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Last week I was looking at videos on Youtube of smaller indie games when I stumbled across The Coin Game. The premise for the game is straight-forward; you go to different arcades playing various arcade games to try to collect tickets to win big prizes. 

Since it's early access the only mode that you can currently play is "Birthday Mode" wherein it's your birthday and you have no time limits on anything and unlimited funds since you can go to the cash grab machine in each arcade to get more money in case you run out. There is supposed to be a survival mode in the works, but since this game is in early access it's unclear as to when we'll see that update. To date, this game has been in early access for a year.


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What I really like about this game is that all of the games that you'll see here are based on real world arcade games that you can find at your local arcade. While you have classics such as the skee-ball and whack-a-mole, you also have other newer(ish) games to play such as coin pushers, stacker, the big wheel and many many more. The physics are incredible and very life-like which was surprising. 

There's at least two different arcades as well as fair-styled games at the pier. In addition to that, you also have a pawn shop where you can sell items that you won to get more money and a gas station where you can take your chances on scratch-off tickets that you buy. 

There's a lot more here and I've merely scratched the surface. One really fascinating thing is that this is an open-world arcade game. You can leave the arcade to walk to another one or instantly teleport to where you want to go. You could even go climb a mountain if you so desire or go home to find a rather amusing easter egg there. 

The most interesting thing to me is that the entire game takes place at night and currently there's no day/night cycle so you'll be stuck wondering around in the dark with a flashlight unless you teleport or take the bus. It really adds an eerie vibe to the whole experience and I was just waiting for some creepy animatronic creature to chase after me in the dark. That never happened, but outside of the cheerful arcade side of it, it does give off dark undertones of a horror game.

I await the full release version to review this further, but overall I can say that my experience was a rather fun one even if it wasn't always personally my cup of tea. If you're looking for a more casual game that doesn't take itself too seriously... The Coin Game might just be what you're looking for this weekend.

Final Score: 7/10

"It's a fun nostalgic game, but I expect the full release to improve it even further."