Dave & Buster's

Dave & Buster's

Type	Private
Industry	Entertainment/Restaurant
Founded	Dallas, Texas (1982)
Founder(s)	David O. Corriveau; James W. "Buster" Corley
Headquarters	Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Number of locations	68
Key people	Tyler J. Wolfram, Chairman Stephen M. King, CEO and Director Dolf Berle, COO and President John B. Mulleady, Sr. VP and CDO
Revenue	$541.5 million (2011)
Owner(s)	Oak Hill Capital Partners
Employees	8,000
Website	http://www.daveandbusters.com

Dave & Buster's (D&B) is an American restaurant and entertainment business headquartered in Dallas, Texas.^[1] Each D&B has a full-service restaurant and a video arcade. As of January 12, 2013, the company had 61 locations across the United States and one in Canada. The company does not license the D&B concept internationally nor domestically.

History

The first Dave & Buster's was opened in Dallas in 1982 by David Corriveau and James "Buster" Corley. In 1989, Edison Brothers Stores purchased a majority ownership in the restaurant to finance further expansion into other cities. Dave & Buster's was spun off from Edison Brothers, and went public with Andy Newman as chairman in 1995.^[2]

D&B acquired nine Jillian's locations after Jillian's filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy^[3][4] in 2004. Seven of these Jillian's locations have been re-branded with the Dave & Buster's name, while two of them were closed following the acquisition. The company announced on December 8, 2005, that it would be acquired by private equity firm Wellspring Capital Management.^[5] On July 16, 2008, Dave & Buster's Holdings Inc, filed with the SEC to again become a publicly traded company.^[6] The company had set a date for the IPO of October 5, 2012.^[7] However, it pulled out right before it opened. In June 2010, Oak Hill Capital Partners, in partnership with the company's management team, completed its acquisition of Dave & Buster's from Wellspring Capital Management.^[8]

Operations

Food and drinks

Items on the Dave & Buster's menu are offered from early lunch until late night and feature a wide variety of food. The selections include pastas, burgers, steaks, seafood, chicken and desserts. The menu is updated to reflect current trends and guest favorites. Some locations serve Sunday brunch. Buffets are available for special events and private parties. All D&Bs offer full bar service.^[9]

Games

The entertainment attractions offer both traditional games and high-tech entertainment. Dave & Buster's locations offers traditional entertainment options including: pocket billiards, shuffleboard tables, a "Show Room" or other special event rooms; which are designed for hosting social parties or business gatherings. The largest area in each Dave & Buster's is the Million Dollar Midway which contains numerous electronic, skill and sports-oriented games. The Dave & Buster's Power Card activates all the Midway games (with the exception of coin action games) and can be recharged for additional play. The Power Card enables customers to activate games more easily and encourages extended play of games to increase customer spending. By replacing most coin activations, the Power Card has reduced the technical difficulties and maintenance issues associated with coin activated equipment. Furthermore, the Power Card feature has increased the company's flexibility in pricing and promoting of games. Games include:

The main D&B arcade

• Galaxian Theater, a multi-participant, enclosed simulation theater where up to six players take part in mock battles with alien invaders;
• Iwerks Turbo Ride Theater, a 16- to 18-seat motion simulation theater; large-screen interactive electronic games;
• "The 19th Hole", a golf simulator;
• Simulator games such as formula race cars, off-road vehicles, fighter jets and motorcycles;
• Virtual world, a fantasy environment attraction;
• Virtuality, an interactive, electronic game designed to simulate an actual battlefield environment;

The company also contracts for exclusive games designed to build customer loyalty and repeat visits:

• "Super Trivia", a 6-person game that pits everyone to answer 5 multiple choice questions correctly in the fastest time possible. There are 3 choices for each question (A, B, & C), and ticket prizes are awarded to the top 3 contestants.
• Derby Owners Club
• Pac Man Battle Royale
• Carnival-style games;
• Classic midway entertainment;
• D&B Downs, which is a multiple-player race game;
• Pump It Up, a 5-panel dance game from andamiro, incorporated in a large majority of D&B stores;

Ticket Redemption games;

• Wheel Of Fortune, based on the popular TV show where it has a cyclone and coin pusher game
• Spin n' Win, a wheel game to hit 1000 tickets (not all locations have the 1000 ticket jackpot)
• Deal or No Deal
• Fruit Ninja FX
• Big Bass Wheel, a wheel similar style to The Price Is Right's big wheel but it's formed as the shape of a frog in which people try to win 1000 tickets. You use a handle to push down to spin the wheel. In 2012, the Jackpot was added, where people can win up to 2000 to 5000 tickets.
• Haunted Hotel, a muti wheel game that has 5 levels and spinner has an arrow (not all locations have this, instead, there are 2 called Haunted Manor)
• Speed Demon
• Wheel Deal
• Cyclone
• Infinity Blade FX - Similar to the iOS game only that when an enemy is defeated, tickets are rewarded to the player, and 100 tickets are rewarded if the player defeats the God King (This because of the fact that not many players have been able to defeat the God King in either version).
• Monster Drop, a rotating wheel with holes throughout with various values of tickets tied to the hole. The largest prize is Monster Jackpot hole surrounded by an elevated ring. The player gets three chances to drop the ball from above the rotating wheel to accumulate a ticket total.
• The Price is Right Shell Game - based on the long running popular game show where it features "Shell Game" one of the pricing games on the show. If the contestant picks the correct bucket where the shell is hiding, then he/she goes on to spin the big wheel for more tickets.
• Frogger
• Raptor Captor
• Monster Hunt Grand
• Space Ballz
• Tippin' Blocks
• Tutti Frutti Slot Machines
• Super Monkey Ball Ticket Blitz
• The Wizard of Oz

Another view of the arcade

• The Winner's Circle is the redemption center for coupons won from certain games. A variety of prizes are available, many with the Dave & Buster's logo. The prizes include stuffed animals, clothing, small electronic items, large electronic items, and novelties.

Other games are some of the old popular arcade games and the simulator, racing, and shooting games:

• Ms Pac-Man/Galaga
• Joust, Asteroids, Defender ultracade game
• Mario Bros./Donkey Kong/Donkey Kong Jr.
• 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker
• Daytona USA - most (if not all) locations have either 6 or 8 deluxe cabinets
• Need for Speed: Carbon
• Ferrari F355 Challenge
• Time Crisis
• Sega Strike Fighter
• Airline Pilots
• Ghost Squad
• The House of the Dead 2 - some locations have the 50" deluxe cabinet, while some have a booth-style sit-down version
• The House of the Dead 3
• Harley-Davidson & L.A. Riders
• Star Wars Trilogy Arcade
• Club Kart
• Hydro Thunder
• And more which are not listed.

Events and sponsorships

Dave & Buster's is a corporate sponsor of the Ultimate Fighting Championship organization. There are screening rooms for every UFC pay-per-view and episode of The Ultimate Fighter. D&B also sponsors the charity Dave Bevans' Children in the fundraising event "D&B for DB's".

Prior sponsorships include a World Wrestling Entertainment match and a 2009 tour by the rock band Bowling for Soup. The WWE match took place on the July 20, 2009, edition of WWE Raw on the USA Network. It is believed to be the first match on any WWE program to have a specific sponsor associated with it.

Dave & Buster's also sponsors postgame reports of San Jose Sharks games.

References

External links

• DaveandBusters.com (official website)
• Dave & Busters UK (Background to UK franchise)