Medal games (メダルゲーム, medaru gēmu) are a type of arcade game commonly found in amusement arcades and casinos, especially in Japan. In order to play a medal game, a customer must first exchange their cash into medals (metal coins, much like an arcade token). The rate of medals versus cash varies from arcade to arcade, but usually the cheapest range is from ¥300 all the way up to ¥10,000.
While many of the medal games simulate gambling, the medals cannot be traded back into cash, but only used to play more games, or exchanged (via paper tickets) for prizes.
There are many types of medal games, but the two most popular are the gambling type and the pusher game type.