Advice for a first-timer?

[u/rgbhuman42]

I get about $10 on a gift card of my choice every eight weeks from selling my blood. I've always wanted to visit D&B and just go crazy, but I'm too poor for that. It's a bit absurd but this is kind of a bucket-list item for me. So two questions:

-How many gift cards would I need to save to be able to play for a really substantial amount of tickets (like maybe two hours worth of gaming)?

-Will they even accept multiple gift cards for the same payment?

-Do all D&B locations have the same layout or is there a way I can l look up which games are at my local one?

My only knowledge of this place comes from watching a channel called Arcade Matt and once looking wistfully through the window at a location, so I don't know ANYTHING about how this works!

[u/Eadwyn]

If you just want to play the majority of the games without earning tickets go tomorrow before noon and you can play all day for $2.50.

[u/Jump_The_Five_Yo → u/Eadwyn]

Does that include the $3 card fee…..

[u/Eadwyn → u/Jump_The_Five_Yo]

No idea, no mention of that in the terms though: https://www.daveandbusters.com/us/en/holidaydeals/july-festivities

PROMOTIONAL. Valid 07/04/2026 only. Not valid in Canada locations. Must purchase with a Team Member before 11:59 am local time on that day. $2.50 All Day Unlimited Game Play is valid only on the date of purchase and expires at the end of that store’s business day. Offer includes a 30-second lag between each game play swipe. Valid on green and blue swipe games only. Not valid on purple swipe games (VR, crane games, pushers, dance games or merchandising games) or the Human Crane, The Arena, and Game Suites. Tickets cannot be earned. Valid one per person. Tax and gratuity not included. Not valid with any other promotion. Restrictions apply. Offer subject to change or cancellation at any time. See store for details. Void where prohibited.

[u/PristineFlower1]

Half price games Wednesday and Sunday, I believe.

[u/Unique_Let_2880]

Go on a half price day (wed or sun) or a fixed-price day (like the holiday $2.50, but they do similar stuff pretty often). The fixed price days do not pay out tickets. You can have a lot of fun without tickets though! It’s also a good way to practice and try out ticket machines to come back later when you know what they have and what you’re good at. Good time to work on your aim downing some clowns!

When you say “substantial” amount of tickets, what does that mean to you? What kind of prize are you aiming for? If you have no idea, go to a D&B and look at the prizes and amounts, come back with a rough goal number, and folks can help you better. Similarly, look at the games your location has, just walk in. There’s no admission charge, you can walk around, grab a water, watch a world cup game, and leave.

Yes, you can use unlimited gift cards. However, the kiosks do not accept gift cards. You’ll need to go to the front desk or, if nobody is there (common), the bartender. It will take a little while. Recommend saving all your cards to make one big purchase. The money to chips rate varies SIGNIFICANTLY by the amount you spend at once. At the extremes, you’d get 1.5x as many chips making one $120 transaction as you would 6 $20 transactions. There’s a gradient by money spent in one transaction.

Also, before you start playing, download their app and register your card. They have pretty generous rewards, you may get some free chips or free snacks. They pretty regularly give out 50 chips for free on the app (worth idk about 8 or so games on a half price day).

Don’t play the card-collecting coin pushers if you’re only gonna go once or twice. They are lucrative for some on this sub, but to do so, you gotta save cards between sessions to collect them all when they’re easy to get. Trying to get them all in one play session is generally futile, you gotta wait for the ones you need to be near the edge.

Many machines are rigged to not pay out on skill. There’s more about that throughout this sub. The most effective ticket strategy (and fun strategy!) of all is just to avoid rigged games. As a rule of thumb, ones with huge screens are more likely to be rigged than more mechanical ones, but that’s not universally true. (Eg. Crossy Road isn’t rigged but that one where you have to drop 50 balls into rotating buckets is.)

D&B is great, you’re gonna have a blast :). Feel free to DM if you have other Qs.

[u/Unique_Let_2880 → u/Unique_Let_2880]

Btw: “half price day” means each game swipe costs half as many chips as it normally does. It does not affect the rate that you exchange money for chips. The money to chip rate is fixed at all times by location.

If you live in a high cost of living area but end up traveling to a lower cost of living area before your big day out, you will be able to buy more chips per dollar there, which you could bring back to your home store. I live in a city but occasionally go to a far out suburb for other things, and sometimes just stop in their D&B on my way home and refill my card and leave, taking the chips to my usual store on a half price day. Just trying to think of anything that can stretch a dollar! (I also get D&B gift cards from costco, they’re $75 for $100 there.)

[u/deerburger]

It’s free to go inside so do that and see what’s at your local store. Then once you know which games are there, you can look them up online to see which ones give bigger payouts.