Oomba, Inc., which is about to launch the Unrivaled Tournament Series for tabletop games (see “Unrivaled Tournament Series”) is acquiring the assets of GameWorks Entertainment, LLC, which operates nine entertainment and gaming venues in the U.S. 

The combined companies will merge into Barington/Hilco Acquisition Corp., a shell company which was formed to complete an acquisition or other business acquisition and trades on the NASDAQ exchange, at an agreed enterprise value of $60 million.  The combined company will operate as Oomba GameWorks after the merger has closed. 

GameWorks locations offer arcade games, bowling, billiards, laser tag and virtual reality and serve food, craft beers, and cocktails.  Three of its locations, in Seattle, Las Vegas, and Denver, offer eSports arenas, and the remaining stores will be remodeled in the same way.  The plan is “to aggressively grow the total number of GamesWorks locations and invite professional eSports teams to become the exclusive home teams of each store, thereby making Oomba GameWorks the first and largest chain of eSports stadiums across the United States,” the announcement said.

Oomba operates Collegiate Colosseum, an international eSports tournament.  Its event software can be used for eSports events, although prior to this transaction, tabletop games events been the largest source of revenues for Oomba’s event software (see “Oomba Builds Company on Tabletop Games”).