Blackpool Amusements New Arcade Blackpool

Blackpool Amusements is the newest arcade to hit the Blackpool Promenade, and it has been aptly named to help set a new standard in seaside entertainment! This exciting amusement arcade is located in the former Poundland / Woolworths building, which is ideally situated with its main entrance opening onto the Promenade. It also has a second entrance opening onto the busy pedestrian area of Victoria Street, which is a main thoroughfare leading to the Houndshill shopping centre. 

With the building formerly set out for retail, it makes for a highly convenient and well-designed gaming space. With high ceilings, double customer escalators and a wide-open space on both the ground and upper floor full of arcade machines. There is a separate 'rainbow' staircase, customer lifts and a spacious adult gaming area (Jackpot City) on the ground floor near the Victoria Street entrance. Jackpot City is perfectly located for adults to enjoy a quick flutter after dinner (from one of the many neighbouring pubs).

Modern arcade = modern marketing! Check out this fantastic drone wizz-through of the venue:

On the upper floor, visitors can find even more arcade games and the large café called ‘Café Coast’ that has windows overlooking the beach and promenade. Here they offer a great range of food and drink and have some amazing offers such as the 1-pound Burger! 

Next to the cafe is a large ticket redemption prize shop that players can actually enter, browse the range of prizes, and take to the counter for redemption of their tickets. This provides a more shop-like feel than the usual prize window counter found in most ticket arcades. The entrance has a little barrier system, and the queue is signposted and orderly. A fun experience that makes ticket winning feel even more like an accomplishment!

Another positive of this new arcade is the level of cleanliness. All the machines are brand new and kept extremely clean. The team must have an intensive cleaning schedule as even with large numbers of visitors, the venue was immaculate on our visit and felt like entering a H&M or Primark. A breath of fresh air compared with some of the dustier / dingey amusement arcades that can be found further down the Blackpool Promenade.

Arcade Entrance

There are two large entrances to Blackpool Amusements on the promenade and they open into a small foyer that has a few steps up to the ground floor level. Here, there is also a wide ramp up to the ground floor for easy access for wheelchairs and mobility scooters. 

Upon entering, visitors can see there has been no expense spared with the interior design. With bright LED rainbow stairs, ceilings filled with soft (beach) ball lighting and umbrellas to give a nice beachside feel inside.

One of the first things visitors will notice is how spacious it feels. There are tons of arcade games, yet they are so well spread out and with high ceilings it just feels so airy inside and not cramped (even when busy). 

With Blackpool Amusements having two floors of various arcade machines, here’s a rundown of the different types of machines visitors can play on both levels:

Coin Pushers

As expected, all of the coin pushers are the latest modern types that pay out ticket wins with some being hybrid design or having upper feature boards.

On the ground floor players can enjoy Pick ’n’ Mix, Sweet Falls, Beach Ball, Tom and Jerry, Minions, Princes & Princesses, Angry Birds and Homer Simpson Donut Days ticket coin pushers. The tuppennys fall generously here and the range of shelf prizes is also generous including sweets and lollies, plush keychains and small toys and souvenirs. 

Players can also enjoy Haunted House, which has a fun upper feature board for big ticket wins. There is also a Prize Quest coin pusher here, that implements the golden egg prize feature. This allows players to activate and roll down a golden egg from the upper basket and try to win it from the shelf. Once won, crack it open and see if they have won a key inside for one of the several prize lockers on the upper part of the machine.

On the upper floor there are even more great ticket coin pushers to explore, and these include Jurassic Park, Sweet Falls, Butterfly, Scooby Doo, Ice Cream and the beautifully designed Merry-Go-Round with rotating upper carousel.

Coin pusher fans will also love the machines upstairs that have upper feature boards, and these include Let’s Go Bingo, Snakes and Ladders, Chip ‘n’ Win and Wheel of Fun. Wheel of Fun is a coin pusher that has lower and upper feature boards (digital screens) and players can trigger bouncy balls to be dropped onto the prize shelf. Once a player knocks one of the balls over the prize shelf this then triggers the upper feature, which is a spinning wheel (Wheel of Fortune style) that can pay out huge ticket wins.

There are also many modern mechanical and digital change machines dotted around both floors of the venue, so that players can continue playing without much interruption. They have two pence change machines and also machines than can change larger denominations and notes.

Crane Claw Machines

There is no shortage of fabulous claw machines at Blackpool Amusements and on the ground floor and upper floor there are rows and rows of the latest E-Claw machines, priced at one pound per three plays. 

Blackpool Amusements seems to take their plush toys very seriously and the claw grabber machines are packed full of the latest branded plushies. These include the full range of Winnie the Pooh characters and Disney staples such as the Lion King, Mickey and Lilo & Stitch. There is also the full Mario character line up and many different Marvel bobble head style teddies to win. 

It’s not just the standard size claw machines that are available to play, there are also many smaller sized machines for pint-sized players to enjoy such as Shining Cube and the popular Cool Boy crane hybrid, where players can win sweets, lollies and branded key chains and mini plushies as prizes. They have some Skill Cut variations too and a giant claw machine called ‘The Big One’ next to the change kiosk on the ground floor, where players can win enormous plush teddies. 

Classic Arcade Games 

With Blackpool Amusements arcade being brand new and super modern, one might expect not to see as many classic arcade machines in this venue, though there are some that we would classify as classics and these mostly include arcade shooters and arcade racing machines.

Fans of racing games will love the giant Fast & Furious machine from Raw Thrills, which has four large screens and fully featured car to sit in and control. There is also a two player Asphalt Legends racer and also an Air FX air hockey table on the ground floor.

Upstairs players can enjoy the Jurassic Park Arcade game from Raw Thrills and also Cruise ‘n’ Blast which combines the fun of racing with shooting. Another fantastic modern machine that combines the latest tech with classic game play is the Ultra Moto VR game, which is a sit-down motorbike ride that combines with a VR headset for total virtual immersion. 

There is also a Pac Man Smash air hockey table and a four player AR Sniper shooting game that is a modern take on the classic shoot-um-ups. Elders may spot the Trolls four player rotary redemption game, which is a remake of the classic 'push' game that was first seen in arcades over 50 years ago!

Fairground Arcade Machines

Ticket arcade games probably make up the largest percentage of machines in Blackpool Amusements and they have a fantastic range. Next to the Prize Shop upstairs is a row of ‘Ticket Eater’ machines so that players can easily tally their ticket totals to redeem for great prizes. 

On the ground floor there is a great selection of fairground style redemption machines, and these include Jetball Alley (skee-ball) machines, Connect Four Hoops (basketball shooting) game and Toilet Bowl Toss (which needs no introduction). There is also Break the Plate and two arcade roll-down machines - Ticket (tomb) Raider and Temple of (doom) Tickets. Fans of whack-a-mole will love the Angry Birds whacker game.

On the upper floor there is even more fairground arcade machines, and these include Sonic Allstars Basketball, Fishbowl Frenzy, Down the Clown and Whack-a-Clown. There are also several Power Roll and Slide Up style machines as well as Ring Toss and a two-player Lane Master virtual bowling game. 

A stand-out / unique game is the Axe throwing game called Axe Master, where players have to throw axes at the targets and get them to stick!

Big Arcade Machines

Go big or go home! Blackpool Amusements has a great selection of oversized machines that will fascinate young minds and these include Angry Birds Coin Crash (coin stacker), Piano Keys (for the musically inclined), Space Invaders on a humungous screen and also a unique game called Goatz-n-Ropes where players have to use the ropes to navigate and climb up a virtual screen. Goatz-n-Ropes allows friends to compete or beat the time records to win big ticket bonuses. Groups of friends will also love the Hotshots Fire Rescue game, which squirts real water on screen with smoke affects as players try to put out digital fires (and win tickets).

Wheel Spinner Arcade Games

There are a couple of wheel spinner arcade games dotted around the venue and keen eyes will spot the classic Monopoly Roll-n-go as well as a Big Bass Fishing Wheel and Ticket Monster Spinner. 

Ticket Slot Machines

With the focus on ticket machines there are also a couple of ticket slot machines in this venue with a large sit-down four player Temple of (doom) Tickets with community feature board and also a Dracula triple ticket arcade slot machine also with upper feature board.

£5 Jackpot Fruit Machines

Modern arcades are moving away from mechanically driven fruit machines and Blackpool Amusements is no exception. Here, there is just a single Party Time £5 jackpot triple (with upper feature board) and a lonely Bongo Bingo Burn Out machine on the ground floor. Bongo Bingo is a bingo/skill ball type game, where players can win a jackpot of £50, through quick draw luck and skill.

Jackpot City - Casino Gaming Area

The aptly named ‘Jackpot City’ is at the rear of the ground floor next to the Victoria Street entrance. At the entrance of Jackpot City is also a large change kiosk that serves the wider arcade. The staff here are friendly and on hand to assist with any change requests or other queries patrons might have. The adult casino gaming slot machine area is fully closed off to the rest of the arcade and the entrance is monitored so that no under 18’s can enter the area. 

Much like the rest of the arcade, they only have the very latest in casino slots and digital terminals in this section from Blueprint Gaming and Novomatic. They have a huge range of the latest slot machine games including Spirit Wolf Wins, Napoleon Megaways and King Kong Cash. There are jackpots here ranging from £25 to £500 with many machines offering a top prize of £100. For fans of traditional mechanical machines fear not, they also have a Bullion Bars virtual triple, which takes all of the fun of the classic cabinet and delivers it in an uprated digital format.

Fans of big casinos will be familiar with the integrated modern Play Safe change machine system that they have here, whereby the slot machines pay out wins in the form of tickets, which can then be redeemed for cash via the dedicated change terminal, making the winnings exchange process smoother for everyone.

Venue Verdict

With advances in modern engineering and innovative game design, amusement arcades are experiencing a worldwide resurgence. Blackpool Amusements has arrived at the perfect time to embody this resurgence. This new venue is spearheading change in the most popular seaside resort in the UK (and perhaps the world). 

The brilliance of the venue design and amenities is only outshone by the cool lighting and incredible range of shiny new machines that are available to experience. There is great accessibility on both floors, great amenities such as toilets and a cost-effective café and an emphasis on ticket redemption that is fully backed by a dedicated shop with impressive prizes.

Blackpool Amusements does its name proud and sets the bar high (but at a height visitors deserve) for a standard that should be emulated throughout the rest of Blackpool seafront. If you are planning to visit Blackpool for a day or extended trip then DO NOT miss out on experiencing Blackpool Amusements. 

Featured Machine: Goatz-n-Ropes ticket arcade machine