February 28, 2025
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The Scene

Activate gaming facility brings fast-paced team games to Naperville

By Dave Oberhelman – Daily Herald Media Group
Activate will open in a nearly 12,000-square-foot space in the Fox River Commons shopping center at 704 Route 59 in Naperville this spring.

Activate will open in a nearly 12,000-square-foot space in the Fox River Commons shopping center at 704 Route 59 in Naperville this spring. (Photo provided by Activate. )

People often compare the Activate interactive gaming facility to the movie, “Tron.”

“You’re in the video game,” said Jason Thompson, chief operating officer for Sounds Fun Entertainment in Lexington, Kentucky, the entertainment and dining company that has Activate among its holdings.

Naperville residents will be able to experience that for themselves in late March, when Activate opens in a nearly 12,000-square-foot space in the Fox River Commons shopping center at 704 Route 59. The tentative opening date is March 21.

An active entertainment for which sneakers are the most appropriate footwear, Activate in Naperville will have multiple rooms offering different games, testing skills such as agility, hand-eye coordination, fast thinking and, since Activate is geared for teams of up to five people, communication.

Activate will open in a nearly 12,000-square-foot space in the Fox River Commons shopping center at 704 Route 59 in Naperville this spring.

Activate will open in a nearly 12,000-square-foot space in the Fox River Commons shopping center at 704 Route 59 in Naperville this spring. (Photo provided by Activate)

Strictly an entertainment venture, there is no food or beverage service.

Held in darkened, black-walled rooms to accentuate the colorful lasers, glowing panels and LED targets, games include a digital version of dodgeball called Strike, a wall-climbing game aptly named Climb, a version of laser tag called Mega Laser and many others.

Thompson said games that have become “TikTok famous” are Grid and Mega Grid, in which players must step on or avoid glowing tiles on the floor.

Each game lasts up to only 3 minutes, but each game presents several different versions, each with 10 levels, “so you can kind of play endlessly,” Thompson said.

That is, within a 75-minute experience. At the Activate in Oak Brook, open since April 2023 at 1600 16th St., time slots cost $24.99 Monday through Thursday, and $29.99 Friday through Sunday plus holidays.

Thompson said it’s popular for children’s birthday parties but also for adults and with companies using Activate for team-building exercises.

He noted the games are fast-paced enough that one customer in Lexington quit his health club membership and instead comes into Activate three times a week for an hour.

“We love it because you are kind of the joystick,” Thompson said. “You are in the game and you’re doing things that are mentally and actively challenging. We think it’s a good space to bring people together, the kids aren’t on their phones, you’re playing and working together.”

As with the people behind The Picklr, the pickleball company that opened at Fox River Commons in March 2024, Thompson said Sounds Fun Entertainment targeted Naperville due to its family density.

“Naperville is one of those communities that really hits our demographic,” he said.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250224/business/activate-gaming-facility-brings-fast-paced-team-games-to-naperville/

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