uWink, Inc. was a publicly-traded digital entertainment company based in Los Angeles, California, USA. The company was founded in 2000 by Nolan Bushnell

Nolan Bushnell

Nolan K. Bushnell is an American engineer and entrepreneur who founded both Atari, Inc and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza-Time Theaters chain...

, the co-founder and former CEO of both Atari

Atari

Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...

 and Chuck E. Cheese. After little success developing interactive entertainment for restaurants, bars and mobile devices for several years in 2006 the company changed focus to their uWink Bistro concept, which it describes as an "entertainment dining experience which leverages its proprietary network and entertainment software, including the uWink Game Library".

Bistros

uWink Bistros have a touchscreen

Touchscreen

A touchscreen is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touching the display of the device with a finger or hand. Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus...

 video terminal at each table. Patrons complete their order through the video screen without the assistance of wait staff, and it is then transmitted to the kitchen. The interactive kiosk

Interactive kiosk

An Interactive kiosk is a computer terminal featuring specialized hardware and software designed within a public exhibit that provides access to information and applications for communication, commerce, entertainment, and education....

s allow patrons to view ingredients and nutritional information for each entree, and support customization in both food and drink orders.

While waiting for their food, patrons have the option of playing social games (aimed at engaging a group of customers at a table) or viewing movie trailers, music videos, horoscopes, celebrity gossip and comedy skits. Games include "challenge games" such as "Zillionaire" (a trivia game similar to "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?") as well as multi-player games such as Pong

Pong

Pong is one of the earliest arcade video games, and is a tennis sports game featuring simple two-dimensional graphics. While other arcade video games such as Computer Space came before it, Pong was one of the first video games to reach mainstream popularity...

-style games that groups can play away from their tables while they are awaiting their orders.

Locations, expansions, and closures

• Woodland Hills
  Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California
  Woodland Hills is a district in the city of Los Angeles, California.Woodland Hills is located in the southwestern area of the San Fernando Valley, east of Calabasas and west of Tarzana, with Warner Center in its northern section...
  
  , California, opened on October 16, 2006 in Westfield Promenade
  Westfield Promenade
  The Westfield Promenade is a large shopping mall owned by Westfield Group and located on Topanga Canyon Boulevard in the Woodland Hills district of Los Angeles...
  
   and closed in January, 2010. It received mixed to favorable reviews.

• Hollywood and Highland Center
  Hollywood and Highland
  The Hollywood & Highland Center is a shopping mall and entertainment complex at Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue in the Hollywood district in Los Angeles. The center also includes Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the Kodak Theatre, home to the Academy Awards. The historic site was once the...
  
   in Hollywood, California, opened on June 27, 2008 and closed on September 12, 2010.

• Mountain View
  Mountain View, California
  -Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...
  
  , California, opened on September 15, 2008, closed April 21, 2009, in the Castro Street space formerly occupied by California Roadhouse.

On June 11, 2007, uWink announced its first franchise

Franchising

Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a verb....

 locations would be opened in the Miami, Florida area via an agreement with OCC Partners, LLC. Under the Area Development Agreement, up to three franchised uWink restaurants are to be built in the Miami-Dade county area over the next four years.

On June 25, 2007, uWink announced its first joint venture

Joint venture

A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...

 with venture capital

Venture capital

Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...

 firm Jefferson Partners to open uWink locations in Canada. Their first bistro was expected to open in Canada by early spring 2008.

During February, 2009, uWink delisted itself from the NASDAQ.

During April, 2009, uWink closed its third restaurant in Mountain View, California. uWink blamed the closure on the location's high rent and general difficulties in the United States economy. Two restaurants in southern California remained open.

In January, 2010, uWink closed its first restaurant in Woodland Hills, California.

On September 12th, 2010, uWink announced that they were closing all their stores and would be selling their computer services to other food establishments under the name Tapcode.

External links

• uWink Official website
• Official uWink Bistro Blog
• "Moving Beyond Pong and Pizza" - U.S. News & World Report
• uWink Bistro Detailed Report - The Stinger Report