The Good Ol' Days -- A Sad Review of Chuck E. Cheese

[Flack]

The coolest thing about having a three-year-old son is that you get to hang out with three-year-olds and do things with them without being too guilty, whether it’s going to the movies to see a kiddie movie, feeding ducks stale bread and popcorn at the duck pond, or spending a couple of hours guilt-free at the local Chuck E. Cheese restaurant. One of my sons’ friends had her four-year-old birthday party Saturday at Chuck E. Cheese, so I got to spend a couple of hours there and thought I’d type up this quick review.

Those of you lucky enough to remember the original Chuck E. Cheese and Showbiz Pizza restaurants probably have the same sentimental feelings attached to the restaurants as I do. While I don’t think I ever had a birthday party there, I attended several other kids’ parties and have great memories of the place. There were small rides, there were lots of arcade games, but most importantly there was that huge animatronic band that took the stage several times an hour, singing classic hits and interacting with one another.

My sad review of Chuck E. Cheese is that most of that is gone. Upon entering the restaurant, I went right to the stage area and found that it had basically been removed. In its place were several large flat panel television screens. To the left of the screens were several smaller televisions sunk into the wall. To the right I noticed one small stage, which housed the one remaining animatronic figure, Chuck himself. As the screens announced “It’s SHOWTIME!” the figures I remembered from my youth appeared only on the television screens. The curtains around Chuck pulled back and he performed and sang along, but it just wasn’t the same. The band has left the building.

And speaking of leaving the building, so have most of the games. Our Chuck E. Cheese restaurant now has four arcade games: Star Wars Pod Racer, Cruisin’ USA, Arctic Thunder and a Neo Geo cabinet. Everything else in the restaurant was either a ticket redemption machine posing as an arcade game, a ride, or some other game (such as skee-ball and air hockey). Trust me, I looked – there were no games to be found.

I have to say, I felt a little disappointed when we left. Not for me as much as for the kids. Now I know how my father feels when he tells me about the good ol’ days of hot rods and stuff. I’ve seen the movies, I’ve been to car shows, but when it boils right down to it, it was simply an era that I will never experience and can never truly relate to. I had that same feeling walking out of Chuck E. Cheese, looking at all the kids dancing in front of big plasma screens and trying to trade in thousands of tickets for a small stuffed idol. Someday, when my kids are playing in my home arcade, I’ll try to explain to them what it was like “in the good ol’ days,” but I’m not sure that they’ll every truly understand.

[mills]

chuck fucked up....

[Sothy]

Yeah man I got to go to a party at Chucks in my teens "I was technically an adult guest" But you know I was there for the GAMES. there was just 3 real arcade games and some stupid redemption games and that little playground ball pit. I wound up playing the Bucky O hare beat em up and drinking soda.

Back in the day it was a huge arcade with the animatronic stuff and basically more cool things than you could do as a kid in the hours before you passed out from exhaustion.. now it seems like even the kids are bored in 20 minutes.

[vision89]

The Chuck E. Cheese nearest my house still has most of the animatronics, however, most of the arcade games are gone. When I was a kid I remember Chucky's being packed with arcade games, now there's only a few and they are mostly car driving games. For the most part there are a lot of ticket dispensing games as you stated. The balls :eek 2: that you could play in have been removed, and replaced by a complicated series of slides. Also, when I was a kid I remember them having a maze under the stage that you could crawl through. That was quickly removed though when some kid got stuck under there. My cousin's wife was a manager there a few years back and she said that, in the slides I mentioned a few sentences back, kids would constantly climb to the top of the slide and (ahem) use the restroom. Oh yeah, they don't sell beer there anymore either! Ah well, it still holds plenty of fond memories :)

[norkusa]

Yeah, it's a shame what happened to Showbiz/Chuck E. I had my first ever job there when I was 16 as a gameroom attendant and it's a time I'll never forget. Apparently, they wanted to make it a more family-friendly place and that was the reason why they got rid of most of their arcade games. I guess they figured they wouldn't have punk-ass teens coming in all the time to play games if they got rid of most of them. In fact, one of my jobs as gameroom attendant was to "guard" the front doors at night and keep the older kids from coming in. It was kind of funny...16 yo me telling 18-19yo burn-out kids that weren't allowed in if they weren't with a family or a party. Allot of times, they'd just walk right past me. x_x

[Kuros]

I just go for the skeeball anyway. Last time I went there was a month or so ago. I was with my brother and I felt like playing skeeball on a whim, so we went.

I won the 200 ticket jackpot! 8-)

[Flack]

Here is the stage area now.

http://www.robohara.com/junk/chuck1.jpg

[chicnstu]

That's sad. I remember my dad taking me to that restaurant maybe 12 years ago (I was probably 5 when he took me) and seeing those singing figures you were talking about. Those were neat. I remember they had good pizza too.

I hate time.

[Haoie]

How can you write a review about that and not mention Nolan Bushnell? He's more or less the father of video gaming [as well as pizza involving gaming], second only to Ralph Baer.

[norkusa]

Here is the stage area now.

Oh man, what happened to Mitzy Mouse, Mister Munch and Pasqualli??? Please tell me they are still around at least! It's been ages since I've been in there, so I just want to know that they're still o.k.

The Rockafire Explosion really needs to re-unite.

[Flack]

How can you write a review about that and not mention Nolan Bushnell? He's more or less the father of video gaming [as well as pizza involving gaming], second only to Ralph Baer.

It was easy, mainly because it was a review of my time spent there Saturday and not an essay about the history of the company or the man who resigned from it over 20 years ago.

[The Brown Eye]

That's really sad. I remember going there with my younger cousins a few years back and they still had The Simpsons, Cruisin' World, Top Skater and others. The stage was still there as well. I had a birthday party there as a kid and it's quite sad that all of the fun parts are disappearing.

[Flack]

Here is the stage area now.

Oh man, what happened to Mitzy Mouse, Mister Munch and Pasqualli??? Please tell me they are still around at least! It's been ages since I've been in there, so I just want to know that they're still o.k.

The Rockafire Explosion really needs to re-unite.

Well, some of them still live in my game room (in spirit, at least) ...

http://www.robohara.com/junk/chuck2.jpg

[squidblatt]

I'm really bummed out by this thread. I still have a little box full of game tokens from the eighties. I remember one time I went there with a party as a kid and a guy in a Chuck E Cheese costume was doing the little hand waving dance routine outside the front door. A group of kids in the party ran up and started messing with him and having fun, but they ended pissing him off and breaking his foam tail. Well, they all ran inside completely oblivious, but as I walked past, Chuck E Cheese whacked me upside the head with his broken tail so hard that a piece of it went flying into the parking lot. I remember it my hurt feelings a little because I didn't even touch him. Actually, just typing this makes me want to go find that guy and beat him up. Plus, when I got inside, groups of older kids would hover around the cabinets while you were playing and try to bum tokens.

[Flack]

Too bad you didn't save a piece of that tail -- you could probably sell it on eBay (or just sue the place).

[squidblatt]

Yeah, I was just thinking that.

[SoulBlazer]

So how about the pizza itself, Flack? Any better then it used to be? Even as a kid I remember that it was only average. I learned later on why that was -- the company spent the smallest ammount possible on the food to cram in as much money for the stage and the games. :)

There's one right here in RI, at Warwick, next to a mall. I should stop in one time next time I go to EB and check it out.

[Muscelli]

a friend of mine dropped off her kid to chuckie cheese for a bday,. It is similar to what I remembered it as, minus the arcade machines... They did have F-zero there though.....
God, I loved that place soo much... Anyway what was the other place called back in the mid 90s that was similar to chuckie cheese and had some men in black "experience" thing called?

[Yago]

I grew up with ShowBizz Pizza before it converted to a Chuck E. Cheeze. I remember all too well the fond memeries I had had there. I personally never had a birthday party there, but attended several friends who had. When I was young and entered the place for the first time I did not know what to expect, and to be honest with you, those animitronic characters scared the piss out of me. I never saw anything like that before. But the games, oh man... I played sick one day so I didn't have to go to school. After 10 minutees I felt MUCH better. LOL . So my mom knowingly knew I was just lazy and didn't want to go to school, so she asked me if I wanted to go play games. HECK YA! I threw a cough in occasionally, but my mom said stop pretending. But I can recall playing so many great games there for hours. The game room was nothing BUT video games. Games I played as a kid and loved was Peter pack Rat, Dragon's Lair, Jungle Hunt, Galaxian, Galaga, Frogger, Asteroids, and I even remember they had this built in race track with remote control cars. It had 4-6 cars and people raced against each other. That was fun! My 2 nieces hate the place because they don't have any games, so they go to Oddessey Fun World in Illinois to play in the 3 story tunnel fun land thingy and play games, they could care less about rides. I don't see Chuck E. Cheeze have anything going for them. I remeber the food was pretty darn good, the pizza was dripping grease, way back then, don't know how it is now. Anyone? I do mis the old days, the 5 arcades you could go to in a 10 mile radius, are now but a distant memory. Sad... :(

[Flack]

Well the pizza was at best average. Of course it was greasy, the crust was good and the cheese was like ... hm, not stringy or stretchy at all. On top of that, there was very little sauce, my guess is the bottom line is to make sure it's not messy for the kids. I think a pizza, pitcher of coke and 20 tokens was $25 which is a bit on the high side for what you're getting but if you're there you're there.

[AFGiant]

Some of my earlist memories come from Chuck E. Cheese. The one near me (which is now a Staples) had the huge ball pit, anamatronic band and characters, a slew of rides, and of couse, an arcade that I remember well. The whole she-bang-a-bang. That was the place I beat my first arcade game ever, The Simpsons, using just about my whole day's ration of quarters. Damn that was fun! I couldn't have been older than 6. On a side note, The Simpsons arcade game has become my holy grail. One just went up on Ebay Australia for $2000 :/ I swear I'll get it yet though!

Anyway, there still is a Chuck E. Cheese's around here, and I've been to it plenty of times as my cousin Bryan grew up. He's 10 or 11 now and no longer goes there. My other cousins though are still young enough and I had their parents bring me back $5 in tokens (hehe, I like tokens). The game selection, though decent, was smaller when I was there for Bryan's parties. I don't know what's become of it now. Chuck E. and a couple of small new characters are the only anamatronics left.

[Teo]

I only went once and was really small. Can only remember being in that ball pit.

[rayearthknight]

Here is the stage area now.

http://www.robohara.com/junk/chuck1.jpg

When I worked at CEC for a year as a gameroom attendent I was shocked that I knew more about the company's history than the store manager
There is an interesting website at http://rock_afire.tripod.com/ that describes the "merger between CEC Enterprises and Pizza Time Theatres (involves Alan Bushnell...go figure...). When the two companies combined they decided to consolidate the stores into Chuck E Cheeses because "The Rockafire Explosion" is owned by Creative Engineering http://www.robotsandgames.com/ (great site, btw) and CEC would have to pay royalties to an outside company.

Thus, all RAE sets were changed to "Chuck's Make Believe Band". The version you see now is known as "Studio C" and all stores are being remade in this way...yes, it's cheap...and yes, I feel saddened about not seeing Duke-a-roo and Billy Bob on stage.

You are correct, the company has moved away from games...personally, I think it's showing kids how to gamble, but...ehhh...

Where I worked at we had/still have the following games:
Sega GT
San Fransisco Rush
Cruisin USA
Star Wars Racer
Sega's Kart Racer (seems European in origin)
Konami's TMNT
Sega Golf (praise Golf!!)
18-Wheeler All American Trucker
Sega's Extreme Firefighters (anyone notice a manufacturer pattern?)

(You'll notice the commercials show games like Dance Dance Revolution...I'd like to SEE that CEC location in person and ask the game tech how much damage the dance boards go through...)

The rest are the ticket games in disguise:
Bobby Bear
Ripper Ribbit
The Big Cheese
and then there's all the others...like Bozo's grand prize game...

Showbiz had the GAMES...including the computers that you could play "lemonade" on. Oh the bygone days....

[smokehouse]

R.I.P Chuck E. Cheese. Back in the day it was Showbiz Pizza (when I was a kid), then it was Chuck E. Cheese and now it’s out of business. Its sad, I’ll never be able to take my kid to one (if we ever get around to having one).

Bad food, good games and a lame-o animatronics show, it was a blast when I was 9.

[RetroYoungen]

There is, last I heard, a DDR USA at my local CEC, but it sounds like a real shame that it's gone so far downhill. The last time I visited I was probably 12 (maybe eight/nine years ago), and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I honestly can't remember the pizza, but the games were fun.

I thought even about going there for my 21st birthday as kind of a joke, but if it's gotten this bad, then probably not.

It's a damn shame.

Though honestly that band always freaked me out a little, my local one had the animatronics' skin and stuff falling off, so it was like they were either falling apart or zombies or something.

[pixelsnpolygons]

never been, likely never will

[Xexyz]

Yeesh, that picture is depressing. I haven't been to a Chuck E. Cheese since the old days when the animatromic robots and video games still ran rampant... and the ball pit! never forget the ball pit! It was the place to go when you were out of money and looking for some spare tokens that another kid foolishly left in his pocket.

To be honest, I loved the place, but the animatronic characters always gave me a chill inside. They were kind of freaky. This reminds me of that Dexters Laboratory when he wen't to Chubby Cheese LOL

Anyway, I still have fond memories of the place. I played many games of Sengoku, The King of the Monsters, TMNT: Arcade Game, The Simpsons Arcade Game, Mario Bros., Donkey Kong 3, Street Fighter II, and some Nintendo cab that let you select Super Mario Bros. 3, for 3-4 minutes (RIP-OFF!!!). Those were the good days of arcade gaming.

[evildead2099]

chuck fucked up....

LOL LOL

Did Chuck E. Cheese centres feature Mortal Kombat, Splatterhouse, Time Killers, Bloodstorm, House of the Dead, and/or Chiller coin-ops back in the day? As much as I enjoy some of those games, I'd rather they not be a part of what you've described as a once great establishment for kids to party at. :( The closest thing that I've ever experienced to C.E.C is Laser Quest.

[TeddyRuxpin]

So that's where one of my earliest memories of giant, loud scarey creatures is from! x_x

1984 most likely, a birthday party for me. :bday:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/illiop/me/chuckiecheesebirthday2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v222/illiop/me/chuckiecheesebirthday1.jpg
Looks like I ate too much pizza. LOL

[Steven]

I loved ole CEC... man thats where I pumped in 40 quarters and spent 2 hours to beat King of the Monsters as a 9 year old... where I was a part of friends' Bdays and where I played Simpsons, TMNT and X-men beat em ups to death.

I treated my 13 year old cousin there last year for her bday.... went with my then-GF.... and it was just..... a bad shell of its former self.

Ironically, that night I really felt this odd disconnection between me and the GF... and two days later, she broke up with me. And the night was a dud, admittedly. My cousin brought her friends so they had fun... but yeeeh, it was bad overall. So now not only has CEC disappointed me, but I am left with somewhat less-than-stellar memories of that place.

Still, I can never forget those damn good times.... ahhh

[vultar]

We must of gone to Chuck E Cheeses at least once a month when I was a kid. It was the first place I ever saw the arcade versions of games like Donkey Kong, Dragon's Lair, and the Star Wars (I wasn't much for arcades in general, they're too loud for me.) We had both Chuck E. Cheese's and thier sister store with that bear, whatever his name was (Billy Bob?), up in our area. I remember the place as a really fun place to go, I'm not sure what my parents thought come to think of it, but it's a shame what's happened. The last time I remember going into a Chuck E. Cheese's was probably when I was a teenager, my brother and I were kind of on a nostalgia trip. At that time, they had already lost the real Chuck E. Cheese's down the street and only had the bear version left that was up by the dollar theater. That place was in such sorry condition, the games were early Atari era acrade games, like that one where you swim around killing sharks (I can't remember that name right now), and the group of animatronic puppets that looked like they had been salvage from a wrecking yard. Do any of you know what it's like to see a part of your childhood with great gaping holes in it's skin and "Night of the Living Dead" body animations (ie. lean forward-hang..., lean backward-hang..., repeat). I will say though that as sad as that picture looks with Chuck all by himself, at least he doesn't look like some animatronic zombie.

[EndlessChris]

My dad owns a Domino's Pizza franchize so he gets this dumb pizza magazine called like - Pizza World or something. Anyway, every year they rate the top 250 pizza franchises in the country in different catagories (I know, I didn't even think there were that many). Interestingly enough, Chuck E. Cheese got last place in just about every catagory - pizza quality, pricing, etc.

Woudln't it be great if Chuck E. Cheese suddenly embraced it's gaming heritage? Pizza for gamers. That'd be awesome.

[Push Upstairs]

There was a CEC in this town but i heard that it closed down in the late 80's/early 90's or something, it was before i lived here.

Anyway all that remains of is a sign on the back of the building (currently occupied by a carpet store) with only Chuck showing.

There were rumors that Chuck would again come here and when i told friends they were delighted that he would return and that skee-ball would be played much.

After hearing that story i am glad Chuck never rode back into town.

[kainemaxwell]

Nice review, brought back my memories too. Shame to see the place being a shell of its former glory.

[TeddyRuxpin]

The last time I was in a CEC was around 1994 or 1997. I remember it being pretty pathetic. They finally put one in this city a couple years ago. While I haven't been to it, I'm sure it's not very good, it seems to be a place to take babies around here. My brother and his wife take their 1 year old there. :|

As far as other arcades, the one at the mall has been there possibley since the mall opened in 1979. It kind of serves as the gaming aspect of CEC. Tockens, lots of video games plus some ticket based games with a selection of cheaply made prizes.

The Wal-Mart Supercenter nearest to me (There's 2 here) put in a special arcade room area in the front with about 10 arcade machines. I wonder if they keep the arcade area open 24 hours along with the store. LOL

[CartCollector]

Ah well. At least there's Dave & Busters.

[TeddyRuxpin]

Oh, forgot to mention there used to be a CEC clone pizza place here. I've fogotten the name now; but they were like a locally owned place in the spirit of CEC somewhat; having an arcade/game room with prizes. They closed down in the late 90's.

[NeoZeedeater]

I loved CEC in the early-mid '80s. It wasn't the animatronics I cared for, it was all about the arcade for me. That's the main reason a place like that could never be the same today; video games are almost entirely about home gaming now.

Teddy's pics are giving me flashbacks. I remember the floor looking just like that. :)

[Pantechnicon]

I was never much of a CEC kid myself as my area only had Showbiz (I know...same diff). Showbiz was da shizzle circa 1981. The pizza was probably crap but honestly to an 11-year-old there's no such thing as bad pizza.

Then there were the games :eek 2: ! OMG! Wall to wall cabs! All the classics back when they weren't classics! I discovered Berzerk at Showbiz. To this day I can't play Berzerk without imagining the wafting smell of pizza or feeling my pocket bursting with imaginary tokens.

But you can never really go home. Haven't seen a Showbiz since I was in the Marines 15 years ago. Back then me and some other under-21 jarheads would go to a Showbiz in Virginia Beach regularly (and unashamedley) because they never carded us. As much as I enjoyed the Showbiz experience as a kid, it was just as good when pitchers of beer were added to the mix :cheers: .

Despite the watering-down of CEC in recent years I still privately enjoy going there because my kids love it so much. Harkening back to those Marine/Showbiz days, I always had this tinge of envy seeing all the families there: Parents and young kids all together having fun, and I knew I wanted that for myself one day (I was raised by a single parent and we didn't get out much). So now 15 years hence I'm the dad there, the one I wanted to be so long ago; gorging my kids on soda and pizza, doling out the tokens, folding up their reams of redemption tickets etc. and it's just about one of the best feelings I think I'll ever experience.

Nevertheless 21st century CEC will never hold a candle to the glorious 1980's.

[TougherToast]

I haven't been to a CEC in years. I think there is still one left about an hour drive from my house, but I have never taken the time to see. Arcades in general have really gone down hill over the years and it sounds like so has CEC. Sad really: because I have very fond memories of CEC. I remember that my Dad hated CEC with a passion, but he still took me and my friends.

[notoriusvig]

I remember going to CEC as a kid. It always felt like a rave for kids. My CEC seemed to be 75% darkness with the main game room being the most lit up. We had tons of games, some of my favorites were TMNT, The Simpsons, and Super Mario World Pinball. It was always so much fun going there and I even loved the pizza. Sadly, around 1993 they changed the name of the place to "Marc's Funtime Pizza Palace" but it was still pretty much the same. A year or two later, they closed the whole place down and now there's a bridal store in it's place. I remember my Grandma used to work in the store directly next to CEC and I could hear all the fun through the walls. Good times, good times. Back in 1999 or so, they opened up a new CEC in a different location that was way smaller and looked more like Discovery Zone. I've never been in the building but from the outside it doesn't look the same. I'm 21 years old now, and if CEC were still the same place in the same building with the same feeling, I'd still be going there on a usual basis.

BTW, I also vaguely remember going to Billy Bob's in Myrtle Beach back in the early 90's on vacation.

[TeddyRuxpin]

There's an awesome arcade at the boardwalk in Santa Cruz CA. If you're ever near there you should check it out. 8-) Be prepared to spend a lot of money and maybe a couple of days though. LOL

They say there's over 300 games.
http://www.beachboardwalk.com/02_casino_arcade.html

[Push Upstairs]

Back in 1999 or so, they opened up a new CEC in a different location that was way smaller and looked more like Discovery Zone.

I remember going to a Discovery Zone. Who knew a giant indoor jungle gym could be so much fun? :)

[smork]

Poor CeC, I had my birthday there pretty much every year from about 6-11 or so. Of course, that means I haven't been back since 1985 or so... Dave and Busters has to take up the slack for us adults now, but man there's just not that many intersting games there, at least for me.

My area still has a pizza crib for kids that has many cool games, so the games-n-pizza tradition still lives on. But there aren't that many nice arcades left in the states anyway, so it's not too much of a surprise that CeC follows suit.

[DigitalSpace]

Thanks for the review, it was a quite a nice read.

I went to Chuck E Cheese's a few times throughout my childhood - I had my ninth birthday party there and attended a few other birthday parties as well. The arcade games I remember spending the most time with were TMNT, The Simpsons, Pac-Mania, and NBA Jam. It's definitely sad to see that arcade games at CEC are becoming a thing of the past now.

I remember the pizza being pretty decent. Nothing great, but it wasn't bad, either. I always put parmesan cheese on it, though.

There's a Chuck E Cheese's about 20 blocks from my house that I haven't been to in years, and after reading this, I know I haven't been missing out on anything. On another note, back when I was in high school, I knew at least four people from my high school drama class who worked there. They all told me that dressing up as Chuck E. Cheese was their least favorite part of the job and they tried to avoid it whenever possible. LOL

At least they still have skee ball, though. Skee ball rocks - my dream arcade would have two skee ball machines in it! So there's at least one thing to do if I ever find myself at a Chuck E Cheese's in the future.

[Emily]

Wow, poor old chuck.
I remember playing whack-a- mole more than the games when I was a dumb little kid. Swimming around in the balls, attacking my brother in the tunnel maze. Even then I knew the prizes where a rip-off, but no one cares at 6.
The arcade was bad ass.
I distinctly remember there being a MK cab there at one point, it was next to a Primal Rage cab.

[emumuumuucowgomoo]

There's an awesome arcade at the boardwalk in Santa Cruz CA. If you're ever near there you should check it out. 8-) Be prepared to spend a lot of money and maybe a couple of days though. LOL

They say there's over 300 games.
http://www.beachboardwalk.com/02_casino_arcade.html

What does this have to do with Chuck E' Cheese? What does this have to do with memories of eating bad pizza and playing arcade games at Chuck E' Cheese's? What does this have to do with ANYTHING? Heck, what does this have to do with Nolan Bushnell, for that matter? (hint: The answer to all of these questions is "absolutely nothing")

I'm very glad you posted about your favorite arcade. In our nation's capital, if you take a scenic ride straight up from Dupont Circle, merging from New Hampshire to Georgia when New Hampshire dead ends, you arrive at a deli. This deli has an awesome selection of Centipede machines! One, in fact! Bring some money, because the owner will probably give you a dirty look if you don't order anything, and plus that's just thoughtless and rude. LOL.



I spent about a year and a half in Santa Cruz and about a week's pay in the arcade over my 18 month stay. The classic games rock, it's about the only arcade left in America that has that genuine Arcade feel. The entire boardwalk has that preservationalist feel to it - odd, considering that it's in earthquake country, CA. It's a feeling much better than the dull depression of nerves, glowing lobotomy, and submission to humanity that accompanies family

[poopnes]

I actually went to a birthday party at CEC on Sunday. It was the one in Paducha, KY. It's a really small store, but they still had the full stage. All the characters were animatronic, but there was 1 big screen and 2 smaller screens that displayed video that went along with the songs. The pizza wasn't as bad as I was fearing. They only had 3 arcade games (Cruisn' USA, Arctic Thunder, and a ghetto DDR that used diagonals instead of the standard cross-yuck) and no ball pit. NO FREAKIN' BALL PIT! The only thing I was looking foward to was the ball pit (I have a 11 month old so I figured I could get into it with her), so I was disappointed. O well, it isn't aimed at me anyway, but the kids still seemed to enjoy it.

[Steven]

Actually, me and my friends went to CEC to celebrate the end of our HS Senior Years back in May 2001. That night was actually a ton of fun. I even ran into my little cousins there who just happened to be there. Small world, ya know. THAT was still good times.

But the last time I went, 12/11/04... it just plain sucked.

[rayearthknight]

I actually went to a birthday party at CEC on Sunday. It was the one in Paducha, KY. It's a really small store, but they still had the full stage. All the characters were animatronic, but there was 1 big screen and 2 smaller screens that displayed video that went along with the songs. The pizza wasn't as bad as I was fearing. They only had 3 arcade games (Cruisn' USA, Arctic Thunder, and a ghetto DDR that used diagonals instead of the standard cross-yuck) and no ball pit. NO FREAKIN' BALL PIT! The only thing I was looking foward to was the ball pit (I have a 11 month old so I figured I could get into it with her), so I was disappointed. O well, it isn't aimed at me anyway, but the kids still seemed to enjoy it.


The balls pit were removed for the following reasons:
1. Sanitation--the pits have to be (well, SHOULD be) cleaned out every other day. That requires removing all of the balls and washing them--and the surrounding structure. It became too labor intensive and time consuming...the restaurants run in a time=money relationship. Orders are taken in a set time and the pizza is delivered in 11 minutes to your table. it also takes at least two to three hours to fully clean the restaurant...and I used to have to POLISH the metal on games like 18-Wheeler and the ticket munchers.
2. The company was trying to avoid the "urban legend" about needles, drugs or used condems (???) found in the ball pits.

The store I worked for cited cause number one--less hassle with the sky tubes.

If memery serves, CEC bought up Discovery Zone--and closed them all down--elimnate your competition by buying them out...but please do not quote me on this, I will look more into it.

[Sanriostar]

I only went to a Chuck once in the Classic gaming heyday; it was the only time I've ever seen a Venture and Pepper 2 machine. But even then (11) the pizza left much to be desired.
The Animatronics were slightly scary

[Emily]

LOL

Was everyone afraid of the anamatronics when they were kids? I vaguely remember being freaked out by them too.

[Steven]

LOL

Was everyone afraid of the anamatronics when they were kids? I vaguely remember being freaked out by them too.

Seriously, plus they were larger than life looking as well. Freeeaky stuff to a six-year-old, heh.

[poopnes]

LOL

Was everyone afraid of the anamatronics when they were kids? I vaguely remember being freaked out by them too.

Seriously, plus they were larger than life looking as well. Freeeaky stuff to a six-year-old, heh.

I was scared of them when I was real little. We had Showbiz Pizza Places. Fatz Geronimo was one scary looking ape. My daughter (11 months) cried the first time the show started, but she seemed to be interested in the following shows. Let's face it, its not something you see every day. =)

[Sanriostar]

My dad owns a Domino's Pizza franchize so he gets this dumb pizza magazine called like - Pizza World or something. Anyway, every year they rate the top 250 pizza franchises in the country in different catagories (I know, I didn't even think there were that many). Interestingly enough, Chuck E. Cheese got last place in just about every catagory - pizza quality, pricing, etc.

What were the top 5?
I'm a Shakeys and Papa Johns man myself.

[diskoboy]

Oh man, the 80's just plain ruled. The one I used to go to (until around 1985) had 2 warehouse sized rooms of games. 2 cabinets of every laser disc game you could possibly imagine. And I remember that when you wanted to play a hard to find, or obscure game - Chuck E. Cheese was the place to be. The one I went to had 2 astron belt cockpits, 2 mach 3 cockpits, a Buck Rogers cocklpit, a centuri Tunnel Hunt, Pooyan, Wacko, etc... You name it, they had it! It's the only place I remember ever seeing a Space Invaders 2 cocktail (the one where 2 players play, head-to-head. Not SI deluxe)

I also remember in '84, when the VG industry took a nose dive, certian games had a button you could press to add as many credits as you wanted! I remember Dragon's Lair being one of them.