Clacton Pier Amusement Arcade

No.1 North Sea

Clacton Pier is centrally located in the tourist area of Clacton-on-Sea. The pier is very large and claims to be the largest Pleasure Pier in Europe. It certainly seems bigger than the average seaside town pier in the UK. 

It can be reached from Pier Ave, Marine Parade and the Promenades and pedestrian area. The amusement arcades on Pier Ave, the Pavilion Fun Park and various hotels all orbit the Pier entrance 

area, which (alongside the beach) is the epicentre of tourist entertainment in Clacton-on-Sea.

The Pier boasts a huge range of amenities including the outdoor theme park to the rear, indoor miniature golf, kids soft play (Discovery Bay) and a full-size bowling alley. 

At the front of the pier entertainment complex is a large Ferris Wheel and a range of different food and drink vendors including Fish & Chips, a bar and kiosks serving different seaside staples. 

The main entrance to the pier takes visitors through the main amusement arcade area, which is vast. Walking from front to back, one can notice the high ceilings and different areas that can be explored.

Arcade Entrance

Upon entry, patrons are greeted by rows of larger arcade games including claw machines, motorbike racing and basketball games. There is also a row of ticket vending machines where visitors can purchase ‘Fun Cards’ that have credits for the rides in the amusement park at the rear of the pier. 

The left-hand area is raised and has a café, Skull Point Adventure Golf and a kid’s soft play (further to the rear). On the right hand-side is the entrance to the Boardwalk Bar, casino slots area and ten pin bowling alley.

Before exiting through the rear doors to the theme park area, there is a large, dedicated space at the rear right-hand side, which has dark-blue décor and is dedicated to even more amusement arcade machines. This is also where the prize shop / ticket window is located. 

Crane Claw Machines

There are rows and rows of different grabber / claw machines throughout the pier arcade area. These are mostly in the central walkway area with rows near the front entrance and rows near the rear. 

All of the crane claw machines are well-stocked with the latest branded plush toys to win. These include Disney branded teddies including Lion King, Lilo & Stitch, Bambi, Mickey Pluto and friends. Spiderman, The Turtles, E.T. and Sonic the Hedgehog are all available to win. 

The range of cuddly toys here was really impressive, and the prizes were well focused on popular children’s movie characters. 

In the main auditorium area, there are also many giant plush toys hanging from the ceiling. These are available to redeem via ticket wins. They have Yoda, Sonic, Winnie the Pooh and even Kroot - ready to be exchanged for tickets. 

In the Space-themed area there are also some Win Fall Revolution grabber machines where players can win keychains and other great prizes. They also have many smaller style claw machines where players can win piles of sweets and lollies. 

Coin Pushers

Coin Pushers are prevalent throughout the main walkway and also in the right-hand side areas of the pier, stretching from the casino gaming zone to the Space-theme arcade are at the rear. With a high volume of players throughout the day, the coins here fall generously. The shelf prizes are also generous with players able to win sweets and lollies from some machines and small teddy toys and keychains from others. 

Nearly all of the coin pushers here were modern and paid out tickets. There were some older style classic circular coin pushers in the Space-themed area, these included ‘The Five Pound Drop’ which offered shelf prizes of £5 notes. 

Available to play are Ice Cream Dream, Whacky Races, Clockwork Oranges, Tom & Jerry, Justice League, Minions, Pippins, Aladdin, Scooby Doo, Sweet Falls, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Deal or No Deal and Monopoly coin pushers. 

It was noted that some of the coin pushers (Sweet Falls) had broken reels that would not spin properly and had either ran out of tickets or were broken. 

Classic Arcade Games 

With such a great range, fans could spend an afternoon hunting out classic arcade games and Clacton Pier has a few different types available. At the main entrance is a row of four motorbike racing arcade games called Super Bike 3. 

Outside the Captain’s Table café are two pinball machines – Led Zeppelin and Dr No. For fans of shoot-em-ups, they have Halo Fireteam Raven and the Walking Dead and Jurassic Park arcade games near the rear exit. There are also several air hockey tables dotted around the venue including a Pac-Man Smash and several pool tables located near the ten pin bowling lanes. 

Fairground Games

These are the types of arcade game that one would traditionally find a fun fair or summer fete. They require an element of skill, usually involving aiming, throwing or shooting consistency. Unless they are just keeping scoring like some basketball throwing arcade games, then nearly all modern examples pay out ticket wins and some even let you play against friends (whilst winning tickets). 

Clacton Pier has many great fairground games dotted around the venue, though most of them are located along the side wall of Space-themed area. 

Fairground machines included Axe Master – which is a large axe throwing game, a row of four Sonic Allstars basketball throwing game and also two smaller versions of this for younger kids. There are two pairs of Down the Clown and Coconut Shy arcade games where you throw to aim and knock down targets. 

Next to these two Bean Bag Toss, three Iceball skeeball machines and two further Bolwing Champ machines – all paying ticket wins. At the end of this row are Fireball and Genie’s Jewel machines where you have to stop the light at the correct position to win the largest ticket prize.

They have even more examples of fairground games all around the venue including Whack-a-Clown (whack-a-mole) ticket games and also a Shoot It Win It shooting range game from Sega that one can win both tickets and direct shelf prizes from for knocking down the targets. 

Wheel Spinner Arcade Games

There are so many different ways to win tickets for redemption at Clacton Pier and one of these is to play the wheel spinner arcade machines. There are many different types of these all over the venue including at the rear of the main atrium and also in the Space-themed area. 

A standout is the large Wheel of Fortune machine in the main atrium, which looks just like the TV show. These also have some two player versions including Carnival Wheels Team Play, which allows two people to spin the large wheels together to see who can win the best ticket prize. 

In the prize window corner one can find a Big Bass Fishin spinner reel and also there are two Monopoly Roll-n-Go (with mega bonus) games next to the rear exits.

Big Ticket Arcade Machines

They say bigger is better and Clacton Pier has no shortage of giant-sized arcade gaming machines spread out all throughout the venue. 

A two-player Space Invaders game can be found in the main atrium that pays out ticket wins. There is also a large Connect 4 game and a Piano Keys for the musically talented. Four player Dinosaur Era can also be enjoyed between friends, whilst winning tickets and a VR Virtual Rabbids two player arcade game.

Ticket Slot Machines

In the dark-blue zone, there are several ticket slot machines including two sit-down Ticket Raider four player arcade games, a triple Game of Tickets slot machine triple and also Temple of Tickets and Ticket Raider triples near the prize window change kiosk. 

£5 Jackpot Fruit Machines

With most of the Clacton Pier amusement arcade focussed on coin pushers and ticket arcade games, there does seem to be a lack in £5 jackpot fruit machines sadly. This appears to be a trend in the arcade industry with the middle ground between casino slot machines and fruit machines giving way to the rise of digital gaming terminals and advancements in ticket paying arcade games with high ticket jackpots from fruit machine like feature boards. 

Having said that, there are two great £5 jackpot fruit machines triples just outside the casino gaming area which are Batman Begins and House of Fortune.

Casino Slots Area

The casino slots area is located at the very front of the Pier venue and has its own dedicated entrance next door the Boardwalk Bar. The adult gaming area is packed full of the latest digital casino terminals. These include rows of Blueprint gaming, Novomatic and Vegas Party machines. There are jackpots from £25 all the way up to £500 with most machines being £100.

There is also a Rainbow Riches Community Slots triple sit down machine and a Luck O’ the Irish £100 jackpot triple. The casino gaming area uses the latest ticket exchange system, where the machines pay out tickets and then players can use the modern change machine to exchange tickets for real cash notes. 

Venue Verdict

Clacton Pier Amusement Arcade is very large and boasts a great range of different arcade games. If you are a looking for the latest large-scale arcade games, you can find them here. If you are looking for a day-out of family fun you can find it here. There are so many other amenities on the pier beyond the arcade that even a day might not be enough time to explore them all. Tickets can be won from a huge range of different arcade machines and games and the redemption prizes on offer are quality at all levels even if you only have a few hundred tickets. 

Perfect for summer and winter, sun and rain high season and low season. Book your day trip now to discover all the excitement at Europe’s largest pleasure pier. 

Featured Machine: Carnival Wheel Team Play Ticket Arcade Machine