Level 257 - Pac Man Themed Restaurant (Schamburg, IL)

Crawley

Member
Mar 25, 2013
706
4
Level 257 is a large Pac Man themed restaurant that popped up last year. I hadn't gotten around to checking it out till recently.

It's located at the Woodfield Mall in Schamburg, IL. It's near Sears but can hardly miss if it you see it from the road or 53.



It's got a bit of everything inside. A bar, a restaurant, a few bowling lanes, and of course arcade and pinball games.

After checking it out its certainly more geared towards large groups of people getting together. If you do the bowling you can also eat right there as they've set up a bar style table at each lane. I think the bowling is free but you have to pay for the shoe rental.

I was a bit disappointed in the food there. None of it was Pac Man themed. So a pork chop is just a pork chop, and a rib eye just a rib eye. They're not even named anything Pac Man related. And the food was jut ok in general. It's one of those you pay a lot and don't get a lot type places. Although I have to say the desserts were pretty good (oreo cheesecake was fantastic and I don't like cheesecake).

But I was only half there for the food. I wanted to really check out the pinball setup there. And they had quite a few.



To play the games you need to first get a Level 257 card which you put money on it in increments of $10, $20, $40, etc. The higher value you add to it the more 'bonus cash' you get. For instance $20 will get you an extra $2. Games range from .25 cents to $2 a play. Most of the pinball tables were $1 a pop. I think Gogar may have been .75 cents.

It used to be that you could buy unlimited plays per a time period (e.g. 20, 40, 60 minutes) but they got rid of that in favor of a per play cost.



The pinball tables I tried were in very good condition. It looks like they have an on-sight tech there. He finished fixing up Addams Family pretty quickly and it was back up and running.

So the current full lineup of pinball tables they have there are: Game of Thrones (Pro), Kiss (Pro), Addams Family, Twilight Zone, Black Knight, Gogar, Mr and Ms Pac Man, and GhostBusters (Premium)



Surprisingly they had two cocktail style pinball machines. Night Moves and Star Trip - Star Trip being pretty rare I believe.

I actually didn't end up playing either of those and basically played a bunch of Game of Thrones. I had only played the Premium version of GoT and this was the first chance I had to play the Pro. It definitely plays differently as the game play is so fast. There's only a few areas that are going to allow you to catch your breath (the lock, dragon, and bumpers). So if it comes to SPA then I look forward to playing both versions.
 

Crawley

Member
Mar 25, 2013
706
4


There a bunch of other classic arcade games there too which I think were .25 cents each.



As well as some modern takes on classic games. Like the Pac Man Championship there on the left and this updated version of Galaga on right - which I did try and was pretty fun but not really all that different from the classic game.



There were a bunch of racing style games there including this 4-linked Mario Kart racing game. A ton of shooter games too. Including the Star Wars Battle Pod where sit inside a chair with a HOTAS setup and the curved screen takes up the majority of your view. There's some effects like a bit of wind and shaking but for $2 you basically play 1 level and you're done - too expensive.

But what shooter was a hell of a lot of fun is one called Dark Escape 4D. Both the wife and I played that one and we loved it. You get in this little booth and put on these 3D glasses. The game is House of the Dead style shooter with a silly storyline. But there's some good scares in it. The seats will vibrate, air will shoot at you, and lights will start flashing in the booth. It was actually a hell of a lot of fun. Even at $2 per person we gave it a go twice and had a lot of fun both times.



We also tried this thing - Pac Man Smash. It's basically air hockey with a bit of a twist.

It starts off normally enough but after the first point is scored a bunch of pucks of different sizes are dumped on to the table at once. Crazy music starts playing and it's a mad dash to shoot and block all the pucks flying around the table. Once those are cleared it goes back to normal and then at some point all the other pucks get dumped back on the table.

It's pretty fun and worth checking out if you every come across it.
 

Crawley

Member
Mar 25, 2013
706
4


They also have a little shop there with Pac Man themed things you can purchase.



I didn't get any of it but there was some interesting choices there.



Yeah I'm not too sure about the energy drink there.
 

Crawley

Member
Mar 25, 2013
706
4


And they had a bunch of Pac Man memorabilia from the 80's. Pretty sure I had that Pac Man board game.



And likely wanted those Pac Man roller sakes big time.

So the place is worth checking out if you're going in a group, particularly if you plan to go bowling. The pins are in very good condition and there's plenty of arcade games to play there. But the entire thing is pretty pricey.

If you're just looking in the general area to play classic arcade games and some pins you'd be better off going to either Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield or the Underground Retrocade in Dundee. Both have a flat fee for unlimited play.
 

strells

New member
Oct 7, 2014
291
0
Wow, on my business trips there I've been going to Gameworks right nearby and went to the Underground Retrocade last time. Now I've got to check this out! Way more pins (and probably better maintained) than Gameworks sad set.
 

CycOd3liC

New member
Feb 28, 2012
404
0
Very Nice! The closest I've found to that are the Pacman-themed bathrooms at Ground Kontrol in Portland.
 

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