Remember tokens?

So this weekend I was at Dave and Buster's and as I was there I was remembering my childhood and a place called Circus Circus. I remember putting in dollar bills to get tokens so that I can play games. I would play skee-ball and various other games to win tickets so that I can spend those tickets on a worthless prize that I never kept. I must have spent a fortune playing these games all for those tickets. Well I found myself as a 5 year old child again, but this time it was different.

Instead of pumping in dollar bills to get tokens, I had to buy a card which cost 2 dollars and then add "chips" to the card for a monetary amount and then I was off like a little kid playing games. This idea of the card was genius!! With something tangible like tokens you have a sense of how much you are spending, but with the card, you have no idea and you just keep playing until you are done with all your "chips" then you go back for more.

I see all these kids around with cards in their hands and using them as I used to use tokens when I was a kid. They have no idea how much the game cost to play, this is genius by Dave and Buster's as they have gained a competitive advantage on the intangible. To cost of the card to the consumer is way more than the cost to D and B, so they are making a huge margin right there, but the upfront cost and maintenance is minimal compared to what they are bringing in on the charges.

Dave and Buster's has really used technology to their advantage and I have to applaud them. Really innovative.........