Amusement arcades used to have machines against which you could pit your strength. I remember one in particular that had two metal bull horns that you had to grip and force together, as a guage registered your brute strength or feebleness.

In keeping with this tradition, I have devised a new machine appropriately called: Could You Resist The Hands of The Boston Strangler?

To use the machine you insert the appropriate coin, then type in your name, affirming that you had read the dire health and safety warnings. You next set the gripper gauge. This offers you a range of grips and variations from puny, sweaty, twisty, flabby, through to Full Thottle, the most severe and powerful of all.

Once activated a set of gloved hands reach out from inside the machine and grip the contestant's throat, who must resist as long as they can, one of their hands holding the emergency handle, which stops the machine the instant it is relaxed. Dramatic B movie music plays loudly; a light bulb flickers and a horribly contorted face lears into yours as the mechanical hands tighten their deadly grip.......

........ but the whole apparatus is actually a fake, and very little pressure is applied at all, regardless of the setting, and certainly never enough to cause any harm or unconsciousness.

After some theatrical fake choking and gasping on the part of the competitor, with their friends watching in a mixture of horror and excitement, the machine gives up, and the gloved hands relax.

A souvenir photograph is then printed out with your name and contorted face under the headlines: "I Survived The Hands of the Boston Strangler !"
-- xenzag, Jan 06 2007

The Boston Strangler squeezed this round bun into a croissant shape for you. [+]
-- imaginality, Jan 06 2007


Similar to an arcade electric chair I tried a few years ago. It was a big, imposing chair with sparking electrodes (in glass enclosures), a buzzing discharge sound and two 'electrode' handles that were really vibrators. As the noise got louder the vibration got more powerful. It was surprising how many people wimped out, sometimes as soon as the vibration started.
-- stilgar, Jan 08 2007


//but the whole apparatus is actually a fake//

My heart sank when I read this. Other than that, I like it.
-- jtp, Jan 08 2007


Love the title!
-- blissmiss, Jan 08 2007


It was brilliant until this bit:
//but the whole apparatus is actually a fake, and very little pressure is applied at all//
Fish for not seeing an excellent idea to properly half-baked conclusion.
-- DocBrown, Jan 08 2007


Alternatively, bun for the one point that makes this whole idea feasible. [+]
-- david_scothern, Jan 08 2007


Feasible? Come to your (non)senses David! There's no need for feasibility here, just a nice thick agreement to sign before playing.
-- DocBrown, Jan 08 2007


//Fish for not seeing an excellent idea to properly half-baked conclusion.// - you cannot advocate folk being REALLY strangled...(cruelty) see help menu.

I'm sorry to be forced to dilute the idea, for those who are disappointed, but this is only a small component of the overall notion. You still get to fool all those who watch, thinking you are half dead at the hands of the dreaded strangler.
-- xenzag, Jan 08 2007


Should fun be made of terrible, sad, true experiences? Orders of magnitude stronger for the victims.

Probably if the sadness or true emotion is there to be moved but otherwise empathy should be reinforced not diluted.Forgetting leads to problems.
-- wjt, Dec 29 2020


Clever. [+]
-- doctorremulac3, Dec 29 2020


Now, if you reanimated the actual hands of the Boston Strangler...
-- FlyingToaster, Dec 29 2020


"Igor, quickly ! The lightning rod !"
-- 8th of 7, Dec 29 2020



random, halfbakery