Chuck E. Cheese 2.0

Nolan Bushnell, creator of Pong and founder of Chuck E. Cheese restaurants, is up to a new project, one that may just merge the inner gamer and bar rat in all of us.

"Imagine a Chuck E. Cheese for grown-ups—with booze and Caesar salads instead of balloons and singing animatrons. Bushnell has built "party tables" where six customers can play each other in the same game, and tournaments where diners in any of the restaurants in the chain can compete against each other in a single contest such as Texas Hold 'Em. Bushnell says he will open the first restaurant this fall in Los Angeles."

Obviously, this isn't going to be an overnight success, but it has great potential. I can remember countless trips to the local Pizza Hut, sitting around thumbing through the little trivia cards set on the tables, and quickly giving up due to boredom. Between meeting fellow gamers, and potentially having a place where a gamer can feel at ease talking about Warcraft, Mario, or a new PC's hardware specs, the restaurant should give a great avenue for a new audience of gamers. This could potentially be the cigar shop for the gamer. The only thing that may hold it back, the name, uWink Media Bistro.

Update: 8 Jul, 2007 - Edited post and applied labels.