Million-Life – Chinatown Adelaide
It’s a little taste of Japan with cute plush toys and collectibles at Million-Life stores in Adelaide.
The Chinatown Million-Life, opened in July 2021, is hard to miss with its colourful neon pink lighting and chiming sound effects. Just walk down Moonta Street and it’s next to the entrance walkway to the Adelaide Central Market.
The place reminds us a lot of Japan! If you’ve ever been there you’ll instantly recognise this shop. The streets of Japan had these arcade parlours everywhere.
What are they all about? The store is an arcade-style claw machine room with a range of different sized toys and figures to try and win. You simply need to go to the token machine, pick how many tokens you would like to buy and use cash or card to purchase them. They have paper cups available to put your tokens in.
Million-Life have a huge selection of unique toys and figures from many fan-favourite shows, games and pop-culture. You’re guaranteed to find a character you recognise and they frequently change what they have on offer so you’ll rarely see the same things week-to-week. We’ve seen everything from Bluey, Pokemon, to Paw Patrol, Spongebob, to Sanrio/Hello Kitty and Disney characters.
Million-Life says they aim to make it so customers can actually win the toys unlike typical arcade machines. In our experience, these machines seem to be easier to win something than other claw machines, but you need to be good at it and smart about which toys you go for.
Depending on which ones you go for, it can also get quite expensive so make sure to choose carefully! We’ve had better luck getting the small keychain-sized ones but some people have better luck with the round medium-sized ones!
We’ve asked the staff and some of our friends who’ve won things to tell us some tips (but it’s best to find your own strategy for what works for you):
- Pick a specific toy you want to go for rather than panicking and going for anything
- Go for the heavier part of the toy with the claw
- Rounder shapes are usually easier to pick up with these claws
- Pick the ones closer to the container (but not too close or the claw might get caught!) – a good rule is no more than two toys away from the container
- Consider the weight of the toy
- Remember that the claw spins as it drops
- Watch people in front of you to judge how easy/hard it will be
- Don’t go for toys that are packed in tight – get the ones that are spaced out
- You can ask the staff nicely if they can move the toys if they are too far out and they may be able to reposition them for you
- If it seems too hard to get, try a different toy or different machine – sometimes it’s just not worth it!
They have a game where you can win a huge toy. We’ve seen quite a few people win this one but you need to be lucky!
A lucky girl won this giant Pokemon Pikachu while we were in the store!
For this game, you press a button to try and cut a string. If you manage to cut through the string, you can get the big prize. With this one, it’s better to wait until a few people have had a go so that the string is already worn down along with a bit of luck. We’re yet to win one of these ones though!
We did have luck in winning this cute blue toy below. This was a $2 game and we had two tries.
This store also has a Gacha (toy vending machine) section where you can put in tokens to get a random figure/toy much like the ones in Japan. These include things like anime characters, BTS figures, miniature food, Disney princesses, Mario characters and more.
We bought one of these and inside our pink ball was this SpongeBob character Patrick Star keyring. The kids were pretty happy with this. It’s actually a better than expected quality with a good gold clasp, a cute little bell, and wrist strap. You can hang this on your school bag and jingle as you walk. This was $6.
We had a budget of $10 which gave us 11 tokens. We walked out with this keyring and the blue toy above which was quite a lucky spree.
These little Disney toys are in one of the collectible machines where you don’t have to use a claw to win them. You pay the fee in tokens (in this case its 5 tokens, which is $5 – or less if you have bought more tokens), turn the dial and a ball with your toy will come out. It’s random which toy you get but you are guaranteed a toy.
This is a really fun place to drop by if you’re nearby. Just make sure not to get too sucked in because it’s easy to spend lots of money there! Set a budget and stick to it. And know when to walk away!
Location:
42-43, Unit 4, Market Plaza | 61-63 Grote Street, Adelaide
(In Moonta St next to Gong Cha and opposite Chinatown Food Plaza Mecca)
For more information and all enquiries please visit the Million Life website.
What: Million Life Chinatown
When: Open every day 10am – 11pm
Where: 42-43, Unit 4, Market Plaza | 61-63 Grote Street, Adelaide (in Moonta Street, near Gong Cha opposite the Food Plaza Mecca)
Who: Everyone
At Play & Go Adelaide we make every effort to provide accurate information to the best of our knowledge at the time of publication. We recommend confirming times, dates and details directly before making any plans as details may be subject to change.
As per all our Play & Go reviews, this is not a sponsored post and our review is done completely independently. Prices quoted in September 2021.
Image Source: Play & Go Adelaide
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