Nickel City Xtreme

Five stars all the way! This arcade is hands-down one of the best spots for fun in town. From the moment you walk in, you're greeted with friendly smiles and genuine enthusiasm. The staff aren't just helpful?they're passionate about making sure you have a good time. Whether you're a die-hard gamer or just stopping by with friends or family, they go out of their way to make everyone feel welcome. The games are well-maintained, the atmosphere is electric, and there's an awesome mix of nostalgia and modern fl

Boy has this place changed. I used to come here when it was Super Just Games and twice the size. Maybe that's why it feels lacking now. No free play. No pinball. Good amount of games with damages joy sticks or buttons. My kids enjoyed it and for the price you can play a decent amount but it's all mostly ticket getters and full sized mobile games. Nice to see some machines are still here 20 years later. Even had a Blitz '99 machine with N64 memory card hook up. That was nostalgic.

Couldn't be happier with the new renovations, our 4 year old has the absolute best time here. A lot of the complaints stem from the fact that there aren't as many ?nickel games?. But there are quite a few still left along with the newer games, which are far more cost effective compared to other arcades we've visited. The space is small enough where you can keep a close eye on the kids and the manager Brad has been kind and helpful every time we've visited.

We recently hosted our 9-year-old's birthday party here and were very happy. The facility refresh is really kid-friendly and clean, and the staff who helped us out made the party a breeze, from set-up to clean-up to everything in between. It's not the cheapest but we got rave reviews from all the kids.

I love this place even since I was a kid, the place has changed a lot over time and sure I prefer the old version but still this is a classic place.

My family enjoyed themselves, and I would come back again. Just wish their food was better. But I had fun with my son, and it is awesome. He ran around all day. There are not too many sits for the parents. But overall I had a good experience

First time here and let me say this place is a one stop shop for the kids and adults too ! ??Every employee were very nice. We brought our 4 grandchildren and they rated Nickel City better than Dave & Busters and Chuck E Cheese! Awesome job ??We will be BACK

Nickel City definitely is not like how I remembered it, 5+ years ago, but I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. I'm really digging the new look. Although the prices have changed, I still had just as much fun as I did before the renovation. And IRIS was absolutely AMAZING!! She made our experience so delightful. We'll definitely be back, especially because of Iris!!

If you want the kiddos to have some fun for a couple hours on the cheap then this is the place to be. Yes it's more old school games and some of them are broken but considering it costs nickels to play still worth it in my opinion. The staff are always nice and many of the bigger games always work so the kids can play for a while and it costs very little for a couple hrs. Not many places like this left and they still use tickets love it or hate it our kids enjoy it once in a while.

Today October 29th we get here at 620.. we see a girl lock the door as soon as we pull up. We parked and waited 10-15 minutes thinking they went to the bathroom.. no saw 2 more people come and try and they're taking down the registers..2 girls inside decided to locked up 1.5 hours early for no reason

You get what you pay for. Kids genuinely love this place. Half of the games are broken. They have a back section where some games are free but broken to a degree. Games cost Nickels but require 10+ nickels to play in a lot of games which makes putting in credits tedious and time consuming. The staff is super kind and friendly honestly. The tickets are surprisingly easy to win which allows for a nice reward at the end. I've taken my kids to all kinds of gaming places and despite some of the cons this plac

It's a ton of fun letting your kid play the claw machine 4 nickels at a time. It's a lot of games you really don't want to spend money on that your kids just want to keep playing!! Yes, some of the games were broken and janky. Yes, bring sanitizer or for sure wash your hands in the scary bathroom with flickering lights. Yes, it's a gamble picking the machines that actually give you tickets. It is also quite endearing when other kids tell your kid, ?that one is a waste of money because tickets don't come out

Nickel City has been a go to place for several years. The staff has always been good and they work hard. Unfortunately, this last visit was pretty disappointing. While we do buy nickels for use in the machines we really enjoy playing the free games. Several of the free games were not working, the controls didn't work, or the games were in such bad shape they weren't playable. I really hope this is something they can rectify because i really want to give them a better review. If I could do 2.5 stars I

Have been coming to this place for many years! We love it! Friendly Staff..... Hours posted on website do not reflect the location hours. Great place for kids! Plenty of parking!

Wonderful place to play some old arcades and some newer ones. Great prizes and amazing place to have a memorable birthday party. Plenty of parking.

Shouldn't be called Nickel city, there are no more nickels. You have to load money on to a card to play games. $20 gets you 500 credits and most games are 20 credits to play, that gets you 25 games total. No more free games. No physical tickets, but you have to wait for the tickets to add to your card if you want to play the same game again. Sign up next to the prizes that offers 500 extra tickets for anyone that gives them a good google review. Don't waste your money here. Dave and Busters is a better deal

Fun place for all ages. Can get to be costly if you don't track your card usage. Overall clean and friendly.

We recently had my son?s birthday party here and it was fantastic! Keely, our party host was incredibly helpful! She went above and beyond helping us set up for the party and ensuring everything went smoothly from start to finish! At the end, everybody working the ticket counter was so patient while all the children chose their toys with their tickets! I highly recommend hosting any event here!

Clean, friendly all automated on cards now with old arcade games you can play for a nickel. Really enjoyed spending time here with my kids!

New redesign is really nice, very spacious, clean as hell, nice and lit up, no entry fee anymore, newer games use card swiping system. They still have their "Free Play" machines but those cost nickels now. There's a nickel change machine located in the center. I'd recommend bringing some cash to use these. Has a nice a mix of modern and old games, though they don't have a decent chunk of their older games out anymore with the redesign. I see a lot of reviews complaining about the price increase. Yeah, the

This place is such an old fashioned arcade with nickels and real tickets. Although some games were out of order, the working games were super fun and engaging for me and my family. It's perfect for bday parties as my brother had his here one year. It's right by the highway so perfect location. The prizes are really cool too.

nickel city used to be my favorite place as a kid. we would spend all day collecting change to exchange for nickels. but recently they remodeled the whole place and only 6 of the games take nickels the rest use pre loaded cards. very sad :(

This place seems to be running on fumes. Note: This is from my perspective as an adult. The kids actually had a great time and aren't as picky. Nickel City actually has great staff, which is the reason for the extra star. It's still jam packed, but at least half of the games are out of order, the place is totally run down, including the machines. I don't think the caf? is even functioning, not that I think anyone would be brave enough to eat at. I felt like I needed a full-body decontamination after our vis

My kids had a great time at Nickel City! Perfect for my boys ages 8 & 13. We were there for several hours and they would have stayed all day if they could have. Much more managable for kids than a Dave & Buster's type place. The pizza was tasty too :) Seems like they have made some changes. All machines looked like new, but the they no longer accept nickels and use a swipe card-type system. Great place!

Nickel City WAS fun (was as in past tense). Games were fun when they used nickels and seemed reasonably priced too. There was also a large section of games that were completely free to play. The games were older, but also provided nostalgia. I think the most expensive game to play was around 5 nickels (so 25?). For $7 in nickels, you almost had too much money to play with. I can't remember for sure, cause it's been a few weeks, but last time I spent around $10 for 200 credits I believe. And most games requ

We just had our son?s birthday party at Nickel City Xtreme and it was the best experience! From start to finish it was seamless and super easy. I booked online and they called to confirm numbers and answer questions the week prior to the event. On the day of the party we met Fritzie, our personal party planner. She was absolutely wonderful! She confirmed numbers, set us up with our play cards, pizzas, ice cream and helped us get our cupcakes ready. During the event she took complete control of serving food,

i was weary about the rebrand but it's definitely got the better. still relatively cheep. only wish they still accepted nickels

We recently had my son's birthday at Nickel City Xtreme. The kids all had a blast. Amar, the owner, was nothing but kind and accommodating. Gail, the lady who assisted with the party, was pleasant and helpful! I would definitely recommend Nickel City Xtreme for a birthday in the future.

It was a short lived honeymoon. Back to broken games. Redemption pricing is extremely awful. It's a dump, don't bother.

Terrible experience. When purchasing cards, we are not told the amount of points and how it works. The manager was so rude. They used to allow time cards not anymore. You are basically paying $1 per minute. Chuckie cheese is much better value. I would not go back here. UPDATE: and it gets worse?. Was charged $60 for a stuffed animal prize. This place is a joke

I'm happy to say that the claw machines here actually work and are not rigged. I've gone here with my girlfriend several times and we always come back with stuffed animals. A HUGE improvement from how Nickel City used to be before they renovated it (it was a complete dump). Now it is quite nice

This place used to be super fun and not so expensive? until the change. First of all: why call it nickel city if you don't use nickels anymore? Second of all: If you do the math: 1$ for 1 game?! Third of all: There are a limited amount of games. So don't waste your money here and just go to another place like Dave&Busters

Best place for kids and adults to have fun! Great pricing, great staff!

First time here and loved it! Not the cleanest or newest place. But we had a blast. I got to play games from my childhood. And for less than $10 we had a long and fun afternoon. $10 at places like Dave and Busters lasts 10 minutes.

This place is awesome for adults and kids! They have decent prices for credits, and if you don't want to spend money on credits, you can just bring nickels or quarters and you can play the old retro games. Some of the retro games are broken, like the joystick.Some of the newer games are bugged but it doesn't really affect you if you don't get your tickets. Because you can go to the manager and ask to give your tickets back. Customer service is also really good. They are very supportive and helpful. If you

Take time to indulge in the nostalgia of this arcade. Nickel City is fun for all ages. With a small admission fee and nickels needed for most games, this is great for a family budget friendly time out. I love that real tickets are still used unlike many switching to digital cards.

We had a kid birthday with the new redesign and it was lovely! 10-11:30am party meant we had the place to ourselves to start. The party room was spacious and the helpers were friendly and very efficient. There are several identical games next to each other which makes it fun to parallel play at a party, with easy unlimited game cards for all guests. Such an easy party?we'd happily go there again!

My son just had his birthday party at the newly updated Nickel City Xtreme and it was awesome! The renovations and new games are top notch and the card system makes it easier than carrying around coins and tickets. The space is so clean and much more spacious than before. The staff was so helpful and kind as well. If you are looking for a party venue for kids, this is it!! Everyone had a blast. There are new very large party rooms that will be ready shortly, as well as a soft play area for toddlers which m

So much better than it was 6+ years ago. Cleaner and more user friendly.

We showed up and one of the kids we brought with us had enough tickets for a basketball, but there was only one left on the shelf for display. I talked to the manager and she informed me that she wasn't allowed to give away the last one. I told her I would take the blame, so if the owner is reading this, yell at me, not her. She went above and beyond to help out a kid that really wanted something and she should be commended, not in trouble. 5 star service.

Really happy to see them renovate this location. We've been coming to this place for almost two decades now?definitely needed the face lift. My kids enjoyed all of the games. Gone are some of the classics, such as the color wheel and coin specific games. However, they have a lot of the familiar games that you would see at Dave & Busters at a much more reasonable price, as well as some newer games I have never seen. At the time of writing this, the games were all equal value, which was actually really nice

Very disappointed. Almost every of the stand up arcade games from my childhood were unplayable. Broken controls or screens. Soo sad. I didn't want to see them Like that. When I mentioned it to the staff, they were rude like I was bothering them. Never going back. EDIT: Noticed it has been 5 years since my review posted and no response from this place. Crickets. Looks like more of the same.

went here mainly to play the ddr extreme cabinet. turns out it was gone and i don't know how long it's been but they do have an ITG3 cab with most DDR songs that i did enjoy. the right player's pad is kinda of bad and needs some modding/sensor replacement. the games there are pretty fun to play like mk4, nfl blitz and initial D 3. hospitality is also nice there. will be going soon

I brought 3 first graders here and they had the BEST time!! Thank you!! Brad was so nice and really helped my daughter when her toy broke. Thank you we'll be back!!

New Redesign is terrible. Overpriced and worse games. No longer free arcade classics. Layout makes it look way smaller. Been coming here for over 15 years and they ripped the heart out of this place. It's no longer nickel city, it's an off brand worse dave and busters. When I walked in I was immediately hit with a wave of sadness. Change isn't always a good thing. Wish they didn't ruin this place but they did. RIP NICKEL CITY YOU WILL BE MISSED!!

Great family fun place! Had my son?s bday here and the hosts were AMAZING! They were extremely helpful and I'm very thankful for all of their help. Highly recommend this place!!

I grew up going to Nickel City and now I get to enjoy it with my kids. They closed for a few months to update the space but it was worth the wait. We were lucky enough to have the first birthday party upon re-opening and it was awesome! The new card/ticket system is easier for the kids and less demanding on the machines (no more jammed coins or tickets!). There are a ton of new games but fortunately they kept some classic arcades. The new party space is very nice and spacious. Shout out to Amar and Damion f

I remember going here when I was little. Came back years later with a bag full of nickels ready for some fun! Turns out they don't use nickels anymore other then the fighting games. Like how you gonna take the nickel part out of NICKEL city. :/

Great place for kids. Most games are 2 nickles and the kids win tickets to trade for prizes. Great pizza!

Parents let kids run unsupervised. Old arcade games in the back are inoperable, most have broken buttons or controllers, broken screens, or are empty cabinets. Basically ticket game heavy. Think Chuck-E-Cheeses without alcohol. We left after a kid ran into us at full tilt and employees turned a blind eye. Went hoping for old arcade games, left after wasting $2 and getting blown off by employees who really don't care.

Haven't been here in years, had so much fun. Going to come back soon. I loved all the interactive games

Honest review, the place is very affordable to take the kids without having to break the bank. The place is very safe and secure. Tons of parking employees are pretty helpful if the machine is broke and you informed them they will do their best to fix it. If you wanna throw your kids a birthday party they're very affordable the only downside is that sometimes some of the games are not working but that does not mean that if you come back next week, the games will still not be working they do have a technici

This place WAS a great place now most of the games are trash (at least none are broken like they used to(but the games that were broken were bad games so it was ok)) but now IT DOESN'T EVEN USE NICKELS. Why even keep it nickel city if you can't use nickels? It's all just with a card now and no tickets! don't go here unless you have a time machine to go back to when it used nickels. The only good part is that the prices are decent but they are wayyyyyyy more marked up now so just go to Dave and busters or so

The kids had so much fun and really enjoyed their time at Nickel City Northbrook. We will definitely be back again soon.

I was excited to check out the newly remodeled Nickel City! Definitely a cleaner, brighter, more spacious area than before. Unfortunately I loaded up the kids cards to play the games only to discover the games they wanted to play actually operate on nickels the old way. After waiting in line with a gaggle of young kids manning the counter not knowing how to do anything but redeem prizes, to break a $20 I also bought some $3.50 popcorn which was about 4 bites because the young kid didn't know how to fill

I used to love this place, but there's more broken games than working nowadays. Some have signs, some don't.

Fraudulent business. They used to give you nickels to play the games. Now they give you a card that has points on it. The first game my daughter played overcharged her by 400%. The only way to know this is by checking your balance at one of the pay stations. They refunded our points when asked, but the problem is that this was happening frequently. Who wants to be doing mental math and repeatedly checking your point balance just to avoid getting ripped off? Not exactly my idea of fun. But the really

I tried calling Nickel City multiple times to inquire about hosting my child's birthday party there unfortunately the phone would ring several times and then it would go to voicemail which said the voicemail was full. I then sent an email to the email address that the business provides on its website and never heard back. I ended up taking my business elsewhere. I figured if the employees weren't able to respond to an email then I can't image what might be going on with the business.

If your use to the old nickel city don't go here. We thought it would be the same as their website said after their remodel notice on their webpage they change it to say once remodeling was done that they still accept nickels for their business model. They have removed half if not more than half of the games inside the business. None of the games that made it a great destination before we're there. They had 3 skeeball machines of the 6 that were there before. Their was 8 of the used to be 20s of free to pla

UGH So disappointed. 1/2/23 was my second time. The first time, I would have given 4+ stars because my son had a blast. Yesterday, was absolutely awful. I spent days trying to call, email, message, etc. to find out what time they were open on a specific day. I did not receive a response so we showed up at the time the online website said they were open. Apparently they were open earlier as the place was PACKED. Is there a capacity limit? Because it seemed clearly over crowded. I'd say at least 50% of the ma

This place was awesome! Games were good. Food was good. Service was good. Everything was amazing would definitely recommend

Brought my seven and nine year old kids to nickel city today and had a blast the staff there were extremely helpful and plentiful, all it took was you to tell them one of their machines didn't work and they were right on top of it and then not only that compensated you for any lost tickets. Very friendly employees even though it was extremely busy. Definitely planning on going back was a great time to see my kids smile as big as they did and for so little money ????

Just remodelled establishment, I personally know the servers and know they go above and beyond not to mention nickel city is booked solid for the weekend for parties. Can't get that personal touch anywhere else.

I used to love coming here almost once a week since it was very affordable for me . I'm very upset what this arcade has turned into now. I was at nickel city last week and the lines to the games were horrible. Only one of the ski ball machines were working, and about half of the machines were out of order. As much as I hated the food here anyway, they got rid of 90% of their food options which is so sad for kids. Whatever tickets me and my boyfriend won in the 10 minutes we were there, we gave them to a cou

Nickle city extreme is worse. Before it changed you used nickles, got real tickets, and there was a free play section. Now it's digital. Load a card with points, and no real tickets. The free play games now cost a nickle and DO NOT use the card that you just put points on. Hopefully it's not done changing, cause this place is not great anymore.

This place is a Northbrook staple! The updates and new games are fantastic and my kids keep begging to go back. I can't wait to host a birthday in their new birthday rooms (still under construction) and their awesome toddler soft play space (also still under construction)! Thanks for the awesome updates and can't wait for many more years of memories at NCX!

Great updated games and facility. Lots of fun and great place to kill an afternoon. Highly recommend.

I read the reviews before driving an hour out with my toddler and husband. Theose reviews were not even CLOSE to accurate. Full of children who are not supervised by parents even though the building is VERY small. Most of the machines were broken. After winning a decent amount of tickets I stood in line for the ticket counter which then proceeded to break as well. If you're local go for it but its not even close to being worth a long drive.

Mostly the same old games, a few new ones mixed in. The renovation leaves a lot to be desired. Same size space as before, all games are 20 credits, which equals $1 per play which is much more expensive than before. For the newer games price seems ok, but for other games it's a bit of a rip off. The final nail in the coffin is the fact that a lot of games don't work but the card readers still take your money. In the past you lost a nickel and you moved on, now it's $1 down the drain every time you stop by a

Great place for the kids. As an aunt I keep this place in my back pocket because for 25 bucks you can have a ton of fun and let the kids play.

Had a birthday party there for my 5 year old. Overall it was great, and the staff was very helpful. Only complaint is there is always a decent amount of games totally out of order or only partially working. Would be 5 stars if they could fix some games that are basically there for storage and never seem to get fixed.

My kids love it here & are so excited for the changes! The card system is so much nicer than carrying tickets & awesome to see games fixed/replaced. We will be back!

Fun place that isn't outrageously priced. Nice place to bring the kids for a couple hours, or for adults with the heart of a kid. Games average a quarter per play, which is a great price compared to the area larger arcades. Nice variety of games. They have the great old school games like skeeball as well as some of the newer technology. They are clean and well maintained. There's never a huge crowd or long lines. I enjoy this diamond in the rough.

This place is amazing. The kids have so much fun! And Jared was so helpful and friendly.

On August 17th my kids and I drove out from Chicago to this establishment for an evening of fun. I checked the website and it states that closing time is at 8 PM. We arrived at 5:55 pm only to be told by the guy at the counter "Yeah, well, I'm leaving at 6, so we're closed." IF YOUR HOURS HAVE CHANGED PLEASE CHANGE THEM ONLINE. So people don't waste hours of their time, gas and get their kids hopes up so then they cry the whole way home. Honestly you guys really suck for that. If I could give 0 stars I woul

We just had my son?s 5th birthday party at Nickel City. It was a blast for the kids but this place was truly foul. It looked like nothing had been cleaned in years. I'd say about half of the games were out of order. The staff that helped us was friendly, but one of the employees was clearly sick, with a sore throat and sneezing. It was really gross. Every single person that came to the party commented on how sticky the floors were in the party room. It was really disgusting. If the kids hadn't had such a go

Half the machines don't even work. Some will eat your money. It honestly looks decrepit, and the owners need to realize that the place is darn near falling apart! I mean it's bad. This place used to be a cool place to go but now it's looking like an artifact of the past. Do better Nickel City!

Took my kid for a few hours. The place could really use a deep cleaning. Half the machines weren't working , the ticket exchange machines fir tokens were also broken, which left lots of unhappy kids, and it was super overcrowded. I know over crowding is not the business fault, but it just needs to be a bit more organized and cleaner.

Fun. We won 600 tickets in a few hours. Love the skeeball and DDR!

Wow, what happened to this place? Most of the games are not functional. Seriously, like 75% of the vintage free games are shut off and some are partially disassembled, just sitting there dusty and neglected. Many of the games have busted controls. Paid games have jammed coin slots, or just eat your nickels. The snack bar was unattended and barely stocked with anything. The whole place was dirty (we found multiple screws and bolts just sitting on the floor), and don't even get me started on the creepy nightm

Very family focus, and totally renewed instead of nickel coin they implemented the use of magnetic cards to make it easier for everyone and all machines have being fixed or are brand new Definitely is a go to for any day of the week or weekend to have a great time with the family

Went here the other day for the first time as a fun date. The place was packed but I took that as a good sign at first. After about a 20 minute wait to get admission and coins it was off to the games. There was a decent variety, but most of the games were out of order sadly. And on the day we went the machines that were working were hogged by other player (I get first come first serve and all that but you'd stand behind these people and they'd look at you like you were the weird one watching them play. But

Half of the games were not working. 1 out of the 2 sketball games was wondering but the one working only had one ball. The fun throwing game -- the top row never would pop up. It's cheap even when games require 5-10 nickels but it takes forever to get the nickels in making it hard for 2 players in some games. Overall I would not return to this place.

My grandson and I had a lot of fun at Nickel City arcade. The arcade is bright and clean and all of the games work well

Sigh* Like may others writing a review, I used to come here as a kid. I was there when it was "super just games" (IIRC) and then when it downsized and became nickle city. It hurts too much to write a real review lol but lets just say i got $10 worth of nickels and left 15 minutes later with about $8 still. Half the games had out of order signs and the half that didnt were either not working right or not plugged in. The games that were there (working or not) were just not very good anyway. Very sad, I'm sure

Horrible! What happened to this place? If you're coming here from far away I just wouldn't at this time as there's a lot of games that are broken. We went on a Sunday and it wasn't very busy but there were so many games broken that the few that worked had a wait time. It has also become a safety hazard as there are nails, bolts, pieces of machine and tools laying around. Hopefully, they get all this figured out soon but looking at older reviews seems like it's been like this for a couple months. Wishing th

I love the premise and idea around this arcade. It's very nostalgic. My con's are that during our visit at least half of the machines were broken. Some of the machines had signs to alert you and others did not. You just lost out on your nickels. There was only one employee working (or so it seemed that way) so we didn't get him every single time a machine ate our money. The same goes for tickets, sometimes the machines were out of tickets so you just lost out on it. The positives are that they do have class

Great value for letting kids young and old get their game on. Credits are a nickel with most games being 3-4 credits. There is a $2 admission fee. We were there for a birthday party. They have a decent size party room. There is a section of games on free play in the back that are old school. Most of the games seemed to work find and be in good condition. A few were off and a couple were on but really not playable. The ticket prizes are cheesy but par for the course. Kids and dad had a great time.