chuck-e-cheese

[Chunky]

uh, ok.

what have these turned into. I honestly have not been in one in in i think 15 years.

Do they have games or are they all ticket redemption?

is it worth going, would i look like a freak trying to go to one? without a kid?

[autobotracing]

The last time I went to one was 2 years ago .It was in lakeland florida.Most of the arcade stuff was sega made and big machines.


top skater
get bass
jp lost world ect

they also had a full size jet ski game that was cool.

I think they also had one of those arcade machines running 50+ games setup like mame and arcade os or somthin.

Id say this one was half redemption half arcade games

[Richter]

mine still has the TMNT arcade machine :rocker:

[Funkenstein]

The one by me won't let anyone in unless they're accompanied by someone under the age of twelve. It's a ood policy, I guess, since it keeps the pedos away, but dammit they have Simpsons pinball and the Simpsons arcade game in there. Well, last I checked anyway. I haven't been in 4 or 5 years and the last time I went they had gotten rid of the gigantic animatronic lion that sings Elvis. Damn, I loved that thing. *sniff*

[Jibbajaba]

As far as not letting you in unless you are accompanied by a kid, thats bullshit. Thats age discrimination.

Do they still have the stage with all the anamatronic animals singing and whatnot? I havent been in a Chuck e Cheese in so long that the last time I was in there I played the Star Wars arcade game that had vector graphics.

[Flack]

I took my two year old to the Chuck E Cheese not too long ago. Ours is broken up into three main areas. One is all the kiddie rides, and then the games are about half redemption and half video games. The video games were ... eh, hm (thinking) ... I remember Star Wars Trilogy, Pod Racer, a bunch of motorcycle games and cart racing games and stuff like that ... not a lot of classics that I can remember.

[Azazel]

I know there hasn't been one in my area for a long time.

[Funkenstein]

As far as not letting you in unless you are accompanied by a kid, thats bullshit. Thats age discrimination.

Do they still have the stage with all the anamatronic animals singing and whatnot? I havent been in a Chuck e Cheese in so long that the last time I was in there I played the Star Wars arcade game that had vector graphics.

When I went a few years ago for a family birthday party they had this whole TV setup that was playing this MTV parody, ChuckTV or something. They still had the animatronic band, but the characters were pretty small. The old iion they used have was at least 30 feet, and the thing had a very wide range of motion. When they did a song parody on the TV the little animlas would just move back and forth a bit and the mouths would flap to no real beat. They were pretty low tech. I think Chuck's is phasing them out in favor of the TV setup. It kinda makes sense since the TV thing is what kids are used to and those animatronics must be a bitch to maintain, but it kills the childhood wonder a little bit.

As for the age discrimination, I tried going in with my friend Meghan, and the two of us aren't exactly the most upstaning-looking citizens you'll come across. I beleive I had purple hair at the time. I'm sure they would have let us in if we put up a stink, but if I'm going to make an ass out of myself, it's going to have to be for something more than sub-par pizza and whack-a-mole. (Though I do like me some whack-a-mole.)

[Daria]

I used to go to Chuck E Cheese every year for my best friend's birthday. All I remember though is the ball pit, ticket games, pizza and the bad animatronics. I think my dad may even have a home movie floating around from one of the parties.
________
ZOLOFT SETTLEMENT INFO (http://www.classactionsettlements.org/lawsuit/zoloft/)

[Azazel]

All I remember was that was the only place that I got the change to play VS Castlevania

[PapaStu]

I had my 18th birthday at my local Chucky Cheese (my first time at one). A whole group of just graduated High School kids, they didnt care. It was kinda fun, except we wernt allowed near the ball room. Bastards!!!

[TheSmirk]

They are not like what I remember back in the 80's, the one near us is mostly redemtion games with a few large sitdown arcade games, no animatronics just video monitors all over with ChuckTV and still over priced GREASY pizza :D But my kid has a good time there, and thats really who its for, right? :)

[VACRMH]

Nothing very good at mine, just like others said... large racers and such.

Can't have just a joystick, that wouldn't be exciting enough :o

[YoshiM]

I've been to two in the last 5 or so years. They were small and wide open with a "jungle gym" area. There were some arcade games by the entrance, a fooseball table and an air hockey game across from the gym. At the back of the building was the stage area with Chuck E and the band performing in front of many long tables. Above the stage and on either side of the room were TVs that played something like "CTV" or something like that. The Pizza was "okay", the games were beat and it just wasn't all that fun. The kids that were there at another table seemed to have been in agreement due to their complaining.

Like TheSmirk said, it didn't compare to the 80's versions, or at least to the one I saw when I lived in Nevada. A very vivid memory of the different rooms with different animatronic performers, dimmed lights so you can see the screens of the mulitude of games they had, the huge play room that had moon walks, ball pits, a maze (with mirrored ceiling), slides, a swing rope that was on track so you could swing over rolling-hilled hallway. Anyone in Vegas know if this Chuck E Cheese is still the same? I can't remember street addresses but I do know it was by the Casa Maria (please memory make that be right) apartments with a strip mall in between. Though it's been over 20 years so that area is probably all changed.

I *do* understand why the Chuck E Cheeses are the way they are today (child safety and protection) but to me, seeing the lack of games (in general, not just arcade games) and things to do the current places I've seen just looks like a neutered McDonald playland wannabe.

[Cmosfm]

*sorry wrong topic*

LOL

[spoon]

The one locally is a mixed bag. Has a good amount of new and old games.

The one problem I have with them, and most places I find with cabs, is that they are never well kept. I hate putting in money only to find out my characters only moves left. Maintain your machines please.

[GamecubeFreek]

My friend and I tried to go to Chuck E Cheese a few years ago when we around 14 years old. They would not let us in because neither one of us was 18. We cried.... :(

[Aussie2B]

Just don't go. Chuck E Cheese went to hell many, many years ago, and it's only getting worse. This is coming from someone who LOVED Chuck E Cheese as a child. There was pretty much nothing in existence that was more fun. I eagerly waited all year for my birthday to come, so I could invite my best friend and play there ALL day.

It was already getting crappy towards the end of my going. When I was 11 or 12 and going the last couple times, it was crappy, and I sure as hell knew it was crappy despite that I still so desperately wanted to love the place. Nothing but ticket redemption machines and crappy prizes... which I liked as a child (I loved a ticket redemption place at the local mall), but it just wasn't how Chuck E Cheese was supposed to be... I think the most fun I had that last time was with a lame pachinko-like machine... :/

Now as for the glory days, man, it was wonderful. I'd go to my table in front of the big stage of animatronic characters (which scared the shit out of me, yet I still loved), we'd play with the balloons on the plastic sticks, and then we'd get my plastic cup full of tokens and bolt. My mom would chill reading magazines and whatnot for hours, and we had a blast. I don't know about now, but back then they'd give you a TON of coins. To us it was practically an unlimited supply for the day. We'd play in the ball pit, check out the Elvis animatronic dude, ride pretty much every single ride, play skeeball, climb the castle-like towers and sit at the top of the highest one, looking out, and talking and playing for hours. Sometimes we'd "sneak" upstairs to the adult's lounge (I think kids were free to go up there, but hardly any did so we felt like we weren't supposed to be there), with the big screen TVs, and tons of awesome '80s (and as I got older, early '90s) arcade machines. I think that was the first place I ever played (or seen) the Donkey Kong arcade machine... When we had done absolutely everything in the place, we'd go back to our table exhausted. They'd bring out the pizza and then the cake, and man, that was the BEST cake. I think frosting makes or breaks a cake, and those cakes had the most delicious, light frosting (I hate extremely thick, sweet frosting). Even when I had long stopped going to Chuck E Cheese, I would ask my mom to go there every year for my birthday to pick up a cake. Even last summer for my 21st birthday. The cake changed over the years (for the worse, first off being the change from chocolate to white cake), but this last summer... that was the last straw. It was nothing like the cake I knew and loved. It's been changed in pretty much every way, including my much loved frosting. It's just a crappy, cheap (but not in price...), generic cake now. I'm never going to get cake from them ever again. :( And of course I'd hug Chuck E Cheese and have my picture taken with him, but I was scared of him too. :P

[Bratwurst]

Down in Louisiana it was called Showbiz Pizza and had a goofy bear named Billy Bob with a dreadful open-mouth smile.

http://rock_afire.tripod.com/

Nice big picture on the front page. Face 'o Satan himself I do declare.

[Lone_Monster]

The one I used to live near absolutely sucked. I vowed never to into one again. Anyways, mine had all the crappy, even small children should hate games, and every damn game gave out 4 tickets, no matter how good or crappy you did.

[Funkenstein]

Down in Louisiana it was called Showbiz Pizza and had a goofy bear named Billy Bob with a dreadful open-mouth smile.

I went to Chucks once for my 7th or 8th birthday party and we got some Showbiz Pizza tokens. I was confused as to who that horrible creature on the coin was, and my "friend" (who loved to torture me with lies) came up with some cock 'n' bull story about how the Chucks were slowly turning into Showbizes and they were getting rid of my beloved mascot. I was paranoid about it for years.

God, I was a stupid kid.

[Lady Jaye]

I went to Chuck E Cheese once in my life, when I was 8 years old (in 1984). There's a polaroid picture of me, my parents' friends' daughter and the Chuck E. Cheese mascot.

I barely remember anything about it, I guess we didn't get to play too much. :(

[katchoo]

Down in Louisiana it was called Showbiz Pizza and had a goofy bear named Billy Bob with a dreadful open-mouth smile.

http://rock_afire.tripod.com/

Nice big picture on the front page. Face 'o Satan himself I do declare.

actually, up here in IL, showbiz and chuck-e-cheese were competiors. all the kids had their parties at showbiz..until chuck-e-cheese came around..the northern IL suburbs just couldn't sustain 2 kiddie arcades.

[kai123]

When I was a kid it was Showbiz pizza, I still have some tokens from there. Now it is a chuck-e-cheese.

[Bratwurst]

actually, up here in IL, showbiz and chuck-e-cheese were competiors. all the kids had their parties at showbiz..until chuck-e-cheese came around..the northern IL suburbs just couldn't sustain 2 kiddie arcades.

They merged in 1985? 86? with locations alternating between the names. It's a moot point though because they've all switched over to 'Chuck E. Cheese' by now I believe. Part of a corporate plan to make their franchise homogenized and mostly the reason people complain about the quality of the food and games available now.

I cannot promote the following story enough:

The Faceless Birthday at Chuck-E-Cheese (http://la.cacophony.org/CS_cheeze.html)

[scooterb23]

Back when I was growing up the Muncie Mall had a ripoff called something along the line of Uncle Al's Alligator Jamboree or something like that. It had the animatronic animals, but they were all swamp creatures, let by a banjo playing alligator. I remember that they had a wall of skee-ball...odd, kinda cool.

A Gamestop now site in roughly that same spot now...

[Chunky]

haha

didn't sega own showbiz and Bushnell owned Chucks?

then showbiz bought them out or something... eh that was a long time ago.