How CafeSnap Books For You: A Step-By-Step Walkthrough

This page shows you exactly what happens from the moment you land on our site to the confirmation email, so there are no surprises. Booking takes about two minutes. Everything after that is automatic and you do not have to chase anything.

Here is the whole journey, one screen at a time. The Pokemon Cafe in Osaka and Tokyo now releases a full month of dates at once, in a single bulk drop at 6pm Japan time, and the seats are gone in seconds. After that, sold-out dates only come back as cancellations. CafeSnap is the software that competes in that release for you and watches for cancellations afterwards, so you do not have to sit at your screen at 6pm Japan time. Below is exactly what you will see and what we do behind the scenes.

Two minutes of your time at the start. After that it is fully automatic: you do not need to log in, refresh anything, or message us to chase it. If we cannot get a seat, you are refunded automatically.

Example screens with fictional booking details. Prices shown are illustrative.

You land on cafesnapbot.com

Open cafesnapbot.com. You see a short, plain page: what we do, the flat price, and a button to start. There is no account to create and no app to download. The price is already shown in your own local currency.

The CafeSnap homepage when you first arrive, showing the booking form and the flat price — cafesnapbot.com, the first thing you see

You pick the cafe and your party size

Step 1 of the form asks which cafe (Osaka or Tokyo) and how many people are coming. The Pokemon Cafe allows up to 6 guests per booking, and our flat fee is the same whether you are 1 person or 6. There is no per-person charge.

The first step of the booking form, choosing the cafe and party size — Choose Osaka or Tokyo and your group size

You pick your preferred dates

Next you choose up to 3 dates you would be happy to visit. More dates means more chances for us to find you a seat: more slots to go for when a release drop opens, and more dates to watch for cancellation seats on. You are not locked to one day unless you only give us one.

The date picker step of the booking form, where you choose up to three preferred dates — Pick up to 3 dates, more dates means better odds

You pick your time preference, then pay the flat fee

Step 3 lets you say which times of day suit you, or pick "any time" if you are flexible. We only ever book a slot inside the times you asked for. We never book a time you did not choose.

Then you pay. Payment runs on Stripe Checkout, the same hosted payment page used by large companies worldwide. You type your card details into Stripe, not into our site, so we never see or store your card number. The amount is one flat fee, shown and charged in your own local currency, with no per-person cost and no surprise at the end.

Safety check: on the payment page the address bar starts with checkout.stripe.com. If you ever see a different domain asking for card details on a CafeSnap booking, do not pay, email us instead.

The time preference step of the booking form — Choose your time window, or "any time"

Review your booking before continuing to Stripe’s secure checkout

Ready to try it?

Flat fee equivalent to GBP 8, shown and charged in your own local currency. Automatic refund if we miss. No per-person charges.

Book through CafeSnap

The bot goes to work for you

The moment your payment clears, you are done. Our software starts working for you immediately. If your dates have not been released yet, it competes in the cafe's next monthly bulk drop at 6pm Japan time. If they are already released and sold out, it checks for cancellation openings hundreds of times a day, so the second a seat appears for one of your dates and times, we grab it within seconds.

You do not have to do anything during this stage. No logging in, no refreshing, no waiting up for the 6pm release. That is the entire point of the service.

The status page while CafeSnap is still searching for a seat — While we search, your status shows we are on it

You get the confirmation email

Once your reservation is confirmed, we email your booking details and everything you need for your visit.

Check your confirmed cafe, date and time before travelling, and follow the arrival instructions in your confirmation email.

The status page after a booking has been secured — A confirmed booking: cafe, date, time and party size

Checking status or cancelling

You can check your booking any time from the status page using the email you booked with. It shows whether we are still searching or have secured your seat.

If your plans change you can release the seat from there too. If we have not secured a seat yet, cancelling refunds you minus a small processing fee that covers the card fee we already paid. Once we have confirmed a booking at the cafe, the service has been delivered, so cancelling a confirmed booking releases the cafe seat for someone else but the fee is not returned. This is all spelled out in plain English in our terms.

Review the cancellation and refund details before confirming

If we cannot book, you get your money back automatically

This is the promise the whole service rests on. If we cannot secure a seat by the day after your last preferred date passes, you get a full automatic refund. You do not have to ask, chase us, or fill in a form. Stripe sends the money back to the exact card you paid with, usually within minutes of the deadline and within a few business days to land in your account.

Ready to try it?

Flat fee equivalent to GBP 8, shown and charged in your own local currency. Automatic refund if we miss. No per-person charges.

Book through CafeSnap