I Gave Myself ₩10,000 for Each of Four Ways to Kill Time in Korea

In Korea, there are plenty of ways to spend a few thousand won when you have some time to kill. You can sing a few songs by yourself, try to win a stuffed animal, pull a capsule toy, or wander around an arcade.

None of these really count as a proper outing. They’re just things you can do for 10 or 20 minutes when you’re bored and have a little money to waste.

So I gave myself ₩10,000 for each one and decided to see how far it would get me.

Coin Karaoke

I’d been to a coin karaoke room before, but I hadn’t been in a while, so I stopped by one recently.

At the one I went to, a song was ₩500, or you could get three songs for ₩1,000. You pay at a kiosk before going into the booth, usually by card. You can probably still use cash, but honestly, I don’t even remember the last time I carried cash around.

I sang about six songs and spent maybe 20 or 30 minutes in there. The only problem was that I realized I don’t know any of the newer songs, so I mostly stuck to 2000s songs. Kelly Clarkson’s Because of You may or may not have been involved. I guess I’m not very MZ anymore (MZ is Korea’s term for millennials and Gen Z).

Total: about ₩2,000. And I still had most of my ₩10,000 left.

Claw Machine

I’ve never spent ₩10,000 on a claw machine. It always felt like one of the easiest ways to throw money away, so this was the one I was least excited about.

It was ₩1,000 a play. I put in the first ₩5,000, and on my third try, I somehow won two prizes at once. Pure luck, and I knew it while it was happening.

Then I put in another ₩5,000 and got nothing. Not even close.

Ten plays, ₩10,000, two prizes, and the whole thing felt like it was over in under a minute.

I don’t think I’ve ever spent ₩10,000 that quickly. And honestly, the prizes weren’t exactly amazing either.

Gachapon

Next, I tried gachapon. At the shop I went to, most of the machines were ₩4,000 a pull, with a few cheaper ones mixed in.

These are what I got. They’re tiny. Really tiny.

And honestly, the quality wasn’t great. At ₩4,000 a pull, I expected something that felt a little more substantial. The claw machine prizes weren’t exactly impressive either, but at least I knew I was taking a chance on actually winning something.

With gachapon, you always get something, which I liked. But after spending ₩10,000, I wasn’t exactly looking at my three tiny toys thinking, That was money well spent.

Arcade

I stopped by an arcade next, with another ₩10,000 ready to spend.

Most of the games were ₩1,000 a play, so I could have spent the whole ₩10,000 on ten games. The problem was, I didn’t actually want to play any of them.

There was Mario Kart, a dance game, basketball, and rows of fighting games, but nothing made me think, I want to play that. I walked around for a while and eventually left without spending anything.

Total: ₩0.

Apparently, having ₩10,000 to waste doesn’t help if there’s nothing you want to waste it on.

So, Which One Should You Try?

After trying all four, coin karaoke was the clear winner for me.

If you only have time for one of these in Korea, make it coin karaoke. Karaoke rooms exist all over the world, but the pay-per-song solo booths you find everywhere in Korea are a little different. Look for a 코인노래방 sign, pay at the kiosk, and bring a list of songs you actually know.