. Change it to dimecade and fix the damn games. I would gladly pay more read more

My family has been going to Nickelcade for over a decade. We have a big family so not a lot of activities can satisfy everyone, but Nickelcade does. It's super small, definitely a hole in the wall type of place, and it is never ever busy. We went in and the attendant Bryce was the best help ever. He was friendly & helped us every time our change got stuck in the machines. I love Nickelcade & this one is by far my favorite. So many classic & new games too. If you need a good date idea or want the kids to be distracted, Nickelcade is it!! read more

Like many of the other reviews, I concur completely that giving your business to this establishment is a waste of both time and money. You assume a certain level of "dirty" when frequenting establishments such as this. To some, it's part of the charm. However, this arcade takes the concept to a whole new level. I'm actually surprised this place is able to maintain. Not only are over 25-30% of the games out of order, some of the games are not appropriately demarcated as out of order yet will accept your coins. After alerting the disinterested and dismissive staff of this issue, they mumbled something resembling an acknowledgement and yet no action was taken to rectify the issue. I suppose retrieving an out of order sign and some tape is too arduous a task for some. Or they have exhausted their stash of out of order signs already. Not only is the game availability laughable, the ones that are operational are on their last leg. Blurry screens, games without sound, ticket dispensing games that do not produce tickets, etc. You get the picture. Now, if that were the only issue this establishment would be marginally tolerable. The cleanliness of the arcade space, ticket counter and bathrooms were, for lack of a better term, disgusting. Borderline deplorable. The bathroom stench that hits you as you open the door was so egregious I couldn't bring myself to enter. They use the arcade floor as storage for miscellaneous items such as old shelving, boxes, random scrap paper and games broken beyond repair. The ceiling has large holes in it and crumbling tiles. The carpet had a myriad of stains, dirt, crumbs and who knows what else littered throughout. Again, the proverbial bar should never be too high when it comes to a nickel arcade, yet this place surpasses every expectation in a negative way. Please, do not waste your hard earned money, time and fuel. You will be disappointed if you do. Consider yourself forewarned. read more

See all

TL;DR - A lot of out of order games. Only functional games are mainly dancing games and a few redemption games. There are better nickle-operated arcades in Utah. Used to be a great place, but now the owner doesn't seem to care much about customer experience. Here is a list of pros and cons. PROS: - Rhythm Games. If you like rhythm games (Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, etc.), and don't own one yourself, this is a good place to find a quality dance game. Other than their very old DDR Extreme, they have a magnificent Pump It Up and In The Groove machines, and they also have BeatmaniaIIDX and some drum game. - They have a really fun horse jockey game, that I actually spent a few dollars on. Really worked out my arms and legs, remember to take a break and drink some water between jockey sessions. CONS: -A LOT of the games are broken and have been for a while, and here are some examples. Gauntlet Legends: 2 of the joysticks are very hard to control, the middle-left player's magic button or attack button has been used too much and has needed a replacement for over a year now. The screen is very stretched and it is difficult to see the left\right edges of the screen. Multiple Redemption Games: Out of tickets, jammed with nickels, or a combination of them both. -There are also many health hazards when traversing the interior of Sandycade, and one of them is stumbling upon broken parts of arcades or just large broken pieces of wood. There may be these things in many corners of the arcade, and it's not safe for kids at all. It also doesn't look very good. -The entry fee is outrageous. $7 just to enter and be disappointed because at least half of the games don't work is crazy. Final thoughts: There are much better places to go, such as home. read more

This is kind of a sad affair. Several of the games that allow multi-players have half non-functional, so the multi-player is no longer an option. Assuming the split screen works (or multiple controls input into a single screen), the games are so poorly maintained that the response is very laggy (which should happen exactly never on a stand-up arcade game), if the buttons and joysticks work at all. Fully half of the floor space is devoted to games that allow you to obtain tickets, which you can then trade for cheap garbage or candy at the counter. This was pretty low occupancy when we were here, at a time when it should have been at its height, and I don't wonder why. The positives are parking, of which there is ample, and the place was relatively clean inside, but low patronage will help with that, I suppose. Can't imagine there will be a return here in store, though I will also add the staff was very friendly, which was nice. read more

Don't waist your time. About 40% of the games actually work. There is another one by the fashion place mall that is 100 times better and all the machines work. read more

Would give 0 stars if I could. A lot of the games were out of service. Quite unkept. My boss told me to go to another arcade, and I wish I would have listened. Now, please stay for the review. Please, for the sake of your time and money go to a different arcade. Don't make the mistake I did today. Their employees were very unhappy, and unprofessional. I had two machines run out of tickets as my son and I were playing them. When I notified the front desk the first time the "manager" was rather snobby, and as I was waiting for the tickets to be refilled another unlucky customer and her son tried their luck at claiming some tickets as well. After the machine was refilled the "manager" then stated to them that I said I didn't want my tickets. I grunted, and by the look on his face he was rather surprised to turn around with me right behind him. His response was "Well, usually when you walk away it means you don't want them" Mind you, I was standing two machines away patiently waiting for the machine to be refilled. He offered me some tickets to make up for his comment. The second time they were near irate at the fact that they had to do their job. When I asked for a manager as we were leaving the "manager" responded "Oh, that's me" while chuckling with a smirk on his face. I responded with "Well, makes sense." If you take the time to read this, I highly suggest you visit a more friendly, welcoming arcade. I won't say it was a complete waste of time because my kids had fun, but I won't be going again. On a positive note, you can claim tons of tickets from the Simpsons game. Thanks for the read. read more

No longer a nickelcade. Once upon a time, you could come here with a $2 roll of nickels and live like a king. Now, they're mostly quarter machines, and 85% of them are trashed or out-of-order. The staff is nice, but a visit here gets old fast, and the machines hardly pay out tickets. read more

#nickelcadesandy Worst arcade ever. Only about 10% of the games work. This is a dirty, smelly, sticky dank sweat hole. No refunds on admission every though nothing works. Absolutely nasty. read more

More then half of the games are out of order, a good amount of the "working" ones just take your nickels. Not sure how this place is still open. read more

Everything is broken down, it smells, and is a waste of money. You might want to take a shower after you return home. What happened to this place? It used to be way better. read more

More than half the arcade games don't work, plus the entry fee and TERRIBLE employee attitude when something is broken or eats your nickels this is not a place I would recommend. read more

I had the worst customer service experience of my life here. I've gone to this place for ten years, regularly. They were recently bought out. Most of their machines are always broken. I put my nickel in one side of a machine and noticed the lights weren't working (you have to hit it when the light hits the jackpot). I went to another side and put the token in. It took it so I pressed the button and barely tapped it to get it out. The new guy walks over and starts yelling at me and told me I should have kept playing on the other side. I was so upset. We paid $15 for eight people and we were there less than five minutes. No refund. I never complain about anything but this was humiliating. I've never been treated so poorly. read more

Half the machines broken + a staff that has no cares or respect = Sandy Nickelcade. If you enjoy a co-owner with mixed feelings about what love is and a whacky sidekick this place is definitely for you. I would rate this place anything above a 1 if it had a slim possibility of being fun. You go here to waste an afternoon with your kids instead of actually loving them. Go you single mom/dad of the year. Nickelcade: like Walmart but somehow dirtier! read more

After an enjoyable time at a Harry Potter themed escape room (won't get into that but I highly recommend) my date and I decided to go out for a nice night of Guitar Hero and Big Buck Hunter Pro. My first encounter was enjoyable, the cashier greeted me with a smile and friendly hello. When we walked in we immediately noticed the majority of the games were broken, not much happened between getting there and leaving we managed to have fun on the small amount of machines that worked. While we were collecting our prizes we were short a few tickets of a popper tow but the nice kid working (Chandler i think his name was) let us have it anyways, if management is reading this please note that he deserves a raise. However when we were collecting our prizes we noticed a grown man (yes your heard that correctly) a grown man throwing up in the garbage can right next to us. We were absolutely appalled and immediately left. Overall I wouldn't recommend, you're better off doing literally anything else. read more