Nintendo Museum Tickets 2026: How the Monthly Lottery Works and What to Do If You Miss Out

The single most important thing to know about the Nintendo Museum (ニンテンドーミュージアム) in Uji, Kyoto is this: you cannot just show up. Every ticket is booked in advance, and most of them are handed out by a monthly lottery you have to enter about three months before you want to visit.

That trips up a lot of first-time visitors, because the window to apply for a given month opens and closes before most people have even booked their flights. This guide walks through exactly how the lottery works, what it costs, and what your options are when your preferred date is already taken.

Tickets go by monthly lottery: to visit in November you apply in August, and missing that window leaves you waiting on cancellations.

The monthly ticket lottery

Nintendo sells museum tickets through a lottery, not on a first-come, first-served basis. For each month there is a single application window, and everyone who applies goes into one draw together, so the day you apply within that window makes no difference. Applications, results, and any later cancellation sales all run through the official ticket site, museum-tickets.nintendo.com.

Here is the official timeline, using a July 15 visit as the example:

So for a November visit, applications are open through the end of August, and results land on the afternoon of September 1. You apply once, for that month only. There is no rolling "apply anytime" queue.

One more thing that catches people off guard: winning gives you a specific timed entry slot, not the freedom to drop in on any day that month. You choose your preferred date and time when you apply, and you show up at the time printed on the ticket. The museum is open 10:00–20:00 and closed on Tuesdays (open if the Tuesday is a public holiday, then closed the following day) and over New Year, December 30 to January 3 — worth checking before you pick a slot.

Prices and who needs a ticket

Admission is priced by age, and prices below include tax and are the same in 2026.

Children aged 11 and under must be with an adult who holds a paid ticket, so every child ticket needs at least one adult ticket in the same booking. Preschoolers get in free, but it's still worth adding them to the booking.

Before you apply: account and card

Two things are non-negotiable before the window opens, so set them up in advance.

First, a free Nintendo Account. You need one to enter the drawing and to buy the ticket if you win, and the result notification comes to that account's email address.

Second, a credit card. Payment is by card only — Visa, Mastercard, or JCB, and prepaid and debit cards work too, with 3-D Secure authentication required. There is no cash or pay-at-the-door option.

Tickets are also issued in the visitor's name. You book under the name of the person visiting, and staff check ID against the booking when you arrive. Keep the lead visitor's name consistent with the passport or ID they'll carry that day.

If you don't win: cancellation sales

Losing the first draw isn't always the end of it. If enough winners don't pay in time, Nintendo moves people up from a waitlist — and if you're moved up, you get a little longer to pay, until the 14th of the month rather than the 7th.

Beyond that, after each drawing closes, Nintendo puts unsold and canceled slots back on sale on the ticket site, first-come-first-served, for dates up to two months ahead. Checking the calendar regularly is the realistic backup plan.

There is no same-day ticket to buy at the door. The official pages describe advance booking and online cancellation sales only, so don't plan a trip around walking up on the day.

And don't buy from resellers. Nintendo prohibits transferring or reselling tickets to third parties, whether or not money changes hands. Tickets bought outside the official channels are void; there are documented cases of visitors being turned away. Nintendo may also cancel every ticket linked to the account and bar future visits.

What your ticket includes

Your admission ticket covers the main exhibits. Inside, you are given ten coins for the interactive experiences, and each activity costs one to four of them. That is part of admission, not an extra charge.

Two hands-on activities do cost extra, and you book them on the day at the museum rather than online: a hanafuda card-making craft (¥2,000, about 60 minutes) and a session learning to play hanafuda (¥500 per person, for groups of two, about 30 minutes). If they interest you, book them when you arrive rather than expecting to reserve them ahead.

Planning the rest of the trip

The museum sits in Uji, on the southern edge of Kyoto, a short walk from the Kintetsu and JR Ogura stations (two separate stations of the same name). Because the lottery locks in your date months ahead, it is worth building the rest of your Kyoto plans around that fixed slot rather than the other way around.

If you are comparing reservation-only attractions, the Ghibli Museum is another you can only visit by booking ahead. Our guide to Ghibli Museum tickets makes a useful companion read. For where to base yourself, see our Kyoto accommodation guide.