You’ve probably been there. You're holding a giant plastic cup of soda in one hand and a glowing "Power Card" in the other, trying to decide if you want to play Skee-Ball or that weirdly addictive oversized Connect 4. It’s the quintessential American "eatertainment" experience. But behind the neon lights and the clinking of arcade tokens is a story that feels a lot more like a gritty 1970s startup drama than a corporate success manual.
The founder of Dave and Buster's isn't actually one guy. It’s two. David "Dave" Corriveau and James "Buster" Corley.
They weren't lifelong friends from grade school. They didn't have a sophisticated venture capital pitch deck. Honestly, the whole billion-dollar empire started because two guys in Little Rock, Arkansas, noticed their customers were getting a workout just walking between their two front doors.
The Little Rock Origins: Slick Willy vs. Buster
Back in the late '70s, Dave Corriveau was running a place called Slick Willy’s World of Entertainment. It was a 10,000-square-foot adult playground in an old, renovated train station. Think billiards, games, and a general "cool guy" vibe.
Right next door?
That was Buster Corley’s turf. He ran a restaurant simply called Buster’s. He was a veteran of the T.G.I. Friday’s management machine, so he knew exactly how to run a kitchen and keep people fed.
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People would go to Buster’s to grab a burger and a beer, then they’d schlep over to Slick Willy’s to play some pool. Then they’d go back for another drink. Dave and Buster watched this migration pattern for a while. They realized that if they just knocked down the wall—metaphorically and literally—they’d have something special.
It took about a year of sketching out designs and planning. To get the seed money, Dave actually sold Slick Willy’s. They moved to Dallas, found a massive 35,000-square-foot warehouse on "Restaurant Row," and got to work.
The Coin Toss That Changed the Sign
Here is a bit of trivia most people get wrong: the name wasn't chosen because Dave was the boss.
They couldn't agree on whose name should go first. It’s a classic ego clash, right? They did the only logical thing entrepreneurs in 1982 would do. They flipped a coin.
Dave won.
If that coin had landed on the other side, we’d all be heading to "Buster and Dave’s" for happy hour. It sounds wrong, doesn't it?
They opened the doors in December 1982. The initial investment was around $3 million, which was a staggering amount for a restaurant-arcade hybrid at the time. They were charging for games by the hour and offering high-end billiards on mahogany tables. It wasn't just a place for kids; it was designed for adults who hadn't quite grown up.
Building the "Eatertainment" Empire
The division of labor was pretty strict.
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- Dave Corriveau handled the "fun." He was the games guy, the innovator, the one obsessed with the Million Dollar Midway.
- Buster Corley was the "food" guy. He focused on the hospitality, the service, and making sure the "eat" part of "Eat Drink Play" wasn't just an afterthought.
They were co-CEOs for years. They grew the brand through the '90s, taking it public in 1995 after a majority stake was sold to Edison Brothers Stores. By 1997, they had ten locations. By 1999, they were at 23.
But the corporate world eventually catches up to everyone. In 2006, a private equity firm called Wellspring Capital Management bought the company. By March 2007, both founders had stepped down. The era of the original founder of Dave and Buster's running the show was officially over.
The Tragic Endings Nobody Talks About
While the brand continued to grow—hitting 150+ locations and acquiring competitors like Main Event—the personal stories of the founders took a much darker turn.
David Corriveau passed away in 2015 at the age of 63. He was remembered as a pioneer in the coin-op and amusement industry, a guy who genuinely changed how Americans spend their Friday nights.
Then, in January 2023, the news broke about James "Buster" Corley.
Buster died at his home in Dallas from a self-inflicted gunshot wound on his 72nd birthday. His family later shared that he had suffered a massive stroke four months earlier. The stroke had caused "severe damage to the communication and personality part of his brain." It was a devastating end for a man whose entire career was built on social interaction and hospitality.
What You Can Learn From the D&B Legacy
It’s easy to look at a massive chain and see only the spreadsheets and the branding. But Dave and Buster were real guys who took a massive gamble on a "warehouse full of games" when everyone else thought restaurants were just for eating.
If you’re looking to apply their "eatertainment" logic to your own business or career, keep these three things in mind:
- Observe the "Migration": Dave and Buster didn't invent a new human behavior; they just noticed what people were already doing (moving between food and fun) and made it easier. Look for where your customers are "walking between two buildings" in their daily lives.
- Stick to Your Strengths: They survived as co-CEOs because they didn't step on each other's toes. Dave did games; Buster did food. If you're partnering up, define the borders early.
- The "Adults Only" Moat: For a long time, D&B stayed successful because they resisted being "just another Chuck E. Cheese." They focused on mahogany tables and tournament-quality shuffleboard. Knowing exactly who you are not is as important as knowing who you are.
The legacy of the founder of Dave and Buster's lives on every time someone wins a cheap plastic spider ring with 5,000 tickets. It's a billion-dollar business built on a coin toss and a very long walk between two shops in Little Rock.
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To truly understand the current state of the brand, you should look into their 2022 acquisition of Main Event, which signaled a massive shift back toward family-oriented entertainment—a pivot away from the founders' original "adults-only" billiard room vibe. You can also track their recent international expansion, starting with their first franchise in India in 2024, to see how the "fun and food" concept translates across different cultures.