PUSH THE BUTTON
Naperville's hottest new gaming experience will challenge your mind & test your physical endurance.
The latest member to join the Activate family recently opened their doors on Route 59, just east of Fox Valley Mall in the western Chicago suburbs. My wife and I have been huge fans of Activate ever since attending a Yelp event at the Oak Brook location in September '23, so we jumped at a chance to be part of opening weekend here.
Once you arrive, staff will get you checked in. I strongly recommend using their free lockers, since you'll be doing lots of crouching, jumping and other motions that will empty all the change out of your pockets. Word to the wise: do NOT wear jeans, stick to workout gear like underarmor, leggings, etc. Open-toed shoes are strictly forbidden.
Activate Naperville has 14 rooms, each with its own unique twist. Most of the rooms are the same as those at Oak Brook albeit with a slightly different layout, plus two 'STRIKE' rooms instead of just one (a decision based on the innate desire of people wanting to hurl balls at targets).
'CONTROL' will test your multitasking abilities (jumping on a pad, pressing buttons on a console) while 'HIDE' is an exhilarating game of "don't get caught" while racing to spell a word or count to 30. This location is missing 'CLIMB', but they have a new area called 'SCAN' which uses 8 large touchscreens and had a virtual supermarket vibe we loved.
We noticed plenty of staff answering questions and attending to various issues within the rooms, but we never encountered any problems. Everyone was very friendly and eager to assist. Once our time was up, we were thanked and redeemed Activate's internal microcurrency for a prize.
Despite only being open for 3 days as of this writing, I wasn't fast enough to snag a Yelp first-to-review....however I DID walk away with a snazzy blue basketball thanks to the "coins" my wife and I accrued from kicking huge amounts of ass in there. It's the same bball used in their 'HOOPS' room, which is cool.
Prices are normally $25-30pp for a 75min session, but from 3/21/25--3/23/25 all bookings were free! They wanted to get the word out, and based on the crowds we saw shuffling in at 5pm on a Saturday, their strategy seems to have worked. With a prime location in Naperville, they ought to pull in tons of business. Here's hoping!
* TL;DR *
Cardio and quick decision-making are a must if you want to succeed at Activate.
I've said it once, I'll say it again--a session here is the most fun you can have without taking your pants off. It's unlike ANYTHING else you've experienced, a crazy hybrid combining the elements of Dance Dance Revolution with low-stakes Squid Game puzzles, along with other arcade challenges like shooting free throws & firing laser guns at light up targets.
I consider myself an Activate veteran who'll continue to sing high praise for this brand of one-of-a-kind entertainment. Text your friends, neighbors, and coworkers to meet you at Activate, see if anyone can bump "ericmagnum" off of the leaderboards! (betcha can't) read more