In 1953, Michael Kogan, a Russian-Jewish businessman who had settled in Japan during the Second

World War, founded Taiyato Trading Corporation.

Like the many foreign industrialists, then gravitating toward the island nation, Kogan

aimed to capitalize on post-imperial Japan's rapidly modernizing economy, and so he imported

vending machines in jukeboxes, as well as his ancestral homelands national spirit, Vodka.

In 1969, the Tokyo Engineering School graduate named Tomohiro Nishikado joined the company,

at first designing mechanical amusements and later, after Nolan Bushnell's pong initiated

the video game craze, arcade games.

In 1978, following minor successes like Speed Race and Western Gun, Nishikado created

Taito's Killer App, Space Invaders, and enduring classic that launched the Golden Age of Video

Arcades.

In the 1980s, the dank cabinet filled halls became omnipresent at shopping malls in Japan

and North America.

In 1982, restaurant owner David O. Corrivo, an arcade owner, James W. Corley, merged their

businesses under one roof in Dallas, Texas, naming the eatery by combining their nicknames,

creating a grown-up version of Bushnell's Chuck E. Cheeses.

The concept exploded in popularity during the 1990s by focusing on the alcohol-consuming

adult market.

This is more powerful home consoles from Nintendo, Sega, and Sony pulled the youth market

away from arcade sticks and onto their living room couches.

Now with over 80 locations in North America, and over $500 million dollars in annual revenue,

the original bar arcade continues to be a force in the chain restaurant sector, and

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