UWink: Chuck E. Cheese for adults

I think they have these all over already.

They're called "bars", and every one I've been in has had a little mini-game screen with crap to play for like a dollar, exactly as described.

Granted, they're not at every table, but if 1 never gets any use, what makes them thing a whole bunch will?

I'd be curious if they would add something like NTN Buzztime Trivia to the mix?

Geez, small world. I grew up in Woodland Hills. ;P

Dave and Busters is Chuck E Cheese for adults. There you can win tickets and use them to purchase prizes - and there's a bar smack dab in the center of the place. This UWink seems kind of crappy in comparason.

I love the idea of ordering food and drinks from these things. I wouldn't play any game unless I'm alone, and eating alone is just sad.

Unfortunately, I think all of these "arcades geared for adults" are hitting off of the mark. Casual games are fun and all, but as someone mentioned above, you can do play all these games at your local bar. Why would you make a special trip out to this place to do the same?

While Dave and Busters isn't bad, Gameworks is atrocious. None of these places ever keep up with new games. Hell, the last time I went to Gameworks, 80% of the games they had were the same as when they opened 3 years earlier. It seems like Gameworks is getting away from their "adult's only" policy as of late anyhow.

I hope this can pull Atari stock back up from undead levels.

I live a couple miles from Woodland Hills and can't believe I wasn't aware of this. I was at that same mall a few days ago (I guess right before this place opened?) and it wasn't listed on restaurant directory or anything.

I will have to at least check it out I guess. I wish the restaurant website had the food prices posted. Of course you'd save money if you didn't have to tip anyone.

"Alissa Bushnell, Nolan's daughter, says the bistro is geared towards adults and women"

Because women aren't adults.

I don't think these are bad ideas at all, and could be quite fun.

i mean if 4 of you went for a meal and ordered your food, you may end up waiting 20mins or longer for it to arrive. If you could play a little trivia game with a 2-against-2 mode or something i think it'd be a fun thing to do whilst you wait. it's not like they're making you play with it while you're there.

maybe you have loads of places in the states that do things like this but we don't here in the UK...so be thankful :p

We have something in our area called The Barony. Its like gaming headquarters for the nerdy bunch that like Warhammer 40K, RPG, X-box games and dont forget the massive collections of collectable card games like Magic the Gathering and L5R. Who can beat that, play games all day and never have to leave because they sell food and drinks too!

This is not an adult chuck e cheese, its a bar. It would be nice if they did make a chuck e cheese for adults because the current chuck e cheese seems to cater to those 5 and under exclusively with nothing to do for children older than 5 and nothing to do for the parents despite the fact that its supposed to be a "family" fun center which means the whole family should be able to find something to do even if different members of the family are into different things.

This is not how it used to be though, back in the 80s it was truly a family fun center as there was something for everyone to do, and the arcade games they had back then were able to be enjoyed by kids and adults alike, nowdays chuck e cheese hardly has any arcade games, they have like 5 or less games per location from what i have seen in pictures and the majority of it is kiddie rides or redemption games that are clearly aimed at small children.

Gameworks and dave and busters are the adult chuck e cheese however i would like to say that Dave and busters sucks more than i could ever imagine. I keep up on the latest arcade releases and they do not have any of them, the games they have are usually around 5 years old sometimes more, yet they call themselves "state of the art", that is NOT state of the art i am sorry. I know what state of the art for arcades is because i have researched it, and what they are delivering is not state of the art. They just deliver the same old arcade games everyone else has and that i have seen many times already and they charge a premium for playing them.

Gameworks is owned by sega so there is some hope there, if you live by a gameworks consider yourself lucky, there are some nice arcade games being released around november by sega, i will not spoil it but going back sometimes after the first of the year might yield some nice surprises.

SaraAB87:

Don't they sell beer at chuck E cheese? that is always fun for the whole family.

Go, Nolan!!!

And SaraAB87 - the Dave & Busters you must go to must suck.

The one where I live has 2 House of the Dead 4 machines, 2 After Burner Climax machines, almost every Sega NAOMI machine you can think of, 2 class of 1981 cabinets, a nintendo cabinet with DK, DKjr. and Mario Bros, and the Taito silver anniversary machine, and a few Star Wars Episode 1 pinball 2000 machines.

Not sure about chuck e cheese as i am much too old to be going in one nowdays, whats ironic is that the vast majority of independent family fun centers here serve beer, its obviously the main draw of these places lol.

Dave and busters is a full bar here as many may know, the crowd for our location is the type where the parents go and sit at the bar and get drunk while their kids play on the video games and redemption games. Whats also funny is that the games must not be that exciting in there because more than once i have seen kids in there playing their GBA SP's or Nintendo DS's.

Afterburner climax is the machine i am looking for, i dont really care what version i find at this point, i am at the williamsville, ny dave and busters location. I must ask my friend who knows the arcade industry well what i can do to get them to bring better machines to my dave and busters! To give you an idea of what i am dealing with the best machine our dave and busters has is a daytona 8 player from 1994. I havent been to our dave and busters in a while either but improvement is doubtful.

According to the article i read afterburner climax isnt even supposed to be released until november... what D&B location do you go to?

Im familiar to the area and like its right next to AMC where bunch of teenagers wander around so I hope there any child playing at this place. I want to try this place, its a Megatouch restaurant and bar looks cool too! It will cool place to eat at lunch.

Seriously, I think the name is a problem. Seriously.

Think about it. You're a recreational gamer thinking about a cool restaurant you'd want to go to. Then someone says, "Hey, why don't we go to the uWink?" Anyone who doesn't know what it is will think of it as a place where people dressed by like the Comic Book Guy or an Imperial Stormtrooper can go to eat and get drunk without feeling overly self-conscious, instead of a real competitor to Applebee's (which, judging by the menu, is what they're going for).

Methinks they should have done some focus group studies.

I'm in the same boat as dantebk. I live a few blocks away and haven't heard/seen a thing. I'm skeptical, but this sounds worth checking out. Since this seems to be a fairly new idea, they'll hopefully be open to suggestions and improvements. I don't think Bushnell expects to get it perfect right out of the box.

~j

"Thank you, I'll be here all week."

Not necessarily.
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/10/18/next-gen-earns-enemies-with-top-50-game-journalists-list/
*wink*

But will there be Pong?

I see he's continuing the "rip off someone else" model of business...

Chuck E. Cheese was just a lower quality rip off of Showbiz/Billy Bob's Pizza.

1. @ uwink there will be an updated version of "pong"
2. Nolan invented the chuck e cheese business model.
3. the reason no one in woodland hills knows about uwink is because we purposely did a quiet opening. come check us out for you'll see we are NO dave n' busters. We aren't a bar. In fact, we aren't even chuck e cheeses for adults.

4. the games are free at uWink - so why would you go to a bar and have to pay for them?

5. The food at uWink is delicious. Modern Comfort food updated for today's tastes and seasoned with global flavors. This is not PUB/bar food.

6. @ uWink the experience can not be compared to anything else out there. The food, the games, the ambience. You'll just have to come try it to see for youself. The Editor of PLAY magazine visited with us yesterday and he was FLOORED (Impressed) with the Menu, the games, the ambience and the food. Ask for me. I'll probably be there.

Alissa,

I visited the restaurant today and was incredibly disappointed. I'm a woman in my early 30s. You say I am your target demographic yet there was not much to appeal to me. Most women my age are on special diets and there's no information on ingredients on the food. There is some kind of "green sauce" on one dish. I had to ask the "runner" what was in it and she didn't know. There is no way I'm ordering something with a mystery green sauce on it when a) I don't eat dairy products and b) I don't eat dairy products. Please be more sensitive to food allergies and special diets by listing ingredients in your mystery sauces. If not, don't pretend to cater to women.

There was only one game on the computer that allowed me to play a game with my tablemates. This was a trivia game and it didn't work. After two questions the screen went blank and crapped out.

At the end of the meal we were ready to swipe our credit card and pay but it said we had to go to the cashier and pay. Er, isn't the point of uWink the ability to swipe and pay? Okay, so we were disappointed with that. Might as well go to Denny's. So we went up front to pay and the cashiers took 10 minutes to figure out how to tally our bill.

Another gripe: I was given a big fat NO when I asked for a specific substitution. "Not yet," said the runner. Well, I'm a paying customer now and it would take absolutely no effort for you to accomodate my request. I simply wanted salmon on my salad instead of chicken. uWink's response: "No, not yet."

As far as the decor: it's sterile and masculine. Nothing warm or inviting about it whatsoever. There should be booths. It literally feels like an airport cafeteria. As for the pictures being projected on the walls, they weren't even artistic or interesting.

I hope something changes, otherwise this restaurant will fail and it's a great concept.

How to make it succeed:

*Allow diners to play more than just trivia against other table members.
*Allow substitutions of any kind, not just the substitutions YOU think we should be allowed. Many people in L.A. are on unusual diets - accommodate them.
*Allow me to order a gin martini or any other drink on the computer without having to ask the runner. Contrary to popular belief, the world does not begin and end with vodka.
*Allow an empty box where diners can add specific, special instructions to their order instead of forcing us to choose from predertimed options.
*Add something comfortable for the love of God. A booth or two.
*Tell the bartender to smile at least once in a 2 hour span.
*List all ingredients on the computer so we don't have to ask the runners who clearly know nothing.
*Allow us to pay at the table so we don't have to wait 10 minutes while the cashier tries to understand our bill. Isn't the point of the computers to streamline these things? Today, it seemed to complicate everything.
*Provide a sandwich bread other than ciabiatta bread. For those on low carb diets, make wraps available.
*Provide bread at the tables. It also would've been nice to have some water?

I think the concept is great - it just isn't ready for the public and needs a LOT of work.