Pink Palace Amusements Arcade Scratby

Local Area

The Pink Palace Arcade is located in California / Scratby. These are the next villages south of Hemsby. On a map, visitors will see the venue located in California, though it is within the Scratby postal region. 

These types of holiday villages exist all over the Norfolk coastline, whereby farmland has been converted to holiday caravan and cabin sites over the years. Many of these villages have rich history and have been home to both locals and the same holidaying families for generations. Interestingly the name ‘California’ comes from the time of the ‘Gold Rush’ in the US and isn’t the original name for the US state.

Arcade Entrance

The arcade itself is nested amongst several different permanent cabin and static caravan parks. There is a Chinese Takeaway (Orchid House) next door and a fast-food style café (Bebe-Rai’s) on the other. There is a fair amount of parking on the front elevation and also some additional spaces around to the side. The roads are narrow and some are unadopted round this area so be sure to park sensibly. 

The forecourt has some tables and chairs for the café next door and also some young kiddie rides. They also have a boxing punch machine with 'the Guvnor' (Lenny McLean) artwork.

Upon entering the amusements, visitors are greeted by a wide open-plan venue with a great range of various arcade games and machines. They have a modern ‘tickets for prizes’ redemption system and casino slots lounge also. The change kiosk is centrally located at the rear, next to a wide prize window.

Coin Pushers

Coin pushers occupy the central main floor space in the arcade. They have a good range of modern coin pushers with tickets including Snakes & Ladders, Sweet Falls, Clockwork Orange, Jurassic Park, Busy Bees, Lady Bug, Justice League and Scooby Doo. There is also a Cromptons Carousel coin flipper for old school players. 

The tuppenny falls wins are generous, and the shelf prizes are well stocked. Shelf prizes included sweets, small branded plush toys and £5 notes and ticket reels. Tickets also paid out well on the coin pushers, with most machines spitting out tickets left, right and centre. 

Fairground Games

Pink Palace Arcade has a great range of ticket-paying fairground games including modern competitive machines, where players can compete against friends and/or win tickets. These types of machines require an element of skill in the form of aiming or timing and so frequent players can earn large amount of tickets!

Fairground-style machines included Down the Clown, Big Bass Wheel Spinner, To The Net basketball arcade machines, whack-a-clown, Whack-n-win and SpongeBob Pineapple Arcade. They also had Temple of Tickets roll-down style machines with feature board.

Crane Claw Machines

Dotted around the arcade is a range of different types of crane claw machines. They have traditional grabber machines (Maxx Grab) and also more modern styles like Happy Games claw machines and also Rocket Launch, where players can win electricals, keychains and even Prime energy drinks. They even have half-sized Shining Cube claw machines, where youngsters can play to win plush toy prizes. 

All of the larger claw machines had a great range of branded prizes including Hello Kitty, Spiderman, Winnie the Pooh characters. Players can even win Steven the Seagull!

Ticket Slot Machines

With most of the machines in this amusements being modern, it was no surprise to find a solid range of modern ticket slot machines. Near the prize window, players can find three standalone slots - Pieces of Eight, Freddie (Flintstone) and Tickety-Boo. They also have plenty of triple row ticket slots dotted around the arcade including Ticket Raider, Freddies Vacation, Dracula and Temple of Tickets. 

£5 Jackpot Fruit Machines

Outside the entrance of the casino gaming area are the £5 jackpot fruit machines. These include Bullion Bars and Party Time triple row machines. 

Casino Slot Machines

There is a large casino slots lounge at the rear of the venue. Pink Palace has a great range of casino slots including modern digital Blueprint Gaming terminals and also traditional mechanical slot and fruit machines. There are top prizes ranging from £25 all the way up to £500 jackpots, with the many machines offering £100 jackpots.

To the rear players can find a Party Time Arena sit-down triple and a range of chrome-cabinet Rainbow Riches style machines. The atmosphere in the casino lounge is cosy and makes for a nice place to enjoy the entertainment. 

Bingo!

Though some of the signage mentions arcade prize bingo, we were unable to find any arcade bingo games, so it is likely that these have probably been replaced with the more modern machines next to the prize window area (there was a retro looking bingo comperes stand in the corner). 

Venue Verdict:

The level of quality, cleanliness and modern machines in the Pink Palace Arcade is impressive. They have a well-balanced range of machines to suit all of the family and are geared toward ticket arcade games so great for the kids. With quality prizes easily attainable via instant wins and ticket collection, there are multiple ways to win and have fun. The Pink Palace is certainly worth a visit on the way to Hemsby or Great Yarmouth. Come rain or shine, a fun-filled arcade - even in low season. 

Featured Machine: Rocket Launcher Claw Machine