I Wink, You Wink, We All Wink For uWink!

One thing that Nolan Bushnell seems to have always had is foresight. His biggest strength is that he's been able to use that foresight to anticipate what people want; thus, his founding of two (still active) forefathers  in their respective industries. So when Bushnell announced in 2005 that he was opening a new line of restaurants with a technology twist, I was instantly sold based off his track record.

Some of you who read this blog may not know who Nolan Bushnell is, and rightfully so; he hasn't made any HUGE splashes in the news lately. Let me fill you in. Nolan Bushnell is the co-founder and former CEO of Atari, one of the founding fathers of the video game industry. In 1977, while still at Atari, Bushnell bought Pizza Time Theatre from Warner Communications (although it had been created by Bushnell). He made the purchase so that Atari would have a place to showcase its best games, as well as its newest models not released anywhere else.

Pizza Time Theater would then go on to become Chuck E. Cheese, the father of the pizza arcade format.

uWink, the eventual name for the chain, was a great concept on paper. It was to have a fully interactuive touchscreen at each table, which acted as a menu where customers could place their orders, customizing them down to the last little detail. The orders, of course would be sent to the kitchen and delivered by attendants. When not in use as a menu, the touchscreen would be used to access a bunch of different games that the table could play while waiting for drinks and/or their food.

Now there's a twist here that makes the technology even cooler. If you wanted to buy a round of drinks for, oh, say, the cute girl and her cute friends at Table 12, you could do that through your screen, sending a note in the process. Same goes for playing games. You could strike up a Table Vs.Table game from your screen to get conversation going with another group of perfect strangers. If you were a techie who had problems talking to girls, this was your godsend. Your time to shine. Your mecca. Your mancave. You get the idea by now.

By the time uWink opened its first restaurant in October of 2006, Facebook had caught fire. People were already using technology to meet new people and strike up new conversations and relationships. This either could have been very good for uWink or a backbreaker out of the starting gate.

Out of the gate, it seemed that the company was getting great publicity and a strong showing in the profit column. They even opened two more restaurants in California, with plans to open franchises in Las Vegas, Canada, and Florida. Unfortunately, even Nolan Bushnell couldn't predict the financial meltdown that was to come in the United States. Well, maybe he did, and that's why the new franchises didn't open- I'll have to get back to you on that one.

Even with the recession, it seemed that the restaurant/technology concept was becoming a novelty; Facebook was the hands down king of people-connecting, and it seemed that Bushnell's ideas were antiquated. Bushnell's industries were all about really connecting two people who had never met each other, but were in the same room (i.e. a 4 player co-op video game or the uWink concept), but people seemed happier just connecting to others through the internet. Although Bushnell had a great concept, it seemed that it just may fail and it did; uWink closed all of their restaurants on September 13th.

But as one door closes, another opens; uWink is still selling their restaurant software under the name Tapcode, but they won't be opening any new restaurants. Although he'll be busy with the new venture, I fully believe that Nolan Bushnell is still thinking, stil contemplating, in the back of his mind, about what his next big move will be.