review of: Nickel City
(1 of 1 review)

555 Waukegan Road, Northbrook, IL
847-559-8727

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web site:
http://www.nickelcitygames.com/

category:		kid services
recommended for:		elementary,tweens
cost:		moderate
keywords:		birthday party, arcade
photos:

We booked a party for our daughter's 10th birthday site unseen. I'd heard that it was a "Chuckie Cheese" type of place for older kids. An arcade without the climbing tubes or rides for very little ones.

We went for it.

Nickel; City is an arcade for the over 5 crowd. Actually, there are a few games and rides for those under 5 (put in a nickel and you'll get a few tickets no matter what you do), but most of the games and rides are for kids seven and up. They've got Skeeball, Bozo, Wheel of Fortune, lots of car games and of course several of the Dance games. They even have old fashioned Air Hockey and Pinball.

Most of the games spit out tickets based on a score, then the tickets can be turned in for a prize. The games are all one or two nickels each with a few at four nickels, such as the Wheel of Fortune. While we were there one boy won 500 tickets on the Wheel of Fortune game, but as far as I know, that may be the only "jackpot" winner in weeks... or months.

At $11 per person, each child receives a cup with 50 nickels. We told them to "make them last" (they had about 30 minutes to play). We'd been warned that some kids can go through 50 nickels in 10 minutes, then they spend the rest of the time begging for more! The good news is that there is a bank of "free games" where they can start. For the kids who play a lot of video / arcade games, I can see how they might go through the nickels quickly. For our group, they spent 10 minutes or so on the free games, and had just about the right amount of time on the nickel games.

The price of the party included pizza for all the kids (choice of cheese, pepperoni or sausage), drinks (soda, apple juice, lemonade), a small cup of ice cream with sprinkles, 50 nickels, a plastic cup to keep all of their nickels in (and which they could take home), one voucher worth an additional 25 tickets, and a "free admission" for a future visit.

The environment was loud and fairly busy ( we went on a Saturday evening), but not completely packed. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves, though they agonized over what prizes to choose with their tickets. Their choices were pretty slim with between 150 and 250 tickets... only one or two kids out of the 10 had enough tickets for the smallest stuffed animal (very small... it could fit in the palm of their hand). Most chose slime type prizes, small erasers, or very small plastic animals (a la Littlest Pet Shop)

There were several games that didn't work correctly or that were out of tickets, but as long as we told someone about it, the staff took care of it fairly quickly.

Overall, the service was very good and efficient. They were ready for us and were very attentive to us while we were there. The arcade was a hit... and the sleepover that followed lots of fun!

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