Sub Subs

When Donald, Marcus, and Victor Ham founded Hamville in 1944, each provided a restaurant to go along with it. Donald started the Hamville Diner, Marcus opened Ham's Deli, and Victor gave us Ham's Creamery. The Creamery was the first to close, in 1966, three years after the death of Victor. It sort of reappered in 1974 as the You Scream Ice Cream Parlor, though in a completely different format and now run by ghosts. The Diner went under in 1977, three years after Donald's death, and never reopened as a restaurant, though a museum of Hamville history now occupies the premises. The Deli enjoyed the longest success of the three, though it did finally shut down in 1983, two year after Marcus' death.

When Marcus died, he was planning a renovation for the restaurant, one that would emphasize the historical significance of the Deli. His son, Leonard Ham, inherited the restaurant, but decided the renovation would be too expensive and did not follow the plans. In 1983, however, an opportunity arose, and Leonard shut down Ham's Deli.

Hamville residents were outraged. Here was the last remaining restaurant of the three Ham brothers, and Leonard Ham had the gall to shut the place because of some other secret opportunity. Protests mounted around Leonard's home, and the man had to devise other ways of getting to his office downtown to continue with his plans. Within three months, Leonard Ham had become the most hated man in Hamville.

On June 27, 1984, Hamville residents heard the sound of low flying helicopters approaching Hamville. What they saw was four military choppers carrying what a ppeared to be a large submarine. They placed it in Hamville Harbor, and flew away, leaving no explanation.

Obviously, the government officials of Hamville were assaulted with questions, and quickly a press conference was announced. The submarine had been purchased by a local restaurateur looking to open a new restaurant in Hamville. There was nothing sinister about it. They refused to offer any further explanations, but it didn't take long for apprehension to give way to gossip, with people clamoring to try and figure out what the new eatery would be.

On August 17, 1984, a press conference was called to announce the opening of Sub Subs, owned and operated by none other than Leonard Ham. He apologized to the residents of Hamville for the secrecy, but explained that Marcus had wanted it this way. The plans were not exactly what the middle Ham brother had been working on at the time of his death, but in a way, those plans had led to the opening of this brand new version of Ham's Deli. The sandwiches would be the same, but the eating environment would not. Patrons could pass through the sub, pick up their food, and proceed to the deck or the dock to eat. Unfortunately, there was no room on board for the diners. The sub, Leonard explained, was a decommissioned military sub. An anonymous naval official who had been working with Marcus on the new restaurant plans had pulled the right strings to get it delivered to Hamville for a relatively inexpensive price tag.

Sub Subs officially opened on August 24, 1984. There was still a considerable amount of resentment towards Leonard Ham around town, but it gradually wore away. Today, Sub Subs is still going strong, with Leonard Ham still in charge. The sandwiches are exactly what Marcus Ham always provided, and it's a great pleasure to see his legacy live on through his son.

Failures

One of the great things about Hamville has always been the innovation of the restaurateurs that call the place home. Grand designs, seemingly impossible concepts, and unique presentations have always been hallmarks of the city. However, with all the new ways to serve food around, Hamville has also had its share of colossal failures. These are restaurants that, for one reason or another, just didn't work. It could have been a result of poor planning by the designers, or misinterpretation of what the public wanted, or just a flat out bad idea. Here are five of the more notorious failures in Hamville History.

1. The Bubble - The Bubble started out in 1986 as an ambitious project to appreciate nature in its natural habitat, as well as to provide some competition for the recently opened Aqua Tube. However, it just didn't work. The basic idea was to build a large structure in the middle of Hamville Harbor and underwater, with glass walls where diners could look out and see the local fish swimming around. The project was never completed. The expenses were going millions of dollars of budget, the wildlife that did not completely flee the area wasn't all that interesting to look at, and they could never quite solve the problem of how to get people there. The beginnings of the Bubble's structure still remain in the center of the Harbor, in case someone else wants to give it a try. So far, no one does.
2. Drivin' Diner - The Drivin' Diner was simply a double decker bus equipped with tables and a small short order kitchen. The bus would make several stops around Hamville to pick people up and drop others off, then would give diners a moving experience as they tried to eat their dinner. Tried is the operative word here. The unfortunate thing was that no matter what the owners did, every time the bus would take a sharp curve, food and drink would fall off people's tables. This, plus the fact that there were a lot of cases of motion sickness, plus the crowded nature of the diner, plus the length of the drive, plus the problem that if you missed your stop, you'd have to wait at least an hour before you could get off again, made the Drivin' Diner a complete disaster. It lasted for about a month in the spring of 1992, then closed forever. The bus was donated to the Hamville History Musueum, where it can be found in the Hall of Shame.
3. The Petting Zoo - The Petting Zoo was supposed to be a family restaurant where people could come, eat their dinner, and play with the cute barnyard animals. It was built like a barn, with a loft, tables all around, and lots of hay. The animals would walk around amongst the diners. For some reason, it was one week before the restaurant was scheduled to open, in June 1993, before someone in the design team realized how cruel it would be to have someone eating a bacon cheeseburger or chicken sandwich in front of cows, pigs, and chickens. The menu was completely restructured to be exclusively vegetarian, but the problems kept coming. The animals would steal food off of people's plates, people kept geetting bitten, and the stink was awful. The restaurant closed after a week, and no one has attempted to ressurect it.
4. Pizza Art - Pizza Art was probably one of the best ideas in Hamville history that just never found an audience. It opened in April of 2003 with the premise of arranging the toppings into pictures. Diners could choose from a list of pictures that went with the toppings they wanted, or they could just request something new from the pizza artists. At first, it was a hit. However, the pizza just wasn't very special apart from the art on top. People began to get bored with the concept. After all, the art is nice to look at, but pizza is there to be eaten, not looked at, and since the pizza itself wasn't exceptional, people began moving on to other pizza options around town. Pizza Art held on until 2005, then closed its doors.
5. Y - Y was a disaster. In 1971, the restaurant opened on the strength of great buzz. It was going to challenge the traditional concept of a restaurant, and was based on a lot of the popular philosophy and trends of the day. On opening night, patrons came in and were instantly confused. The decor was abstract, the layout was bizarre, and frankly, no one had ever even heard of the foods being offered. The prices were completely outrageous, sparking criticism aimed at the owners' hypocrisy. Somehow, word got around on that night, and people began to argue what they owed, claiming that price was a subjective value and they should be allowed to pay what they want. Y made no money its first night, and on the second night, no one came. Y lasted two nights, giving it the dubious distinction of having the worst collapse in Hamville history.

The Global Village - International Cuisines

Here is a list of the 100 countries and principalities whose native cuisine is represented at The Global Village.

1. Afghanistan
2. Albania
3. Argentina
4. Armenia
5. Australia
   
6. Austria
7. Azerbaijan
   
8. Bahamas
9. Bangladesh
10. Belarus
11. Belgium
    
12. Bhutan
    
13. Brazil
14. Cambodia
15. Cameroon
    
16. Chile
17. China
18. Colombia
19. Costa Rica
20. Cuba
21. Denmark
22. Ecuador
    
23. Egypt
24. El Salvador
    
25. Estonia
    
26. Ethiopia
27. Fiji
28. Finland
    
29. France
30. Georgia
    
31. Germany
32. Greece
33. Grenada
    
34. Guam
    
35. Guatemala
36. Haiti
37. Honduras
    
38. Hungary
39. Iceland
    
40. India
41. Indonesia
    
42. Iran
43. Iraq
    
44. Ireland
45. Israel
46. Italy
47. Jamaica
48. Japan
49. Jordan
    
50. Kenya
51. Korea (North and South)
52. Kuwait
53. Laos
    
54. Lebanon
55. Libya
56. Luxembourg
57. Madagascar
    
58. Malaysia
59. Malta
    
60. Mexico
61. Mongolia
62. Morocco
63. Myanmar (aka Burma)
    
64. Nepal
65. Netherlands
66. Nicaragua
67. Nigeria
    
68. Norway
    
69. Oman
70. Pakistan
71. Peru
72. Philippines
    
73. Poland
74. Portugal
75. Puerto Rico
    
76. Romania
77. Russia
78. Samoa
79. Saudi Arabia
    
80. Scotland
81. Senegal
    
82. Singapore
    
83. Serbia
84. Spain
85. Sri Lanka
    
86. Sudan
87. Sweden
    
88. Switzerland
89. Tanzania
    
90. Thailand
91. Trinidad and Tobago
    
92. Turkey
93. Uganda
94. Ukraine
95. Venezuela
96. Vietnam
97. Wales
    
98. Yemen
99. Zambia
    
100. Zimbabwe

VS - First Bracket

For historical purposes, here is the very first bracket used by VS. It was a music tournament and lasted from January 5 to March 8, 2003. You can find it at VS Music.