Headquarters hosted a pinball tournament for masochists - Chicago Reader
Steve Dau can't remember how old he is. The burly, bearded Elgin man reaches into his wallet and pulls out his driver's license to check after I ask him. Dau does, however, manage the delicate task of sliding his license back in his wallet and then into the recesses of his pocket with one trembling hand, while keeping the other firmly pressed on the glass of a Metallica pinball machine—the same... It's Saturday night and—at last—we've reached the final hours of Headquarters Beercade's Hands-on-a-thon, a pinball tournament for extreme masochists. That only starts after you've kept one hand affixed to the machine while standing on your feet for 72 sleepless hours. To quote the heavy metal smiths whose cartoonish visages adorn the game Dau is touching, ". . . and nothing else matters. So-called "hands-on" competitions date back to 1992, when a Nissan dealership in a tiny East Texas town invited 24 contestants to compete to win a pickup truck by keeping a hand on it while remaining standing for as long as humanly possible. The stunt went viral when the 1995 edition of the annual contest was immortalized in the acclaimed documentary Hands on a Hard Body (which was later turned into an unlikely Broadway musical). The idea for Headquarters' contest was hatched earlier this year by members of management, who wanted a unique promotion to go hand in hand with the beercade's brand of 80s- and 90s-themed. Source: www.chicagoreader.com
