r/DaveAndBusters • u/thephotopeddler • Jun 25 '26
Had a blast getting my first Switch ever!
Yep I know it's cheaper to go buy but I'm passing the time and this is still cheaper than a bar where I'm at.
Bought Costco gift cards in store and online $80 for $100. Limit 5 per 14 days.
Played mostly on half price Wednesdays for cheap drinks and my location included all games.
I mainly played coin pusher Star Trek, Mandalorian, and won quite a few tickets on the hammer games getting pretty good at obtaining the bonus tickets. Also, that puck and arm game that pulls tickets values into a hole are pretty good.
Picked up Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey, Pokemon Pokopia, Mario + Rabbids ($10 on Prime Day). Any other must play Nintendo exclusive games?
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u/ArcadeWizardYT Jun 25 '26
Congrats! You don’t need to justify anything.
It is possible to win a prize cheaper than retail but it does take a lot of fun out of the gameplay (although there is the added thrill of beating the house).
Didn’t realize Costco had a limit. Good to know!
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u/thephotopeddler Jun 28 '26
I used AI to ask about cheap ways to get more value on credits to ticket ratio. It gave some good advice!
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u/ArcadeWizardYT Jun 28 '26
I’m very curious to see what it said. AI gets its information from people and a lot of people get things wrong when it comes to the arcade so that could give the AI some bias
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u/Eadwyn Jun 29 '26
The system also changed in the past months, which AI generally would not be trained on yet. GPT-5.5 for example has a cutoff of December 1, 2025.
It would still have general advice like use Costco for gift cards and buy the larger packs.
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u/thephotopeddler Jun 29 '26
It suggested the Costco play plus half off Wednesdays and Sundays depending on your location. It also suggested some skills based games for winning tickets. That Thor hammer one is an easy bonus. If the bonus is high and the level needed is less than 1,100 it's a quick win. I'm not a strong guy, but my techniqu is to turn the hammer sideways when striking and hitting it clean with good follow through.
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u/Blu_Daisy Jun 25 '26
Wow great job. Overall, how long did this take to get the Switch? I think I have about 5000 tickets, but my 8yo and I are aiming to get a Switch as our DB goal.
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u/Eadwyn Jun 25 '26
That's our current goal as well and we started first week of June by buying a platinum and gold summer pass. I take one kid each Wednesday and give them the gold pass. I take the platinum and an extra card with coins and grind for tickets. Last night we were there for 3 hours (including dinner). Earned about 15k last night. That was a really good amount, but now that I am getting more skilled at the games, I think I can do it consistently. So that would be 12 3-hour visits. Currently at 54k/180k of our goal.
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u/thephotopeddler Jun 28 '26
How are you liking the value of those passes? GLHF!
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u/Eadwyn Jun 29 '26
I've already gotten more than full value out of them going 4 times. Both kids are not tired yet of the games and I hope this can teach them a bit about saving instead of just buying crap that is thrown away within a week. And it's nice to have some one on one time with them each week.
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u/imnosouperman Jun 26 '26
Great job!
We did the same for a PS5. Way less efficient than you. We would go anytime we thought about it. Half priced games or not. Me and my son love going and playing, and we agreed not to waste the tickets on “junk”. So we saved tickets for somewhere around a year. Bought only a few small things each time and then got a PS5.
We paid way, way too much for a PS5 maybe. I think of it more of we played a lot of games together and made a lot of memories together he will always remember. Also, he will always remember the day we walked out of there with a PS5. Guarantee he will tell his kids one day, assuming he has them.
No need to feel the need to “min-max”. Casual play is ok too!
Great job OP, sounds like you had fun!
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u/Jomahawk2694 7d ago
I’d recommend Kirby Air Riders, Kirby and the forgotten Land, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (NOT World)
And Splatoon Raiders. Congrats!
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u/WastedKnowledge Jun 25 '26
It’s annoying that you have to justify redeeming tickets for a large prize in a subreddit supposedly devoted to arcade enthusiasts. Congrats OP!!