"Arial" – that was the person's screen name – made my evening when she missed the last of three trivia questions and I answered correctly to better this otherwise anonymous gaming rival. With the win, there was a little more bounce in my step, or, more accurately, my finger, as I navigated the self-service ordering touchscreen system at uWink, the concept created by Atari founder and Chuck E. Cheese's creator Nolan Bushnell.
I left the so-called "media bistro" two hours later a little less bouncy after having consumed a Manhattan cocktail; pan-seared salmon sandwich with wasabi mayonnaise on wheat ciabatta roll; and molten chocolate cake with fudge-banana ice cream. The tab for that bundle, along with a premium game play at 50 cents and a hefty tip, came to $35.70.
uWink is located on the second level of the Westfield Promenade Shopping Center in Woodland Hills, Calif. I recently, inadvertently but almost literally, bumped into Bushnell outside the 224-seat restaurant, and he offered to show me around.
On the way in, I was registered by a hostess and given a plastic card with a radio frequency identification chip. Each time you order an item at uWink – at least for now – you wave your RFID card near a reader on your touchscreen station to verify the purchase. You settle your tab on the way out.
Bushnell said his team has installed credit card readers at some tables and may make that configuration standard. A uWink employee escorted me to my table and gave me a quick demonstration of how to navigate the touchscreen and how to summon help if I wanted conventional service or something else.
The guest-activated touchscreens feed networked Apple Mac Mini computers that pass the orders to ticket printers in the kitchen. Restaurant staff has access to multiple terminals running Volante Systems Java-based point-of-sale software in a peer-to-peer configuration.
uWink's interior was dim, but not dark, to ease the workload of multiple video projectors spewing images of art, landscapes and satellite TV sports and other programming onto multiple walls; the low light level also served to heighten the visual impact of the dozens and dozens of touchscreens aglow with navigational icons, colorful photos of foods and beverages and entertainment content, including movie trailers and animation.
"Off the charts," Bushnell declared of customer response to a digital "Truth or Dare" game that is one of uWink's numerous free diversions, including topical quizzes, puzzle challenges and horoscopes. A moment later the "dare" – "Kiss the person next to you" – flashed on the screen, but neither Bushnell nor I had any problem ignoring the command.
Later, after he headed home, I scrolled through screen after screen of menu-item photos and descriptions and viewed order customization options that called to you from button labels such as "Make it Without This." Menu items included pan-roasted Alaskan halibut on mashed potatoes with black bean sauce, pizza topped with wild mushrooms and purple potatoes, and marinated, Korean style grilled skirt steak over ginger-coconut rice. The $12.95 kids' meals options include stuffed-bear premiums that the buyer can dress in one of nine outfits, including a bride's ensemble and a firefighter's uniform.
During my visit to uWink, nearly all the customers appeared to be under 30, and they included representatives of multiple ethnic and racial groups. They were split up in almost every conceivable manner and included a family of four with a young boy and a young girl, two couples sharing a four top, three girls, two guys, and two girls and a guy.
The crowd had been older during conventional dinner hours, Bushnell told me.
Documents filed by Bushnell's publicly traded uWink Inc. said management believes that the Westfield Promenade site, developed at a cost of $1 million, is capable of annual sales of $3.5 million.
There was no way to know who among the 50 or so people in uWink while I was there was the Arial that briefly punctuated my evening. "She" could have been a uWink staffer, but that didn't really matter, because my brief exposure to multiplayer action, genuine or simulated, was sufficient to help me understand the concept of "social lubrication." That's the term Bushnell uses to describe what he wants out of the games at uWink.
Looking around the room that night, I saw people laughing as they touched screens and heard others moaning at a colleague's quiz answer and I realized that some of them were "lubed" up and ready to go.