Timezone (video arcades)

Timezone is an international chain of family amusement arcade centres based in Australia. It is owned and operated by The Entertainment and Education Group (TEEG). Outside of Australia, Timezone is currently operating in India, New Zealand, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Timezone
TypeSubsidiary
Founded1978 (1978)
Perth, Western Australia
FounderMalcolm Steinberg
Headquarters
Perth
,
Australia
ParentThe Entertainment and Education Group (TEEG)
Websitewww.timezonegames.com
Old Timezone logo

History

The first Timezone arcade opened in 1978 in Perth, Western Australia, by Leisure & Allied Industries (now LAI Games). Timezone claims that it is the first family-oriented amusement centers of that time, and said that its family emphasis is the key focus of their brand.[1]

In 1995, Timezone started their ventures outside Australia.[1]

In December 2017, TEEG announced that they had purchased the bowling and entertainment division of Ardent Leisure in order to merge it with its Timezone entertainment business, forming a combined entertainment group encompassing Timezone, AMF, Kingpin and Playtime, one of the world’s largest family entertainment centre groups. TEEG operates in six countries with over 250 locations.[2] All AMF bowling centres in Australia were rebranded as Zone Bowling.[3] Centres in New Zealand were rebranded Xtreme Entertainment.[4] In November 2018, TEEG purchased all PLAYTIME venues and slowly rebranded them to Timezone with the last PLAYTIME converted to Timezone in June 2019.[5]

Powercard
Australian Timezone card
Australian Timezone card (back)
Timezone arcade ticket, back and front

Timezone arcade system moved to a magnetic swipecard system known as the Timezone Powercard. This meant that customers, rather than having to carry many coins around, could simply deposit a larger amount of money (for example, $10) onto their Powercard account. In order to use an arcade machine, they simply had to swipe their card through a detector located on the machine, and the credit would be deduced from the card account. This system was supplied by Australian company Embed International. Tap-to-play cards are now currently available in the Singapore, Philippine and Vietnam franchises and are beginning to be rolled out across Australian franchises as of December 2018. In the Philippines however, the cards are hybrid tap-and-swipe as not all branches have tap card compatibility yet.

In 2004, paper tickets for ticket redemption arcade machines were replaced with electronic tickets automatically loading on the card. Eventually, tickets were now dispensing again instead of automatically loading on the card, prevalent in the India, Philippines and Singapore franchises. In the India and Philippines franchises, a rare golden ticket allows the player to earn an extra 1000 tickets.

As of 2005, Timezone Powerclub credit in Australia lasted one year from the date of credit and the cards could only be used at the original store of purchase.

As of 2008, after many Timezone stores closed, balances can be used at any venue regardless of where the credit was put on. However, in order to progress to the higher Powerclub levels, customers can only put credit on at the venue which issued the card, or in some franchises, Fun Points can be earned by loading a specific number to reach a certain threshold for upgrade. The exception to this is where the issuing venue has subsequently closed down and a new "home venue" has been selected.

Powerclub

As an incentive to add credit to a Powercard, Timezone created four different types of Powercard:

  • Powercard: Welcome Card

Powercard Welcome Card is the basic type. As well as being issued with starting accounts. This card offers regular pricing and has no extra benefits.

  • Powerclub: Blue Elite (previously purple in colour)

Powerclub Blue Elite is the second type, issued when a cumulative $50 has been charged onto an account. This card offers VIP prices and has no extra benefits.

  • Powerclub: Gold

Powerclub Gold is the third type, issued when a cumulative $250 has been charged onto an account (previously $500). Like the regular Powerclub card, this card offers VIP prices and additional benefits like one daily free play on games with yellow swipers (as long as you recharge your card within 30 days).

  • Powercard: Platinum

Powercard Platinum is issued when a cumulative $1000 has been charged onto an account. This type offers VIP pricing and two free yellow swiper games everyday (as long as you recharge your card within 30 days)

Magazine


Starting in October 1993 Timezone started releasing a paid monthly magazine that had previews of upcoming arcade machines, reviews of current games and letters from readers. It also included photos of customers at Timezone locations as well as interviews with celebrities who enjoyed arcade games, as well as movie and music reviews.

References
  1. About Us. Timezone Australia website. Accessed 2015-04-08
  2. "The Entertainment and Education Group Acquires Ardent's Bowling and Entertainment Division". Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  3. "AMF is now Zone Bowling". Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  4. "AMF Bowling is joining Xtreme Entertainment". www.amfbowling.co.nz. Archived from the original on 22 January 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  5. "Playtime changes to Timezone". Timezone Australia. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.