Cards can be used at venues other than the one where it was issued, but only with credit put on at that venue.Īs of 2008 after many Timezone stores closed, balances can be used at any venue regardless of where the credit was put on. In 2004, bonus paper tickets issued by some (higher-priced) arcade machines which could be redeemed for prizes were replaced by a ticket count kept on the card.Īs of 2005, Timezone Powerclub credit in Australia lasts one year from the date of credit.

This system was supplied by Australian company Embed International. In order to use a machine, they simply had to swipe their card through a detector located on the machine, and the credit would be deducted from the card account. This meant that customers, rather than having to carry many coins around, could simply deposit a larger amount of money (for example, $10) onto their Powercard account. In response to this, and presumably to maximise profits, the entire Timezone arcade system moved to a magnetic swipecard system known as the Timezone Powercard. This meant that, generally, a member of a group having a party would have to call a staff member over to a machine, where he or she had to open the game's cabinet and 'trick' the desired game into playing for free. For example, a flat fee could be paid to have a party at Timezone, where a group of people could play an unlimited amount of games for a certain period of time. However, Timezone had many special deals which caused many problems and much inconvenience for staff. Timezone family entertainment centres, like most current arcades, previously had coin-operated arcade machines.

Timezone powercard