Best IRL gaming spots

Off The Wall

104 Main St., Park Ridge

This cozy cafe is located in the heart of Park Ridge. Sip on your favorite latte while playing one of their many board games or video games. If that’s not for you, they also offer trivia nights.

Dave and Buster’s

9870 Berwyn Ave, Rosemont gives us something to look forward to every morning,” Nelson said.

Both Denver and Nelson agree that it’s better to hang out together playing cards while creating memories than being on their phones in a circle. Teenagers spend around seven hours on their phones every day, and in between homework and extracurriculars, they have little time to spend with their families.

“We don’t get really competitive with it, it’s more just for fun than anything. We love doing it every day because it’s a nice way to pass the time without having to be on our phones,” Denver said.

Despite her busy life, Sophomore Charlotte Chapman is committed to spending quality time with her family by playing their favorite games, Monopoly and Clue,while sharing pretzels.

“During COVID, we had game nights every week, but now we only play every once in a while,” Chapman said. “My family gets really into the games since we are all super competitive, but it’s all just for fun, we don’t play for money, it’s just nice to hang out all together.”

Sophomore Kara Chaplin and her family also have lots of traditions and memories surrounding game night at her lake house after her younger cousins go to bed.

“The first game I remember playing was Five Crowns, and I played it with both sides of my family,” Chaplin said.

“This game is not as competitive as B.S. gets at my lake house. B.S. is definitely my favorite game, and I play it with my uncles late at night as we snack on chips together.”

Some families get so competitive while playing to the point where dinner and big money are on the line.

Sophomore Kate Dunleavy recalls that during quarantine, her family had such a competitive game of Rummy going on that the loser was not allowed to eat dinner and, had to buy it for the rest of the family.

“It was very competitive and the stakes were high,” Dunleavy said. “Now my family can’t even look at a deck of cards, and we have not played Rummy since.”

Game nights with family and friends allow for core memories to be made and for people to grow closer together.

Sophomore Aidan Micek enjoys having game night with his family religiously.

“One of my favorite memories was when my family and I were playing Monopoly, our favorite game,” Micek said. “I owned every property and was able to convince both of my sisters to sell me all of their properties. The game did not last for long, and afterwards I was super proud!”

While games can sometimes bring out the worst in people, they more often bring families and generations together for the better.

“I used to play cards with my grandmother every day after school,” Dunleavy said. “We played everything from checkers to Monopoly, and it really helped deepen my relationship with my grandma.”

The perfect spot for both gaming and eating can be found at Dave and Buster’s. They have both a wide variety of arcade games, prizes, and a vast menu.

Ignite Gaming Lounge

8125 Skokie Blvd., Skokie

Ignite Gaming Lounge is perfect for a hard core gamer. Choose from a PC, X-Box, PlayStation 5, or Switch with their “hard wired mechanical keyboards, awardwinning optical mice, and noisecanceling headsets,” according to their website. Games range from “Fortnite” and “The Sims 4” to “Rock Band” and “MarioKart.”

Nickel City

555 Waukegan Rd, Northbrook

Nickel City is your average arcade that you know and love, except you play with nickels. While they might not have the newest games, you can play classic games such as “Skee-Ball,” “Bozo Buckets,” and “Basketball.” They also have a selection of free arcade games as well as a prize counter to redeem all your tickets.

Snakes and Lattes

1965 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago

Any board game you could ever imagine is housed within the four walls of Snakes and Lattes. Here you can book private rooms with unique themes, including “enchanted forest,” “starship,” “haunted study,” and many others. They also offer monthly themed trivia nights.