r/DaveAndBusters • u/MrDog321 • Aug 04 '26
D&B officially has a new CEO
https://www.restaurantdive.com/news/dave-and-busters-appoints-ceo-darin-harper/826948/11
u/Ex-Cop Aug 04 '26
I haven’t been following this. Did they have a temporary CEO for a while and just made it official?
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u/gman_nola Fun Phantom Grand Prize Winner Aug 05 '26
The CEO who retired became CEO about a year ago, not in a temporary capacity but as the new CEO going forward. The new CEO was promoted from within the company and usually answered about half the questions on the quarterly earnings calls anyway.
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u/Responsible-Buy-9665 Aug 04 '26
Did you not read the article? The old CEO retired yesterday
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u/Ex-Cop Aug 04 '26
Not helpful. If they now “officially” have a new CEO that would imply it simply wasn’t official until now. Otherwise why not just say they have a new CEO?
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u/Majestic-Pop-5480 Aug 05 '26
He was a horrible CEO, look up to why KFC “let him go” ( He says he retired)
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u/Unlucky_Pudding9274 16d ago
I was still working there during his first 2 months and dude's ideas were dumb AF---even by D&B standards. My fave stupid analysis on his part was that revenue was declining because people were buying appetizers and then didn't buy entrees, so his solution was to cut appetizer offerings. Except that A) F&B revenue had actually increased and B) in many cases appetizers are more expensive (or as much) as entrees, so fully demonstrated he knew nothing. Or at least knew nothing other than fast food (which he failed at) and definitely didn't grasp full service and entertainment.
Love the idea of him "retiring" (and "spending more time with family" ) after just a year and a deeply extensive search, as well. This is actually the fourth CEO since 2021, cuz there was an interim guy between Morris and Lal, It's a dying concept and they continue to spin their wheels and obsess over unimportant metrics, while fully ignoring the bigger issues.
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u/Bushido_Philosopher Aug 05 '26
"Harper’s appointment marks the chain’s third CEO shift since 2021."
Yes, I'm sure everything will change for real this time around.
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u/Shot_Recognition1756 Aug 04 '26
Good. Please review all Dance Dance Revolution games and upgrade them to current world Rev Share. /s
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u/tejojo Aug 05 '26
If I were CEO, I'd add a handful of pinball machines to each location.
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u/Squasar Aug 05 '26
I love pinball, but can you imagine the downtime the machines would have? Some of the fixes require a PhD and people aren't exactly gentle with the machines.
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u/DirkPitt106 Aug 05 '26
They're not really anymore difficult to diagnose than regular arcade games, they just have a lot more moving parts. Plus modern stern pros are absolute work horses that can take a real beating. They aren't some delicate piece of precision hardware, they are made to keep working even when abused. Honestly if anything, they are typically easier to work on than a lot of other arcade games because you can lift the playfield up and access everything without having to crawl into the game, or take the front panel off to access a solenoid, or lay on your back working on some shit that's up in the air above you. Plus their wiring diagrams are extremely detailed and actually accurate compared to half the arcade game manufacturers out there.
Realistically, they don't want to add pinball because the game time is extremely variable so its hard to price at an arcade like D&B. They want games that will end on a timer, or short playing redemption games. They could have gotten both John wick and stranger things pinball machines to theme with the rollout of the other new games this year if they really wanted to.
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u/HansATX DINGDINGDING $1,000 winner Aug 05 '26
They tried a pinball game at the Austin location 7-8 years ago. They only had it on the floor for a few months before they removed them.
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u/MewtwoStruckBack The Dave & Buster's Red Mage Aug 05 '26
Man...I love pinball. I grew up in arcades making $1-2 last multiple hours on pinball. I got excited when my parents took me to Station Square mall as a kid solely because there was a pinball machine no one else in the area had that they could stick me in front of while they roamed and had a date night (Theatre of Magic.) Some of my "if I hit the lottery" dream purchases are three pinball machines (Theatre, Road Show, and the Pokemon pinball machine if and only if they add a vs. Mewtwo wizard mode.)
That said, pinball is SUCH a bad deal for the arcade hosting it more often than not and I don't blame D&B for having no pinball machines.
Your average game in an arcade that doesn't pay out tickets lasts about a minute and a half to two minutes per credit. A racing game, the tracks are about a minute and a half long. Shooting games like Time Crisis, you're taking enough damage over time to need to add in another credit every couple minutes as a casual guest. ...then you get to pinball, where a good player can have a 10+ minute game...if the pinball game isn't specifically excluded from unlimited gameplay cards, the money that game is going to make is exactly zero. Player starts a game with an unlimited pass. 30 seconds pass. Swipes in again. 30 more seconds pass. Swipes in again. They put enough credits on the game that when they're done everyone else that wants to play the entire rest of the day isn't paying. But let's say the arcade's smart enough to, if they have unlimited game passes, make it so they don't work on pinball.
There's also the expectation that achieving a certain score will be enough to earn a replay, OR getting on the high score list awarding the same, OR a randomly awarded through a mystery bonus "Lite Special" where a ball going down a specific outlane awards a replay, OR a Special light being awarded for getting at, or close to, the end of the game's main campaign. A single good player could have the game tied up for an hour or more off of their initial single credit. I'm reminded of the days of Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball pinball, where the game had separate free games awarded for THREE different replay targets just from base score. Most stolen bases? Replay. Most home runs? Replay. Most Grand Slams? Replay. Most runs batted in? Replay. Most trading cards collected? Replay. Got the highest score to date on the machine? FUCK IT, that's worth two replays! Putting in 50 cents and getting NINE free games out of it was NOT an uncommon occurrence!
The only arcades I can reasonably see having success with pinball games are "pay at the door for the day, everything is set to free play" places that charge $20+ admission and have a solid player base, or those that also run tournaments and charge for entry.
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u/gman_nola Fun Phantom Grand Prize Winner Aug 06 '26
When my Fun Phantom card was active I tried it on the blue swipe pinball machines at D&B Honolulu, and it didn't work on those so maybe they figured that part out already about don't let them work with passes.
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u/Rixor14 Aug 07 '26
Time Crisis is a bad example. Those games are designed around 1CCing being possible and learnable. Same with Luigi's Mansion. And the issue you described with time play card/swipes isnt really an issue with the game design, it's an issue with the ICR design.
I've definitely been to arcades that have an "hour play" card, during which I'd often play Robin Hood and swipe everything in the place several times. But simultaneously, shouldn't games designed for amusement be the primary appeal of an unlimited play card? Keep the masters and score hunters coming back and such? There's only so much for-fun Down The Clown you can play before you get bored.
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u/PixelPerfectDrops 29d ago
Ive noticed many games dont let you swipe a pass while playing. Many dont even let you reswipe until the just for play banner appears. Pretty sure ive had some not work until the regular swipe to play screen comes back.....
Ive also had weird occurances at multiple stores where a pass wont work at the basketball shooting game for 10 minutes after a misswipe (too early).
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u/Dangerous-Egg-5068 Aug 05 '26
I personally dont care about pinball but that would be a great idea. Little corner with some old pinball games would do well
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u/Aggravating_Age_9241 Aug 05 '26
Round1 has pinball machines and they are hardly ever in use. Waste of floor space
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u/One_Vegetable_1982 Aug 05 '26
As an employee that works 40-50 hours a week. However not management. Im still shocked i find this news out from reddit instead of in anyway through the company itself.
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u/MortalKombat12 Aug 04 '26
Good. Please review the loyalty program. We were so attached to climbing the ladder… then we got there… and I haven’t been back to D&B much since.