Nintendo Museum Tickets (2026): How the Lottery Works, and What to Do If You Lose
You want to visit the Nintendo Museum near Kyoto, and the only way in is a ticket from the official lottery. Enter three months before your visit, pay by the 7th if you win, and bring the passport of every person named on the ticket.
No agency sells these tickets, and transfers are not allowed. If you lose, tickets freed up by cancellations may go on sale first come, first served on the official site.
Some links on this page are affiliate links (eSIM, trains, nearby experiences). Nintendo Museum tickets are only sold on the official site.
When should I enter the lottery for my dates?
Each draw covers one month of visits and opens three months before it. For example, the draw for February 2027 is open now and closes at 23:59 on Nov 30, 2026. You can enter each draw once.
How to enter the Nintendo Museum lottery, step by step
- Create a Nintendo Account, if you don't have one. It's free. Use the email you check most: the result comes by email.
- Open the official ticket site and choose the draw for your month. Pick a date and an entry time, following the on-screen steps.
- Enter every visitor's full name exactly as on their passport. You also need each visitor's phone number. Children aged 11 or under must come with an adult ticket holder, and a child ticket can only be bought together with at least one adult ticket.
- Wait for the result on the 1st of the next month. It arrives in the afternoon, Japan time. Emails may not all arrive at once.
- If you win, pay by credit card by 23:59 on the 7th. Only credit cards are accepted: Visa, Mastercard or JCB (prepaid cards from these brands work too), with a security code and 3-D Secure. Unpaid tickets are cancelled automatically. If you're picked from the waitlist instead, the deadline is the 14th.You'll need data to show the QR ticket at the gate. A Japan eSIM is the easiest fix.Compare Japan eSIMs on Klook ↗
Passport, names and cancellations: where people get stuck
What ID do foreign visitors need?
A passport. The museum lists it as the only ID it accepts for non-Japanese nationals. Every visitor's ID is checked, and anyone whose identity can't be verified may be refused entry.
Can I buy for a friend, or resell a spare ticket?
No. Tickets must stay with the visitor registered at purchase, and resale and transfers are strictly prohibited. So agency tickets are not an option.
Can I cancel?
Yes, before your date, as long as the QR code hasn't been displayed and the ticket hasn't been assigned to someone else. You can't cancel a child ticket in a way that leaves it without an adult ticket.
Can I change a name?
The official guide doesn't describe a name change. Tickets must be booked in the visitor's own name and ID is checked on the day, so enter every name exactly as on the passport.
Lost the lottery? Your real options
There's no tour or agency route into the museum. These are the ways that do exist.
Leftover tickets on the official site
After the draw, tickets released by cancellations may go on sale first come, first served, for time slots up to two months ahead. On Nov 6, 2026 the ticket calendar showed tickets up to December 2026 on sale. Check often.
The waitlist
Some entrants are picked from the waitlist about a week after the results. They have until the 14th to pay. A waitlist place is not a ticket.
Enter the next draw
Draws run every month. If your trip is flexible, enter the draw for another month.
Nintendo TOKYO and Super Nintendo World
The Nintendo store in Shibuya needs no ticket, and Super Nintendo World at USJ in Osaka is bookable.
What the official pages said on Nov 6, 2026
The museum's "From Ticket Reservation to Arrival" page gave the three-month entry window, results on the 1st, payment by 23:59 on the 7th (14th for the waitlist), credit card only, and the passport rule.
Its User Guide listed the prices, the child ticket rule and the cancellation conditions.
The ticket calendar said the February 2027 draw was open until Nov 30, 2026 at 23:59, and that tickets up to December 2026 were on sale.
We haven't entered a draw or visited; the steps above follow the official pages.
Is the Nintendo Museum worth the trip to Uji?
If Nintendo games were part of your life, yes. It's Nintendo's own museum of its products, from Hanafuda playing cards to the Nintendo Switch, with interactive exhibits and a corner where you make and play your own Hanafuda cards. The café and shop are inside and only open to ticket holders.
Uji is also worth a half day on its own: Byodo-in and the tea streets are around JR Uji Station, on the same JR Nara Line. That makes the trip easier to justify even if your slot is early or late in the day.
Getting there
The museum asks visitors to come by public transport only: no taxis, cars, motorcycles or bicycles. Both the Kintetsu Kyoto Line and the JR Nara Line start at Kyoto Station; check a route app for the current journey time. An ICOCA or other IC card works on both lines. ICOCA guide →
Make a day of it around Uji
Uji: Byodo-in and matcha
Uji Station is on the same JR Nara Line, and the museum lists a 6-minute bus from there. The home of Uji tea.
A tea ceremony in Kyoto
If you want to whisk matcha yourself, you can book a tea ceremony in Kyoto. Our guide compares the options.
Affiliate linkShinkansen from Tokyo
Coming from Tokyo for your slot? Seats can be booked ahead.
Affiliate linkDid you win?
Tell us which month you entered, whether you won, and how quickly leftover tickets went. We add reader reports to this page with the date.