Patrons of the Tea Pizza Ranch will notice upgrades to the restaurant’s FunZone

Garret Ammesmaki,

Editor

Patrons of the Tea Pizza Ranch will notice a few upgrades to the restaurant’s FunZone.

The business recently purchased three new games for the arcade, with another one on the way. They also installed a new ticket redemption counter, and added a few new television screens to keep track of ticket counts.

The games include Prize Time Deluxe, Pearl Fisher, Candy Crane, and the one on the way is called Hoop it Up.

With Prize Time Deluxe, FunZone patrons can spend their tokens retrieving a variety of stuffed prizes. Candy Crane will give them a chance for suckers and other sweets, and Pearl Fisher will have them playing for tickets to redeem at the brand new ticket redemption counter.

Co-owner Jay Jessen said they used to have a machine that would take tickets and expense prizes, but wanted to expand the redemption counter for a while.

Though it is not manned full time by a member of Pizza Ranch staff, they installed a button to the side that will call a staff member over for anyone who’s needing to exchange tickets.

Co-owner Jay Jessen said they had been planning these additions and upgrades for around a year, but pulled the trigger on them last month.

The games cost over a thousand dollars each, and the new counter and the extra screens carried a decent price tag as well. But, Jessen said, regulars and new customers alike won’t have to carry that burden with increased meal or token prices.

The cost is being paid for by increased foot traffic, he said.

Along with the steady growth of the Tea area, the new games should pay for themselves, Jessen said. In fact, they have already seen an increase of people through the FunZone since the new games were installed.

Jessen said they’re excited for the new machines, and can’t wait to set the next one up.