Entry No. 136 — the Chicago file — filed under: mini golf
Novelty Golf & Games
Novelty is advertising its 77th season this year, which puts the opening around 1949 and makes it older than most of the weathered fiberglass statues still standing over its two 18-hole courses. The whole operation is cash only with an ATM parked in the game room, where machines take quarters and the lineup spans Centipede, House of the Dead, 2000s pinball and modern racing cabinets. Batting cages go $2 a token for 20 pitches. The attached Bunny Hutch snack stand has new management, a new menu and soft serve now, and reopened alongside the course. Weekday closing is midnight, late enough that the floodlights do something unflattering and wonderful to seventy years of sun-bleached fiberglass.
→ Three more arcades, pinball & oddball play in Chicago — never the same twice
The story
Novelty is advertising its 77th season in 2026, which dates the two 18-hole courses on Devon Avenue to the tail end of the 1940s, back when this stretch of Lincolnwood was the edge of the spread. It still runs under the name painted on the snack-stand sign, Bicker Bros. Nothing has been rebranded, resurfaced into a "family entertainment center," or otherwise improved. The obstacles are the original vocabulary of American miniature golf — windmill, castle, hollow tree — built in fiberglass and carrying every one of those seven decades of sun on their paint.
What you play past: a white rooster the size of a pony, mid-crow in a bed of zinnias; a tyrannosaur; a small Statue of Liberty; a turreted castle; a hollow tree-trunk house with yellow windows that glow from the inside after dark; a blue windmill wearing a hand-lettered plea not to spin the blade by hand but to step on the yellow "peddle"; and a Bowl-A-Matic hole with fiberglass pins standing at the end of it. Hole 13's target is a bullseye of concentric painted rings. String lights run over the whole property on wires, and there are real flower beds between the fairways, tended.
The rest of the block is the same vintage. The game room takes quarters — Centipede, House of the Dead, 2000s pinball, modern racing cabinets — with a change machine and the property's only ATM, which matters, because the whole operation is cash. Five batting cages run from 25 mph softball to a 75 mph major-league lane, $2 a token for twenty pitches, bats and helmets provided. Next door the Bunny Hutch sits under a red shingled roof with a giant rabbit in a red vest and yellow bow tie posted by the door and Vienna Beef umbrellas over the tables; it reopened with new management, a new menu and soft serve.
What it's like
Pay cash at the window — there is no card reader anywhere on the property — take a putter and a colored ball, and start when you like. There are no tee times and no starter, so on a warm weekend night everyone bunches at the first hole and then strings out; if the group behind you is faster, wave them through. Kids as young as two play here and strollers are allowed on the course, so slow rounds are the norm and nobody minds. Last start is an hour before closing, and the posted hours have been contradicting themselves this season, so call (847) 679-9434 before you drive out. Go late anyway. Under floodlights and strung bulbs, seven decades of sun-bleached fiberglass looks considerably better than it does at two in the afternoon.
The move: Play both courses — 36 holes, $24 each after noon — with the loser buying Bunny Hutch soft serve, then spend whatever quarters are left in the game room and finish in the batting cages at $2 a token. Go after 9pm; the lit statues are the actual attraction.
📍 Before you go Cash only — the ATM is in the game room. Posted hours are Mon-Sat 10am-midnight, Sun 10am-11pm, last start one hour before close, weather permitting; the site itself says call (847) 679-9434 first, and a couple of posted blocks contradict each other, so do. Mini golf is $16 per person per 18 holes after noon ($12 before), $24/$18 for both courses, $8 for kids under 42 inches. Strollers are welcome on the course. Bunny Hutch food orders go to (773) 457-3142. Seasonal — it shuts for winter.
- 📍 Lincolnwood
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Big night
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 3650 W Devon Ave, Lincolnwood, IL 60712
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
⚠ Seasonal or scheduled — always check before you go.
Pair it with
- Superdawg Drive-In — Head straight west on Devon and you hit Superdawg — same postwar era, same conviction that a business needs two enormous fiberglass mascots on the roof, and it stays open past 1am.
- Leaning Tower of Niles — A few miles northwest in Niles, a half-scale Leaning Tower of Pisa standing in a suburban lot: the daylight half of an afternoon that ends under Novelty's floodlights.
- Bohemian National Cemetery — South on Pulaski, a vast and genuinely quiet Victorian cemetery — the sober counterweight if 36 holes and a batting cage is too much sugar for one day.
More weird in Chicago
Good to know
How do I get there?
3650 W Devon Ave in Lincolnwood, just over the city line from West Ridge. It's a driving trip — there's no useful train, and the whole point is a car and a late finish.
What does a round cost?
$16 per person for 18 holes from noon onward, $12 before noon; $24 or $18 for both courses; $8 or $12 for children under 42 inches. Batting cages are $2 a token for 20 pitches, and the arcade runs on quarters.
Is it really cash only?
Yes. There's an ATM in the game room and a change machine for quarters, but bring bills and save yourself the fee.
Can we bring small kids, or a stroller?
Both. The course is pitched at ages two and up and strollers are explicitly welcome on the paths — worth knowing if you were also considering Par-King, which turns away anyone under 48 inches.
Is it open year-round?
No. It's a seasonal, weather-permitting operation that shuts for winter, and hours have been running limited this year. Call ahead; the posted schedule and the posted notice don't always agree.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site
last checked: 2026-08-26