Nintendo Museum tickets: how the drawing works, the deadlines in your time zone, prices and the rules on the day

How to get Nintendo Museum tickets

There is one place to buy them. The museum's ticketing website says it at the top of the page: "Note: Nintendo Museum tickets can only be purchased through this page." That rules out buying at the door or from any other seller.

Tickets are sold in two rounds for every month of visits. The ticketing website puts it like this: "Tickets are first sold to drawing entrants and then sold based on availability." In practice that means:

1. The drawing. You enter during the month that is three months before your visit. Winners are chosen at random and then pay. Entering is free, and you pay only if you win.
2. First come, first served. Tickets left after the drawing, and tickets freed by cancellations, go on sale to anyone, up to two months ahead.

Both rounds happen on the same ticketing website, and both need a Nintendo Account. The museum's step-by-step page is plain about it: "A free Nintendo Account is required to enter the drawing and purchase tickets." The account belongs to the person who enters and pays; the others in your party do not need one unless you want to give them their own tickets, which is covered further down.

Tickets from anywhere else will not get you in

The museum has posted a separate notice about this, and it reports what has already happened: "We have confirmed several cases where tickets purchased outside of the Nintendo Museum ticketing website were invalid. In these cases, the visitors were unable to enter the museum." The same notice is short on the rule itself: "Tickets sold anywhere else are not valid."

So if a search turns up Nintendo Museum tickets on a resale site, an auction, a social media post or any other booking site, they are not tickets you can use. The notice adds that if the museum finds tickets sold or passed on that way, it may cancel every ticket the buyer has bought, without notice, and may refuse that person's future visits. Every ticket also carries the visitors' names, and those names are checked against passports at the gate, so a ticket bought in someone else's name will not work either.

How much are Nintendo Museum tickets?

The prices on the museum's ticketing website, checked on 15 October 2026. They include tax, and the ticketing website lists no booking fee on top.

The price is the same on every open day, weekday or weekend. Three notes from the museum's user guide:

• Children aged 11 and under must come with an adult. "When purchasing a child ticket (11 or younger), also purchase at least one adult ticket (18+)."
• Visitors aged 12 and over may go in on their own with a ticket.
• Accessibility prices. A visitor with a certificate of accessibility needs (or a Mirairo ID) pays 1,100 yen at any age, and one companion may also buy a ticket at 1,100 yen. Preschoolers with accessibility needs are free. Bring the certificate on the day.

What a family pays

Tickets are priced in yen only, and this site does not quote exchange rates.

A child aged 5 or under still has to be on the booking, because every visitor's full name is entered. The museum's FAQ says that entering a drawing "requires the full names and phone numbers of every visitor."

What is not in the ticket price

The ticket includes entry and 10 digital coins for the interactive exhibits, explained further down. Three things cost extra inside: the two Hanafuda workshops (500 yen and 2,000 yen), the Hatena Burger café (its make-your-own burger is sold only as a combo, from 2,200 yen) and the shop. You cannot buy more coins.

How the Nintendo Museum ticket drawing works

The museum's page on getting from a reservation to the door opens with the rule: "Tickets are sold via a randomly selected drawing. Entries will be accepted beginning three months prior to your visit." The drawing is held once a month, for all the days of one month, and the ticketing website's example spells out the timing: people who want to visit on 15 July can enter "between April 1st and April 30th".

A few details from the same pages are easy to miss.

Drawing dates for visits up to June 2027

The calendar on the ticketing website, checked on 15 October 2026, showed visits up to December 2026 on first-come sale and the drawing for January 2027 open until "2026年10月31日 23:59", that is 23:59 on 31 October 2026, Japan time. The months after that follow the same monthly pattern. Every deadline is 23:59 Japan time.

The deadlines in your time zone

Japan Standard Time is nine hours ahead of UTC all year, because Japan does not change its clocks. The UK, the United States and Sydney do, and all three change between now and April 2027, so 23:59 in Japan falls at different local times through the season.

The local times were worked out for this guide from the official clock-change dates for the UK, the United States and New South Wales, which are listed in the sources. In London, New York and Los Angeles the deadline falls in the morning or early afternoon of the date shown, not at the end of your day. In Sydney it falls after midnight, so treat the evening of the date shown as your last chance.

The results arrive in the afternoon of the 1st in Japan, which is the early morning of the 1st in London and the evening or night before in New York and Los Angeles. Winners then have six days to pay.

How far in advance can you get tickets?

Between about two and four months ahead through the drawing. For a visit in January 2027, entries run through October 2026, so a visit on 31 January can be entered for on 1 October, 122 days ahead, and a visit on 1 January as late as 31 October, 62 days ahead. There is no earlier sale for visitors from overseas. If your trip is six months away, the job for now is to note which month to enter in.

If you lose the drawing: the waitlist and first-come tickets

Losing the drawing is not the end. There are two later chances, and both are on the same ticketing website.

The ticketing website gives an example of how the open sale lines up with the drawing: people who want to visit on 15 July and did not get a ticket in the drawing "may purchase tickets for that date between mid-May and July 14th". So for a visit in January 2027, first-come sales would start around the middle of November 2026, for any dates that are not sold out. The calendar marks which days are on sale and which have sold out.

Can you buy Nintendo Museum tickets for today?

No. The first-come sale in the ticketing website's example ends on the day before the visit, and the museum sells no tickets anywhere except that website. Tickets freed by cancellations can go on the open sale, so if you are already in Japan, check the calendar on the ticketing website each day up to the day before you want to go.

What you need before you enter the drawing

The museum's FAQ lists four things for buying tickets, and the drawing asks for the same details up front. Have them ready before the entry month opens, because the names cannot be changed later.

The FAQ answers a question that many people planning a long trip will have: can you enter before you know who is coming? No. "Entering a ticket drawing requires the full names and phone numbers of every visitor." Under the terms, the date, time, ticket type, visitors and names on a bought ticket cannot be changed.

The rules that catch visitors out

Can you cancel or get a refund?

Yes, before the QR code is issued. The FAQ says all four of these must be true.

Two kinds of cancellation cannot be done online: cancelling only a preschooler's ticket, and cancelling the ticket of a visitor with accessibility needs but not their companion's. For those, the FAQ says to go to the ticketing office at the museum at the time of your visit.

The point to remember is the QR code. "Once you select Issue QR Code, the ticket will no longer be refundable." So do not press the button the afternoon before until you are sure you are going. If the museum itself closes, for example for bad weather, it says it will email ticket holders, and the terms say it may offer another date, cancel the tickets or refund them.

Giving each visitor their own ticket

You do not have to. "If the ticket purchaser does not assign those tickets, they can present the QR Code for all of their accompanying visitors to allow their entire party entry to the museum." The museum's Assign Ticket feature is optional, and the person receiving a ticket needs their own Nintendo Account. What it adds is a play ticket with that person's own Mii character printed on it, and their scores and photos from the interactive exhibits saved to their own account. The museum says assigning "can be done within 30 days, including on the day of your visit".

Since 9 September 2026, play tickets carry a design for the 40th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda by default, for about a year. The museum's notice says visitors can switch to the Mii design in their settings on the ticketing website before the visit.

On the day: from the gate to the exhibits

Arrive at your entry time. The museum's pages on the day of the visit and its services give these steps.

The play ticket is what you use inside. "Each visitor's play ticket is loaded with 10 coins upon entering the museum." The coins are digital, they work only on the day, and "you cannot purchase additional coins." The museum's exhibits page is clear that "Visitors will not be able to experience all the interactive exhibits with 10 coins", so choose which ones matter most to you.

What is inside

The exhibits are in Exhibition Building 1, on two floors.

The coin exhibits include a giant controller for two players, a batting cage, a shooting game with the Zapper and Super Scope, and a room of Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 games, where you "Choose from over 80 games to play."

Preschoolers aged 3 and over get a special experience card at the security gate, and they must take part with a parent or guardian. When an adult joins in with them, the coins come off the adult's play ticket.

The two Hanafuda workshops

Nintendo started out making Hanafuda playing cards, and two workshops in Exhibition Building 3 go back to that. Both are booked on the day, inside the museum, and paid for when you book.

Book at the information counter in the lobby on the 1st floor of Exhibition Building 1, or at the workshop desk on the 2nd floor of Exhibition Building 3. "Reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis", so the museum suggests booking as soon as you are inside. Each visitor can take part in one workshop only, bookings cannot be cancelled, and you should be at the room 10 minutes before the start.

Food, the shop and paying inside

• Hatena Burger café: in Exhibition Building 3, open 10:00 to 20:00 with last orders at 19:15. The make-your-own burger is "Starting at 2,200 yen" and comes only as a combo with fries or coleslaw and a drink. The museum expects it to be busy "from around 12:00 to 15:00" and suggests going outside those hours.
• Shop: open only to ticket holders, 10:00 to 20:00 with last entry at 19:45. "There is a limit on the quantity that can be purchased per person for each product sold at the shop."
• Paying: cash, credit cards, transit IC cards and QR code payments are accepted inside, but the Art Gallery, which sells the museum's official books, takes cashless payments only.
• Food you bring: none, apart from baby food, children's snacks and food for people with allergies or other dietary needs. Drinks in bottles or flasks are allowed, except alcohol, and are checked at the gate.

How to get to the Nintendo Museum

The museum stands at 56 Kaguraden, Ogura-cho, Uji, in Kyoto Prefecture, on the site of Nintendo's Uji Ogura plant. It has no parking for visitors, and its access page asks people to come by public transport, "excluding taxis": "Do not travel to the museum by cars, motorcycles, bicycles, or taxis." Visitors with accessibility needs are sent details by email on reserving a parking space.

The two Ogura stations are different stations on different railways, so check which one your train stops at. If you are pushing a wheelchair or a stroller from the Kintetsu station, note the museum's warning: the underground passage outside the station that links the West and East exits "has only stairs (no elevators or slopes)". The access page shows an alternative route for them on its map.

For the train from central Kyoto or Osaka, our JR Pass guide explains which tickets cover JR lines. The Kintetsu Kyoto Line is a private railway, not JR.

Rules inside the museum

These come from the museum's user guide and terms. Most of them are checked at the security gate.

For packing light on a day trip, see our luggage guide. For the data you will need to show the QR code, see our eSIM guide.

With children or a wheelchair

Children aged 11 and under cannot go in on their own and must be with someone holding an adult ticket, "without exception". Strollers can be used inside, but at the interactive exhibits they wait in a stroller storage area. Private nursing rooms with changing tables are on the 1st floors of Exhibition Buildings 1 and 3, and the museum notes that men may use them too. Our Japan with kids page has more for families.

The museum is wheelchair accessible. Visitors are expected to bring their own wheelchairs, though one can be borrowed in an emergency at the information counter. "Some interactive exhibits may not be accessible to visitors in wheelchairs", and the café has wheelchair-accessible seating.

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To cite or link to this page: Nintendo Museum tickets: how the drawing works, the deadlines in your time zone, prices and the rules on the day — Japan Pocket Guide, https://japanpocketguide.com/things-to-do/nintendo-museum-tickets/ Copy