South Pier Amusement Arcade Lowestoft

Newly updated for the 2025 summer season!

The South Pier Amusement Arcade is just a short walk south of Lowestoft town centre on Royal Plain. This pedestrianised area marks the beginning of the South Beach tourist zone, with a promenade stretching down through Kirkley to Pakefield with many notable attractions along the beach front including bars, restaurants and Lowestoft’s second pier, Claremont Pier.

At Royal Plain, East Point Pavilion offers modern food vendors and public toilets. Behind it, visitors can find three pub/restaurants, while next to South Pier, a row of classic British tourist shops serves up seaside food staples including ice cream, souvenirs and fast food.

Arcade Entrance

As part of a wider revitalisation project, fountains are currently being installed at Royal Plain in front of the arcade. 

The arcade itself is part of a larger entertainment complex, which includes the Galley fish & chips shop and the Fisherman’s Wharf Pub, an established seaside venue. 

South Pier Amusement Arcade has wheelchair accessible upper and lower levels. The lower level features a prize shop, while the upper level has a kids' soft play area. The arcade is open plan, with machines spread throughout.

A new line-up of arcade machines has been added for the summer 2025 season with many new and exciting machines to enjoy and explore. 

Claw Machines

South Pier has a huge amount of classic and modern claw machines with quality plush prizes. There are classic Elaut EX1 machines and Magic Claw (3 games for a £1) dotted throughout the venue as well as several ‘prize every time’ games and Tickety-Boo ticket reel grabbers.

Hybrid claw machines include Barbercut, where players have to cut the string to win a prize, and there is also ‘Find a Key’, where players must grab a golden egg and reveal a key to one of the prize lockers. 

A standout new crane-style claw machine for 2025 is the fun Panning for Gold four-player crane machine, where players have to operate a crane to collect rocks from the stream and pan for gold, which results in ticket prizes. 

Another unique and interesting machine is the four-player Toy Box Factory, a hybrid claw and ticket slot machine, where players spin for a chance to activate the claw feature and win plush toys as well as tickets.

Coin Pushers

The South Pier already had a great range of coin pushers and now they have added even more! They are always well-stocked with sweets and other great shelf prizes. 

Classic coin pushers include Clockwork Oranges, Justice League, Scooby Doo, Butterfly, Jurassic Park, Let's Twist Again, Wacky Races, The Simpsons Donut Daze and both circular and rectangular cabinets of Sweet Falls (which are always stocked with lots of sweets). Nearly all of the pushers in this amusement venue pay out ticket redemption wins.

There are also some great modern coin pushers at South Pier, and these include Chip ’n’ Win and Wheel of Fun, the latter being added for the new season.

New editions for 2025 include exciting closed-loop style coin pushers, including a four-player DC Super Heroes machine where players can win collectors cards. There is also a two-player Flintstones Quarry Quest where players can aim their coin shots with a joystick and knock coins and tokens onto the prize shelf to win big ticket prizes. Another great closed-loop machine is the Emoji Roller, which is a closed-loop ball-pusher that pays out big ticket wins. 

Fairground Games

South Pier Arcade has several different types of fairground-style games, including many basketball arcade games such as Connect Four Hopes, Sonic All-stars and Alley Hoop.

There are some classic skee-ball style machines at the rear and also a two-player Cute Bowling game, all paying out ticket wins. Other fan favourites include Coconut Shy, Ring Toss, Pitching Hero and Sink-It, where players throw balls in cups to gain ticket prizes. 

Classic Arcade Games

There is no shortage of classic arcade fun at the South Pier and they have many different types of classic arcade machines. These feature arcade racing games, including two-player Superbikes 2, two-player Cruis’n Blast, a standalone Phantom Motorcycle game and a two-player Moto GP near the lower ground entrance.

Other classic arcade include two air hockey tables, with one of them being a slim-line Pac-Man Smash. There is a Lucky Ducks Racing machine which is the modern-day equivalent of ‘The Derby’ or Whittaker’s Gold Cup horse racing derby game. Keen eyes will spot the Deal or No Deal Quiz game and also a unique Angry Birds 'whack-a-mole' type game, which is operated with feet instead of hands. 

Fans of arcade shooting games will love the Raw Thrills Transformers Shadows Rising and Jurassic Park Arcade. There is also a four-player Hot Shots Fire Rescue game that squirts water! A new addition for 2025 is the wonderful three-player Sideshow 1889, which is a modern take on the traditional arcade shooting gallery. Players use rifles to win ticket prizes in this fun challenge that can be enjoyed with friends. 

Big Arcade Machines

There are some big arcade machines in the South Pier Amusements that are worth mentioning, and these include a Dizzy Chicken where the aim is to land the ball on the coloured lights along a spiral to win tickets. There is also a Crossy Road and a four-player Crazy Tower. Next to the prize shop arcade explorers can find a 'Hoop it up' game from ICE, where players have to aim the ball in target baskets to win ticket prizes.

Wheel Spinners

There are several different wheel spinners in this venue, and they all pay out ticket wins. These are the classic Crank It, Big Bass Fishing Reel and a newly added Jewel Mine. There is also a large Wile E Coyote Spinner, which is a visually stunning machine. 

VR Games

This arcade has a VR Rabbids machine at the upper entrance, and there is also a Typhoon simulator, which is similar, just without a headset. Outside the casino slots lounge is a VR machines in a quad row where friends can sit with each other whilst experiencing the epic thrill of VR. 

Ticket Slot Machines

There are several ticket slot machine options throughout this venue. They include a quad-row sit-down Wacky Races ticket slot with upper feature board. There are also two triple-row ticket fruit machines, with upper feature boards and these are XYZ and 

£5 Jackpot Fruit Machines

The South Pier Arcade has a great range of £5 jackpot fruit machines, and these come in the form of triple and quad machines near the rear entrance (close to the pub). They have the ever-popular Lady Luck Moonstruck and Bullion Bars as low-boy triples and also a Party Time Arena and Gold Rush, both being sit-down quad row machines. 

Casino Slots

The casino slots lounge is sectioned off for over-18s play, though is well stocked with a variety of classic and modern games. There are two triple row Bar-X Super Bullion and Bullion Bars games and many standalone machines including Big Bank Theory and a classic Jackpot Sevens all with £100 jackpots. There are several Blueprint digital gaming machines with £100 and £500 jackpots. They also have some of the fun two-reel mini fruit machines and a classic Chase the Lady video poker machine in the corner. 

Venue Verdict

The South Pier Amusement Arcades has received an extensive machine upgrade for the 2025 summer season and now has an incredible range of both modern and classic machines for the whole family to enjoy. It is a spacious, well-thought-out venue with a great prize shop and friendly staff. With it being a lot less busy than similarly sized Great Yarmouth venues, this is certainly a must-visit for arcade fans from across the UK and beyond!

Featured machine: Emoji Roller Ball Pusher