Volume 2, No. 4. February 22, 2002
Pinning hopes on the
future
Once positioning itself as the fun
and games venue of the future, GameWorks is about to take a page out of America's
past to further its coolness factor. Bowling—the real 60-foot-long lane,
10-crashing-pins kind—will be joining the video games and virtual sports
typical of the hybrid arcade/nightclub when Minneapolis, Minnesota, opens its
GameWorks in the fall.
"Bowling is the ultimate party game," said Ron Lam, CEO of GameWorks. Almost
a third of Minneapolis GameWorks's 35,000 square feet (10,600 square meters)
will be devoted to a 10-lane bowling alley called Hollywood Bowl with disco
lighting and a dance-happy soundtrack. Lam envisions that GameWorks, located
in downtown Minneapolis, will entice groups of workers from surrounding office
buildings to drop in for lunch and a roll or perhaps engage in happy hour bowling.
Lam was in Newport, Kentucky, yesterday to host a pre-opening party at GameWorks' 13th venue, and he said the company improves with each outing, further distancing itself from its 1997 founding as a cutting-edge, adults-oriented arcade in Seattle. Until Minneapolis' edition is completed, Newport's will serve as the model GameWorks. This 25,000-square-foot (7,500-square-meter) center is set to open March 15 in the Newport on the Levee retail and entertainment complex across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio. It contains the Jax Grill restaurant serving a full menu of starters, entrees and deserts, the Hopscotch Lounge serving signature cocktails in an intimate setting, and in between the Arena Bar where bartenders and wait staff occasionally break into a percussion and dance routine. The center will also contain more than 200 games and virtual experiences, including the Big Win Zone filled with redemption games.
These disparate sections are arranged in full view of each other to maximize sight lines to the various entertainment elements, whether that entertainment is chefs flipping pasta with their skillets, bartenders drumming on ice buckets or other patrons playing games. "Everything is open; everywhere you see entertainment," Lam said. Despite its name, GameWorks is trying to position itself more as a fun place to hang out than as a place to play games, he said. "It's all about socializing."