Golden Mile Amusements Arcade Blackpool

Golden Mile Amusements is a large arcade venue located on the corner of New Bonny Street and the Promenade, close to the RNLI Centre on Blackpool Beach. It occupies an enviable position between Sealife Blackpool and Coral Island with the Central Pier and Blackpool Tower a short walk away. 

‘Golden Mile’ is a historic term more broadly used to refer to the wider area of Blackpool promenade between the North and South Piers. This term has been used since the Victorian heyday of British Seaside holidays.

It is uncertain how much longer this iconic venue will be part of the Blackpool skyline as it was recently sold off to the Blackpool Council as part of a wider multi-million-pound regeneration project. As part of this, the owners were able to move the arcade to what is now the new Blackpool Amusements that recently opened in the former Poundland building just north of the Blackpool Tower.

Arcade Entrance

With bright arcade signage, that is as eye-catching as the golden arches of McDonalds, Golden Mile Amusements occupies a large corner position with several entrances along the Promenade. On the beach facing frontage there are two sections of kiosks offering arcade food, drinks and local souvenirs. From buckets & spades, beachballs and umbrellas to hot dogs and burgers, ice creams and candyfloss. 

Entering from the promenade, there are some young kiddies rides to walk past through a small foyer area with some claw machines before opening up into the larger venue. 

There is a large prize shop that occupies the south side of the venue, and it is here where players can total up their tickets using one of the nearby ticket eater machines. Just behind the Prize Shop is also children’s orbiter style bumper cars arena. Along the back wall visitors can find a four lane bowlingo alley next to the Golden Mile Diner, customer toilets and New Bonny Street exit.

Coin Pushers

Golden Mile Amusements has a great selection of coin pushers, and these are spread out throughout the venue. They have classic tuppenny falls coin pushers, modern ticket redemption coin pushers and also the latest self-contained closed-loop coin pusher hybrids. 

Classic coin pushers include a large rectangle Strike Ten and Ice Cream and three beautiful circular classics: Let’s Twist Again, Jack in the Box and Casino Lights. 

There is a great range of ticket redemption coin pushers including Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, Pick-n-Mix, Sweet Falls and Justice League. Let’s Go Bingo, Haunted House and Snakes & Ladders all pay tickets and also have upper feature boards. 

A stand out ticket coin pusher is the Chip-n-Win machine that integrates a digital display with slot reels and a prize system using mini casino style poker chips. It is highly recommended for players to explore this game. 

Then the most modern style of coin pusher are the closed loop coin pushers (which often look more like a claw machine on fist glance). These include Angry Birds Coin Crash, Justice League Super Bonus, DC Super Heroes, Tornado and the popular Ticket Circus from Elaut.

Golden Mile Amusements features a thrilling four-player Key Quest coin pusher, offering both coin payouts and special "find a key" golden eggs from the upper hopper. Crack open these eggs to reveal small prizes, ticket wins, or the ultimate reward—a golden key! This key unlocks one of the many prize lockers filled with high-quality electronic gadgets, including Bluetooth speakers and battery packs.

Crane Claw Machines

The Golden Mile Arcade has many different types of claw machines, and these range from two giant ‘The Big One’ machines, where players can win huge plush toys to much smaller Toy Stack / Cube machines which are perfect for small hands to win mini plush toys and keychains. 

Regular sized claw machines include many E-Claws, Giga Claws and EX-1 machines with four plays for a pound (the same prize as Coral Island next door). There are also some ‘Skill Cut’ style games with big bears to win and a Planet Tickets claw game, where players have to grab balls with ticket prizes to win big. 

They also have a Toy Factory machine which is a four-player claw machine / ticket fruit machine hybrid with the aim of the game to play it like a normal fruit/slot machine to win tickets or get 3 claws in view to play the claw machine as the upper feature!

For those with a sweet tooth, keep an eye out for the Poke-n-Drop grabber machines that have large bars of Cadbury’s chocolate on them, where players have to time the crane to flip the chocolate bar off the stage and also the mini Chupa-Chups crane machines that allow kids to win up to three lollies per play!

Classic Arcade Games 

The Golden Mile Amusements has no shortage of classic and retro arcade machines, whether it’s the Pac-Man Smash air hockey tables or bumper cars or even bowlingo. There is something for all tastes and ages.

A modern take on the classic Derby Racer from Whittakers is the Scooby Doo Racer, which is a hybrid fruit machine and Derby Racer, where players can win big ticket prizes and access the upper feature which is a steeplechase race between all the popular Scooby Doo characters. 

There are also several exciting arcade racing machines in this arcade, and they include two player Ultra Moto VR, Race Craft, Moto Blitz, Mario Kart DX and a Typhoon Wave Racer. If you have young kids, be sure to check out the classic Teacups and Merry-Go-Round Carousel rides.

Fairground Games

There is no shortage of modern ticket redemption fairground games in this amusements arcade, and it seems like they may have recently added more. 

Players can enjoy Ticket (tomb) Raider and Angry Birds two pence roll-down machines that pay out ticket wins. There is also a modern closed-loop version of a roll-down machine called Pizza Party, where players roll-down coins at a rotating circular prize board to win big ticket prizes. 

Fans of aiming and throwing games will enjoy Connect Four Hoops, Ready Go, Lucky Pong Challenge, Down the Clown, Milk Jug Toss and Bean Bag Toss. Many of the fairground style games can still be found in the local sideshows on the pier boardwalks at night in their original format!

Fairground fans will also love the ticket redemption high striker game called Cosmic Smash, where players hit the target with a mallet in order to hit the bonus line for a huge ticket jackpot!

Big Ticket Arcade Machines

Including Connect Four Hoops (which is a very large arcade game) there is also a four player Minecraft Dungeons arcade machine that pays out collector’s cards to lucky players. Golden Mile also has a four-player AR Sniper machine that has four full-sized sniper rifles that let players shoot targets.

An impressive looking arcade machine in the Golden Mile Arcade is the huge Pac-Man Swirl ticket arcade game. This is a four-player machine where players have to time dropping balls into holes to win big ticket jackpots. 

Wheel Spinners

At the Golden Mile we noted an interesting wheel spinner called Bonus Match where the idea of the game is to spin the wheel and match three icons on the large digital screen like a slot machine. Though even if you do not get three-in-a-row, players still win the tickets show on the win lines, which is great! 

VR Machines

There are several VR arcade games in this amusement park, and it seems more and more arcades are embracing this type of technology. They have Virtual Rabbits (VR) Theme Park Ride, a large VR machine and two of the smaller VR Pods. 

Ticket Slot Machines

Golden Mile has several ticket slot machines dotted around the venue. These sometimes feel more like fruit machines than slot machines as they have mechanical reels and the square plastic buttons associated with British fruit machines. Here, we noted a large four-player sit down Wacky Races ticket fruit machine with upper feature board.

There was also a three-player row of Cops & Robbers and Aladdin slot machines paying out ticket jackpots of more than 500 tickets! Lastly, keen eyes can spot nestled amongst the regular fruit machines some standalone ticket slots including Freddie (flintstones) vacation.

£5 Jackpot Fruit Machines

The Golden Mile Amusements has many different five-pound jackpot fruit machines dotted around throughout the venue. These are all over and there are many standalone machines and also many triple row machines. 

Just outside of the adult gaming area is a large Adders and Ladders four-player with the upper feature board. We love this machine, and it is so much fun when you get on the board and play snakes and ladders to try and win that £5 jackpot!

Players can enjoy Golden Game Deluxe, Each-way Nudgers, Solid Gold and Party Time triple by Astra and many more. There is also a row of three Bongo Burn Out Skill Ball games each with a top prize of fifty pounds. 

Casino Slots Area

There is a large adult casino slots area located on the northside of the venue. Here players can enjoy a wide range of different fruit and slot machines including the latest digital terminals from the likes of Blueprint gaming. These have £500 jackpots and there is also a selection of traditional British pub style fruit machines with jackpots of £100.

Venue Verdict

Golden Mile Amusements is an iconic venue with iconic signage that brings nostalgia and joy to the hearts of many generations who have visited Blackpool and enjoyed happy times with their families. While the future of the amusement arcade remains uncertain, in its current format it is a fantastic venue that is just as fun now as it was fifty years ago. Any trip to the Blackpool Promenade would not be complete without visiting the current incarnation of the Golden Mile, so get in quick before it is redeveloped!

Featured Machine: Bonus Match Wheel Spinner Ticket Redemption Machine