Nintendo Museum Kyoto — How to Get Tickets and Visit (Uji)

The Nintendo Museum opened in Uji, Kyoto, on October 2, 2024, on the site of a former Nintendo factory — and it became one of the most sought-after tickets in Japan almost overnight. The single thing every visitor needs to understand before anything else is that you cannot just turn up. Entry is reservation-only, for a specific date and time, and demand wildly outstrips capacity.

The ticket problem — and how to solve it

There are two ways in, and which one suits you depends mostly on how far away your trip is.

1. Nintendo’s lottery (cheapest, needs three months). Tickets are drawn about three months ahead on Nintendo’s ticketing site: in October 2026 it was taking entries for January 2027 visits. Winners pay face value by credit card, and any seats left after the draw go on sale first-come. The catch is that the draw is heavily oversubscribed, weekends and holidays especially, so many applicants do not win.

2. A dated ticket booked for you (for trips inside three months, or if you lost). The ticket listed above, “Kyoto: Nintendo Museum Admission Ticket” from NovaTrip, sells a museum reservation for the date you pick, from $77 per person when we checked in October 2026. It is rated 4.7/5 from 45 verified reviews, and the reviews from September and October 2026 are from people who got in and enjoyed it. How it works, from the listing and those reviews:

• It is booked in your name. Nintendo requires every reservation to be “in the name of the person visiting” and checks ID on the day, which is why the listing asks you to bring your passport. Use your name exactly as it appears in it.
• The QR code comes shortly before. Recent buyers say the final QR code “arrived about 12 hours before my scheduled time”. One who booked only two days ahead got it the day before, and noted that a ticket is not certain until it arrives.
• Free cancellation until 24 hours before, so if nothing has arrived by then you can still cancel.
• It costs about three times face value. That is the price of not depending on the draw, and the one thing reviewers grumble about (value for money is rated 3.7/5).

Nintendo warns that tickets resold or transferred through unofficial channels can be refused at the door. A reservation made in your own name for your own visit is a different thing from a resold ticket, and recent buyers of this one report getting in without trouble. Read the provider’s messages after booking: as one reviewer put it, “pay attention to the details sent after purchase and you will have a great time”.

Trip within three months, or no luck in the draw? Check dates for the Nintendo Museum ticket.

Tips from recent visitors

• Ask for a later entry slot. One September visitor chose 2 pm and suggested a later time gives the provider more room to secure your tickets.
• Plan on 3 to 5 hours. The same visitor spent about 2.5 hours in the museum and game area, an hour at the restaurant and an hour in a workshop.
• The workshops cost extra. The two workshops are booked for a time slot once you are inside and paid at the front desk; they are not part of the admission ticket.
• The giant controller games have queues. Head for them early in your visit.

What it costs

Official face value is about ¥3,300 for adults (18+), ¥2,200 for ages 12–17, and ¥1,100 for ages 6–11, with under-6s free, if you win the lottery. The dated ticket booked for you costs more (from $77 per person, Oct 2026). Weigh the difference against building a Kyoto trip around a museum you might not get into.

Getting there

Uji is an easy 20–30 minute train ride from central Kyoto, and the museum is a short walk from Kintetsu Ogura Station (on the Kintetsu Kyoto Line — note there’s a separate JR Ogura station, so check which line your route uses). It’s a tidy half-day out: pair the museum with Uji itself, famous for matcha and the UNESCO-listed Byōdō-in temple, and you’ve got a full, very different day from central-Kyoto temple-hopping.

What’s inside

The museum is two halves. The history floor runs from hanafuda cards through every console; the interactive floor is the fun part — giant controllers, classic games blown up to room scale, and exhibits you play rather than photograph. Add a “Make Your Own Hanafuda” workshop, the Hatena Burger café, and an exclusives-only shop, and it’s a focused, joyful half-day. For fans it’s a bucket-list stop; even casual visitors leave smiling. Just remember: the only hard part is the ticket.