Location: Headquarters Beercade 2833 Sheffield, Chicago, IL 60657, USA
Report date: 25th May, 2013

Report by Dan Marquardt

Headquarters Beercade, at the corner of Sheffield and Wolfram in the Lake View neighborhood of Chicago, just opened a new 6,000 square foot pinball arcade addition to their 2,000 square foot video game bar.

The entrance to the new Headquarters pinball room expansion

It was always a shame that the area in which almost all pinball machines were - and still are - made had nowhere to play a large collection of pins. That has changed in a big way with the opening of Headquarters pinball building expansion.

A large glowing neon sign on display

Seventeen pinball machines are available to play right now, with many more coming soon. The pinball titles pretty much consist of half recent Stern pins, and half '90s Bally and Williams pins.

The new Metallica pinball machine from Stern

Two Bally '90s favorites

There is no cover charge to enter Headquarters, and all the games are on free play.

Lots of people playing the pin classics

The pinball room is very spacious and features three bars which exclusively serve micro-brew drinks.

One of the three bars in the new pinball building

Plenty of drink selections at HQ

The new pinball room connects to the existing video game bar, so you can play all their video games too. The interior decor of the building is both unique and interesting.

Lots of artsy decor throughout the location

I played about 12 of the 17 pins there and they all looked good and played well, while the extensive staff was extremely friendly. The location was pretty crowded when I went on the Saturday night of the pinball building's opening weekend. The patrons there were mostly in their early to mid 20s, which is partly due to De Paul University being close by.

A row of pins getting plenty of interest from the patrons

One tip I would like to pass along; parking near Headquarters is horrible. Parking downtown and taking the Brown Line CTA elevated train to Headquarters might be a better plan than driving around Headquarters looking for a parking space. The Brown Line stops at the Diversey station, which is only a block away from Headquarters.

More pins getting played at HQ

Here's a full list of the games so far:

I hope the risk of opening a large pinball bar pays off for Headquarters, as it is great to have such an awesome pinball destination right here in Chicago.

© Pinball News 2013