If I could give this place no stars I would. First of all 90% of the games have a out of order sign on almost every game. Some games aren't turned on and some don't give you tickets. They have more workers than games that actually work. When you asked staff questions about the establishment they had no answers. Why even allow people to go in when 90% of everything is out of order. The staff didn't seem to care that nothing was working. When we question a manager about the place he refuse to think there was a problem. When I question why was everything off he refuse to acknowledge that the place is going down. I wish I would of read reviews before going here. I use to come here years ago and clearly this establishment is not run by the same management. Don't let your kids have a party here for their friends to make fun of them to have a party at a place that has none working machines. I ended up coming home with the same amount of Pennie's I purchase. read more

Place is fun. It's neat and clean too. Very well run. Lot of fun games and nice prizes for tickets.

I have been here about 4 times total so I believe I have an accurate opinion about the place. PROS: CHEAP! 2 Dollar entry fee, and games take nickels. Average game is about 2 nickels, with the max I have seen going up to 6. Selection of games is decent, has some of the older games like pac man and mortal kombat on free play. Has ticket games also. CONS: Selection is limited. The majority of the games they have are racing games. They have a couple fighters and about 4 shooters, which only Time Crisis is worth the time. Only 1 austin powers pinball machine, and they dont always have staff at the snack bar. If you wanted to get something to eat there, you have to go to the front counter, request somebody, then if you were paying by card you would have to follow them all the way to the front counter cause they dont have a credit card machine by the snack bar. All in all, a great place to spend money for some cheap fun. What keeps it from getting 5 stars is its limited selection. read more

I really think this place is awesome. Its the lowest priced arcade I have ever been to and all of the games literally take nickels save for a few such as claw machines. In the summer it tends to get filled with kids from camps and other groups so I would try to avoid going at peak times during the summer. Sometimes its too busy to even move effectively. The value of games is good but the dollar to prize ratio is underwhelming like any other arcade. Overall come with a few bucks and get to play longer then at other arcades. read more

It feels like a classic. Haven't been able to find an old school arcade like this. Nickels for redemption games is reasonable. And the free section of video games is small but love revisiting old games from the childhood. The prizes are noting to brag about, but the experience is old school fun. read more

I reserved the party room here and it was overall such a great experience!! Will definitely be doing it again soon. My friends and I had such a blast! We were allowed to bring our own food and I booked us the room for 2 hours. Everyone kept telling me how much fun they had and we all wanted to stay longer and keep hanging out. We're all in our late 20s and it was something fun and different to do on a Saturday night. The staff was super nice and so professional! Nickel City has all of the classic arcade games and I've been coming here since I was a kid - it's still great! The staff prepared $10 cups of nickels for us and that was a perfect amount for 2 hours of gaming per person and they just billed it with the room rental fee that I paid at the end of the night. Will definitely be booking this room again soon! read more

Thanks to the oh-so-awesome Timmy Z and Beth, I was toted out to the 'burbs in Tim's Magic Awesome Van to go to Nickel City. The coolest arcade I've been to in a long while. Unpretentiously stuck in the corner of a mini-mall was a gnarly arcade where all the games worked on nickels, not quarters. The best part about the arcade was the back area, where there were a bunch of older games that you could play for FREE. Yes. FREE. Like an eagle. The games included Tetris, Galaga, Track and Field, and Bust-A-Move. I could've spent hours back in the free play area alone. But the reason why I feel like I need to write about this place is the coolest game I've probably ever seen. Mega Man: Power Battle. You had the choice of being Megaman, Protoman, or Bass and the course you wanted to take, each with different bosses. In essence, this game was Mega Man boss fights... without the levels. I know. Awesome. I know... I'm willing to bet that this would be one of my buddy Joel's favorite games next to Dance Dance Karnov and FFVII. Other highlights were other awesome free games like Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo and Wrestlemania.They also had the Simpsons arcade game, that operated on a nickel for every continue. I know. Awesome. I know. I kind of want to live at Nickel City... The only criticisms I have of this place is the lone air hockey table and the Pop-A-Shot selections were not well maintained. But then again, I'd like to consider myself a Pop-A-Shot connoiseur... Also there's a $2 admission that's well worth it in my opinion. read more

This arcade isn't so bad. It used to be much bigger. Some games don't work. $2 admission but there are free games. Mostly old games, Games cost nickels ranging from 1 to 8 nickels. If you want to play new games, this place isn't it. If you want cheap, this is the place. The prizes' tickets are so high, it'll be almost like going to Gameworks and Dave & Busters with $25. $25 worth of nickels won't get you a good prize. read more

Went here the day after Thanksgiving with our friend's kids. They had a great time. EXTREMELY loud inside, which is to be expected when you have that many kids in any size area running amok. The adults mostly hung out by the free retro games to recapture our youth and see if we could still play our old faves. You can't beat the prices here-they offer a wide range of snacks-including some healthier choices. They even offer some sugar free and gluten free snacks for kids on special diets/allergies. This place seriously needs some pinball. Not one pinball game worked. :( read more

This place is awesome, only costs $2 to get in and you can play all the old school arcade games for free! Everything else takes nickels, but very low $, Mario kart, dance revolution, shooting games, pinball, air hockey, etc. They also have games that give you tickets and suitable for all ages, even small toddlers can play. The prizes here are great too, large variety for small # of tickets, your child can actually leave with a couple cool things, or save up to get something that takes thousands of tickets. The games give out lots of tickets too, so easy to accumulate, and kids love that. (as opposed to places that do everything on a swipe card its more exciting with ) There is a snack bar too, chips candy, and also pizza, nachos.. Etc This is such a hidden gem In Northbrook, in back of a strip mall, and it's never super crowded. They're open late, 10pm sun-fri and 1am on weekends, 365 days/yr. You don't have to spend a ton of $$ to have fun for hours here. They have a large party room, free wifi, even magazines to read. I've been taking my son here for 10 years, many times as a Xmas tradition. We it. There's not many small Arcades like this anymore. Its clean and the staff is always friendly read more

First off, I loved this place. This place was super cheap. A lot of games are a nickel only but some are more. I thought this place was gonna have more little kid games but they have some rather hardcore fighting games. I would totally come back to this place but its kind of drive for me. The space feels a little crowed and I can see how it can feel over run if there are any parties with a bunch of kids. The food there isnt that expensive either. I also loved how it was open rather late at night. read more

Fun place with outstanding arcade games and more. Its placed in a nice area, the employees are nice, and called nickel city for a reason.u pay to play arcade games with nickels. U buy a bag of nickels and u can play any of the arcade games besides for some. Great place I highly suggest it read more

I enjoyed this place much more than gameworks or D&B. Probably simply because it is more true to the old school arcades of my childhood. The have a corner of classic selections and free play too. This is great if you want to brush up on your fatalities in Mortal Kombat or conquer metal slug with a buddy. I felt kind of with my buddy as we were most likely the oldest people there that were there to play without kids. That feeling goes away pretty quickly after a few games. The games take nickels which is awesome. Even newer games are about 40c. This is a huge factor in the coolness of this arcade because the cover is only 2$. I spent about 5$ in nickels and about an hour in the classic free arcade. Needless to say, we had fun and it was well worth the price of admission. Especially since you can get hours and hours of fun for nickels! The kids today really have no clue about the older games so if you know how to play say, street fighter alpha you might attract a small crowd of kids that are curious. Its pretty funny actually. Its feels like you get to show off your skills however, if you have been gaming long, you know that anyone can step up and beat you. I really can only handle so much of screaming children so it was nice to leave when we were done. I see no reason why this place does not deserve less than 5 stars. read more

-Very Cheap -Fun -Free old games for $2 entry fee -A bit run down -Don't go here to eat, go here to play -lots of small kids read more

WORST PLACE EVER! This was my first AND LAST time I will ever go to Nickle City. I am twenty years old and I wouldn't even take a child to this place. It was awful and disgusting. Nothing works, the attends are USELESS teenagers who could honestly care less about their job. The food is TERRIBLE and not only that, but the bathrooms are like a giant room filled with STD's. Seriously save your $2 and just go sit in a trash can (Its almost the same only the trash can would probably be an improvement. I would never EVER bring my child to this place! This place needs to be condemned and closed down for good. Its nothing but a place filled with broken down games and crappy prizes you can't even make an attempt to win because none of the games actually give tickets since they all suck. Trust me when I say SAVE YOUR MONEY even if it is just $2 I would NOT recommend this place. read more

The best thing that this place has going for it is that it's Cheap. The entrance fee is outdated. They COULD use more games instead of remodeling the dirty floor. Favorite games are Tekken 5, Marvel Vs. Capcom2 , and that game with the sniper scope. They do have a lot of broken games, THEY could WIPE the screens down, at least monthly or something. overall it's cheap, 10$ you can be here all day. read more

most of the games were broken, nickels were jammed in or that it completely refused to take the nickel overall. only games that weren't entirely broken. read more

When I found out about this place from a friend of mine, I had to bring my kids here. When I told another friend, she decided to bring her kids too, and we did this whole giant outing to the nickel city arcade place. It is loud, full of old school arcade games and kids, and is cheap to spend a day or afternoon letting the kids play some games. The kids had so much fun that we ended up deciding to play some games, too, so we stay a little longer. I am a little scared of going back there because we all looked like a bunch of junkies, but it will be another awesome time if we do! read more

I give this place 3 stars. It has about the same cleanliness (or lack there of) as a Chuckee Cheese. The pizza is about the same quality ( as in no quality) also. It doesn't have a big mouse like chuckee cheese but I think that is a positive. The bathrooms smell like a truck stop. I went in there and was like, "is there a truck diver in here because this place is for kids?" I guess truckers like games too. You can win tickets and if you are really good at the games you will only spend 4x as much in nickels than the prizes are worth. It's kind of a deal considering the mall arcade is like 8x. I think the mall arcade closed because everyone shops online and plays video games on their phones. Normally, I play games while going number 2 but I didn't here because of the truckers using the bathrooms. Do your business and get the hell out of there. read more

I used to come here during my childhood. It used to be called Super Just Games, went through other name changes. Was bigger with go-carts and jungle gyms, more game selection. We went recently and a sad amount of games weren't working. Did like the skeeball, air hockey, ddr, nostalgic arcade games, nice staff. Only $2 entrance fee. Cheap games, the most expensive being 4-5 nickels. Needs a makeover imo. read more

I havent seen a place like this since wonderland in Eugene, Oregon. Free games plus cheap games for tickets. If you had a time machine in the 1990s you could go to 2014 and play Mortal Kombat for free instead of wasting all your 1990s quarters. That might not be the best use of a time machine but this is a good use of $2 and a bag of nickels. read more

I remember coming here a while ago when I was in high school. Although the first few times were pretty fun, this place is pretty much the same now. They still have pretty much the same old stuff they had years ago. This place is pretty cheap, but after coming here for so many years, this place is pretty boring now. I would not go out of the way to come here, unless I am literally by the area. I wish they add newer stuff here... read more

Young and inattentive people working at this place. The carpet is totally disgusting , lots of machines broken , and shitty prizes.

This place is beat. Time for a refresh. Too many dead machines and too many bad screens. This used to be a favorite.

If you want to drive yourself insane with hundreds of kids...maybe thousands, lots of old loud video games, and on top of that more children, this is the place! Its a great place to go and take a group of kids because games are usually free or a nickel or more and there's sooo many games. you can easily get caught up in the ride...i played that star wars game forever while my other camp guys were determined to finish the simpsons game.....but be warned, the nba jam game...Shaq sucks. He doesnt play D and gives a half ass effort. Plus i think the refs are out to get you. Another good thing about NC is there's only one way in and one way out, so if you're guarding the door you know you cant lose any kids! read more

I LOVE Nickel City! Nowhere else will you find an arcade where every machine is in proper working order, little to no wait to play the game you'd like to play, or helpful staff to refill tickets once you've hit the jackpot. I wish I were at Nickel City right now. read more

Thank god this place has a lot of hand sanitizer everywhere. LoL besides that this was a great place that brings you back to your childhood (aka when arcade places weren't scarce and overpriced bars) It also gains mucho points for having a little back area with at least 18 free play machines, which did include awesome oldies like Mortal Combat, Pac Man, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The only crappy part of this night was that they closed an hour early and shooed away my group when they were trying to cash in their tickets. Not exactly nicely, as they said, "Sorry, save them for next time, we're done." So that is the reason they don't get 4 stars. (Not because the 17 year old sweaty stranger who wanted in on the winner at MK kicked my ass w/o mercy even though I told him I'm just a random button masher) Great place, okay service. read more

It's a cool concert but the fact that you have to pay $2 to get in and some of the games are almost a dollar it adds up, you think your saving money but in the long run you are not. The ticket games are cheap when they work and you barley earn any tickets to start off with.. I like be free old school games but I almost rather stick to game works or Dave and busters and beercade read more

Everyone here is friendly and happy to help. A great place to bring your children as well. Family friendly. Prices are very reasonable, and they have free archade games. Awesome place! read more

I was surprised by how many video arcades there are around Chicago. This one is sub-par compared to the others but its just OK. First off you have to expect that at a nickel instead of a quarter, the games will be a little out of date and run down. They did have some newer games like Tekken and Silent Scope 2, but other games were pretty beat up. One DDR console had a broken footpad. It didn't feel to clean around there but they did have lots of hand santizer stations. I appreciate how cheap the game play is, at $2 admission and $5 in nickels I'll probably play almost as long on the limited machines as I would at a play-all-day. But I don't think I would return unless I was really pressed for something to do that afternoon. read more

This is a great place! $2 entry with free play on a ton of games is great, but on top of that all the other games take nickels. I spent 10 bucks here and was entertained for 2 hours. I went during the week and there was just one family there which meant I could play any games I wanted for as long as I wanted. If you want a cheap video game fix, this is your place. read more

This place is small but beyond filthy. Half the games are broken and old. Its not even worth the groupon deal. The main employee that greets you needs a new job and shows it by how he interacts with customers. Never again read more

Cool concept. I love playing the older games. Went there with my 23 year old son. Felt kinda like a pedo since the majority of the clientele is under 12. Probably won't go again because of the Chucky Cheese vibe. read more

I went for a birthday party and it was my first time. I liked how they tried to section games from small to children to bigger ones but the space is small. They have a wide variety of games but it's such a tight fit that it's overwhelming. If they would set aside a bit more space for the games it would make a world of a difference. The staff was nice but I think they were tired because it was jam packed. A few machines got stuck so they had to run from there to the counter to take care of kids with buckets full of tickets. Overall it was a nice experience. read more

Kids love this place so parents, you gotta deal. The management is pretty nice and aim to make the kids happy. Lots of games. Try it out when the weather is bad because kids from ages 5-12 can easily spend 2 hours there without breaking the bank. read more

If you like arcade games and some of the older generation games for cheap then this place is great. It wasn't too busy when we went and it's easy to pass some time here. read more

My sister had her birthday party at Nickel City. She later declared it was the best birthday party ever and I couldn't agree more. The staff was friendly, extremely helpful and prepared. Most of all, they were patient (which is a great thing considering the party consisted of 10 eight year old girls). I would highly recommend having a party here if you are into arcades and video games. read more

This place is awesome, clean and fun and my reason for going back is that it's cheap and since I'm a huge car fan, their one game with old jdm cars was such a nice touch. I think it was based off Initial D. I took my girlfriend and she loved this one game that was clearly based off of roulette and you had to guess which colour section a ball would land on, super cool. The prizes aren't great but who cares, the games are actually fun and since they have free ones, I get it. We got helped by a girl and a guy and they were both super attentive and I had no problems whatsoever with staff. I left my phone in my car and I was worried that if I left I would have to pay admission again but they were like oh go find it don't worry just come back and I did. It seems like a ton of people don't like nickel city but I think it's worth coming back to and we took a 30 minute drive just to go. Even if you guys think you're going to have a bad experience, just go anyways because worst off you're out like 10 bucks and you got to play a couple of arcade games for cheap. read more

Nice classic arcade (an extinct play-land), but instead of dealing in 25 cent pieces, they deal in nickels. There is also a section of classic games that are free to play. $2 cover - a great/fun place to kill some time at. read more

I was just here the other night, and i have mixed reviews. Pro's: Very very cheap! where else can you find a arcade that accepts nickels, late hours on weekends! Free games in the back! They have the SIMPSON'S game! Con's: Very dirty Staff is terrible, they do not care really about anything other then getting off work. Brought up many issues and non were even thought about for more then a second. I'd say about 30% of the machines in the front were not working at all. At times it was quite challenging to find an open working game that was not terrible. The ticket counting machines are terrible, we easily lost over 200+ tickets to them suddenly reseting or displaying some kind of error. Brought this up to staff, they said they could weigh the tickets with a scale. Guess what? scale was broken, was told to count them ourselves. (seriously) Bathrooms should never be used by any human-being EVER. Over all despite all the con's, this is still a place worth checking out. It seems straight out of some 80's/90's movie. Just go once to check it out, after that you will understand why you will probably not be returning read more