You are good to go... it's an awesome time.

Get there a little early if you can, have dinner and a drink or two. Even better, get a group of friends up there so you can focus on the pins all night. Worked for me!

Yes!!! GO GO GO!! Awesome collection of pins and they all worked great. No dead flippers, most of them had color dmd's which was a nice bonus. Great place. And the pins and games are free as long as you keep buyin drinks. I went there last time I was in Chicago on business. 2 big thumbs up!!

The pins are all free play besides WoZ and MM.

I was under the impression that Headquarters does not server food. (you order from nearby pizaa joints & such).

HQ in River North has a great menu. The one in Lincoln Park may not serve food but the one in River North definitely does. I echo the same advice to get there early to enjoy all of the games before the night crowd gets there. My fiance is not into pinball/games but she tolerates HQ which says something.

I didn't order food... but 2 people in our group ordered the chicken and waffles and said it was the best ever. Just an fyi..

I was there last night and had a great time but only the top floor was open. Pin election was great. All working. I was a little disappointed bc I wanted to play a couple of the pins in the basement. Does anyone know what days they open the basement?

Does anyone know of the MM at this location is an original or MMr. I have only played one other A couple of times and am not sure

The basement is open on the fri/sat I believe to handle the larger crowd.

I was there a couple months ago. The MM is an original.

Thanks

Seems like a pretty huge mistake to drag the wife here for "date night."

There's dozens of great pinball machines to play. For free. Unless she's gonna be happy gettin drunk and watching you play pinball all night, I'm not sure why you've decided to make this a "date night."

Look, I know virtually nothing about women, but I know she will be miserable and then hold it against you for the next 15 "date nights" you have.

Take her to dinner and a movie and save this "date night" for one by yourself or with the bros so you can actually enjoy playing pinball for a few hours without a) her icy glare piercing your very soul for the entire night, and b) having it brought up again in 2 years during an argument when you thought she'd completely forgotten about it. You said she isn't a gamer...well what exactly is she gonna do there? There's nothing else to do. Unless she's a fan of 80s wrestling (which they tend to show on the flat screens).

Trust me on this one bro.

I went there on Sunday night after a late dinner at Roy's Hawaiian(just a few blocks away) and had a great time but only the upstairs was open. Only a couple people were playing the pins which were in fantastic condition and perfect playing condition, definitely well kept. CV was out of order which was a little bit of a bummer but maybe next time. WWE was really fun which I didn't expect.

The only way it would be an acceptable date night is if your wife enjoyed playing arcade games, pinball machines, seeing retro tv and music, or drinking an extensive beer list.

OP, did you ever make it out to HQ?

I'm guessing yes.

His wife has taken away his internet privileges for two weeks.

God sent that stomach flu to protect you from your own poor decision-making.

You have a chance now to not ruin "date night" forever.

I suggest you take it!

When you son gets better (and turns 21) take him to HQ!

This place rocks!!!!! Headquarters was the bomb!!!!!

Sounds like someone has a wife that is no fun AT ALL.

Sorry about cv. In the same week the CV at lakeview and at RN both went bad. I only had one of the motor/gear box in stock. New one should be installed on Monday though. WWE may have been an early code, that particular machine had an issue updating to where I have to replace the board. It gets much better than the early code you played on. Glad you enjoyed it. Also for those wondering about the basement, I believe it is open on Thursday as well. I think they just open it after a certain time.

Also at both locations WOZ is off the floor. One has 4 light boards out, the other the main I/O board fried. Waiting on parts but they will be back soon.

Damn are those WOZ parts under warranty? That's pretty sad that they cant hold up in such a short period of time...

I have to give them credit. They have stood by the parts, however it does take a while to get them here. It may be due to all the storms lately. If it wasn't covered under warranty, the I/o was going to be 550. With them standing by these games for me for as long as they have, they earned my business with Hobbit.

Good to hear they are standing by their products. Hopefully they work out the kinks and they become more reliable as well

It's nice to see Beercade keeps up with the maintenance of their pins. And what a great collection they have. I went to a local "retrocade" i'll call it, and they had a descent collection of pins, but not one of them worked right. Not ONE. It was very disappointing.And when I asked the manager if they had someone who serviced them, she kind of didn't really care. She said yes they do but he only comes by every few months. FYI, 3 months later, my boss went there and said all the pins were broken. 3 Months later. Anyway, like I said, It's great that Beercade maintains their collextion so well. Kudos to them.

Yeah they sure do. When I was there they had a tech working on a game during hours. He couldn't fix it on the spot so he wheeled it away and replaced it with a working game. Fantastic.

How great is that !!!

$550.00 to replace is one thing but they should offer a exchange price or repair service for a more reasonable price.

They may I am not sure. Like I said they were great and sent me one free of charge.

Great time. My son and his group went one saturday night left they had lines out the door. Recently maybe 2 weeks ago went sat night no problem. They have a one game limit if someone is waiting.

So he was waiting for one person playing all 4 players on the POTC. After they were done they did it again. So he called them out on it and the person left in a huff. The group he was with called him the pinball police.

Lol. It does say one game limit if people are waiting. Pinball etiquette.

Yup, some people just know how to pick em'

The problem with barcades is your dealing with people who just don't get it. Your also dealing with the general public who can just suck from time to time. People can be so selfish and rude it's annoying. I was at hq with a friend of mine and our girlfriends. The girls wanted to play nba jam with us so we kindly waited for a few guys to finish a game and they went to start the next one, I said sorry but we are waiting, two of the guys said if we want the game we need to play them and beat them for it. I was annoyed because the girls just wanted to play but it pissed me off enough that we played them and smoked them for the game. I said next time someone is waiting for a game they do not have the right to make them beat them to get the game and they said yea whatever. I saw them do it to another couple later and the couple walked away upset about these two guys doing that to them. So the next four or so games they walked up to play, I needed to "maintain" and opened them up so they couldn't play them. They finally asked why I kept doing that to them and I said "it sucks when your waiting to play a game and some dick won't give the machine up doesn't it?".

hahaha. Well done sir. I get why they treated the NBA Jam like a pool table, I really do. But if a group just wants to play a one off game and you can have it right back, just do it so they can play.

I definitely think the guy that was playing four players on a pin and had people waiting behind him and kept playing afterwards knew exactly what he was doing and was a complete ass to do that.

If any barcade is crowded and people are waiting to play the pin you are on, you must give them the game after your current game has ended. Also, if it is busy and there are people waiting behind you, don't even think about starting a 4 player game to play by yourself. That is horse shit. Plus, I think it is dumb to do that anyway. This is how shows do it, and I think free barcades should be no different.

I totally get it and that's why we did play them. At the same time we kindly asked them to allow us to play one game because the girls wanted to play with us and they said "na brah, your girls can play with us", then attempted to hit on my girlfriend in front of me like a bunch of ass clowns. I rolled my eyes and smoked them.

Getting married in less that 100 days and thank the Lord that we pretty much are into the same things. She loves pinball, although she might get tired of me talking about it all the time and how machines have taken over the basement, and we both Love music. But I would do anything for her and she would do anything for me. I think that is the way it is suppose to be..

The general public is full of inconsiderate, clueless and entitled asshats. Unfortunately, it kept me from playing a few pins I was really looking forward to. I'd say your best bet is to get there before it gets packed.

Yeah right man, this crap happens all the time. There are douchebags everywhere. I guarantee that happened. No class. I am just glad InHomeArcades whooped the idiots and sent them on their way.

Sounds like your soon-to-be-wife and my wife would be best friends. She loves music and pinball (within reason haha I talk her ear off too).

We are celebrating our 1 year anniversary at the Wakarusa Music Festival in Arkansas this summer. Can't wait!

That is cool, only thing we are going to see on the horizon is Mark Knopfler. However depending on Phish's summer tour we will probably go see them a couple of time or at least once together.

You would think so. I thought I was a child back in 1995 again playing mortal kombat. It was ridiculous.

Rampshot,

Yes it does it's very clear they have signs saying one -play if someone is waiting. I've seen it myself. This is on all the free play machines.

They have MM and Woz I think $1.00 per play not sure same rules apply. I went when it opened friday afternoon 3:00 pm we could get on almost any machine. I think these kind of places are getting popular. They also have tons of video games.

When I was there the Tron was out of order.

Awesome set up.

Nice. I got a couple lotus shows coming up and my wife will def want to hit phish this summer (her fav band)

Let's just hope Phish comes somewhere close to us... Last I checked the rumors, closest place would be St. Louis or Alpine... Really wish they would make a return to Indy. However, last time I was at Indy for Buffett they were coming down hard on anyone trying to do anything remotely close to vending, thus I wonder if that has something to do with why Phish hasn't been there in a few years, although I know it has more to do with amount of time on tour and where they can get the most butts in the seats.

Crazy. Everyone around here was pissed they didn't come to cincy or even Deer Creek last year. Sucks that the rumors are that this summer will be similar. Alpine is cool, I have seen Phish there before. Did two nights at Deer Creek and one at alpine a few summers ago. Fingers crossed this summer is closer to us!

Funny enough I am the big Phish head out of the two of us.. I introduced her when we started dating. She actually likes to see the guys on their side project tours better, smaller places and less crazy stuff going on, and she loves the horns in TAB a lot. Although, I think her favorite show has been when we saw Mike's solo tour a year ago in Chicago.