Took my family to this amusements and we had a great day. Our kids loved the old 2p machines and... read more
Took my family to this amusements and we had a great day. Our kids loved the old 2p machines and... read more
Last minute decision. Thought I would take my family to margate arcades and found myself spending a... read more
We went here on a Friday in October as we were visiting a friend nearby. We had a great time - the staff were extremely friendly and only spending a few pounds on the 2p machines we managed to win lots of tickets to exchange for prizes.
One woman in particular was absolutely lovely and really helpful when one machine got jammed and fixed it instantly!
The other amusements in the centre are great such as the air hockey and other video games - all in all it was a really fun day and we are delighted we chose this place compared to the other options nearby.
A bit of spare time and a little bit of the child left in us led my wife and I to feel the need to spend a few pounds in the slot machines on a recent visit to Margate. After a few pound of 2 penny bits and very little in return, we felt the fun had been taken out of the amusement arcade business. I can remember entering these places with my hot coins in my hand, and spending at least an hour putting money in, and money coming out. Now it seems theses are the owners personal money box. They pile up more on the front edge, that makes it too heavy to be pushed over. As a result the coins just push out to the side and into the profit box. The "prizes" never seem to reach the edge.
When my wife made comments about the lack of fun, a member of staff, and the manager made themselves know, and stated that the machines are opened just once a day to make sure the "weight ratio is right, and can assure you we never move the prizes back". They admitted that the cost of the prizes offered is 2 pence each to them. I had been playing on a 2 pence push machine with about £5 of coins, I had manages to get a small ceramic cup cake to within an inch of the edge. It was laying on it's side, with 4 others scattered around the bed of coins.
We then went for a bite to eat. In the time it took to eat a burger and chips from the Wimpey Bar a few doors down, and walking back to look at the same machine, the cup cakes had "Miraculously" stood themselves up and arranged themselves in a symmetrical pattern away from the falling edge.
I would rather the manager had said that to reach a profit they had to reduce the amount of winners than to stand in front of my wife and blatantly lie in her face. We feel more cheated than we did without winning any prizes.