You can’t front. Before the home gaming systems explosion of the late 80’s, Chuck E Cheese restaurants were the lick. Tempest was my joint. Centipede, my jam.
Launched by Atari founder, Nolan Bushnell, in 1977 the chains 500 restaurants have seen brighter days. As it turns out, switching Chuck’s swag from hip hop to rock had their dough looking like their dough.
Chuck lost…weight, a hockey jersey and street-cred.
This past Saturday I was sitting on some left-over tokens from a b-day party earlier this month. So I rounded up Maya & Joaquin @ 8:45 am, determined to be the first in line to squeeze life from this 8-bit reliquary.
Chuck E Cheese is fashioned after old-time Vegas casinos: alternative currency, absence of clocks, robo-tainment and disgusting food. But it remains a great place to keep kids occupied. Always the concerned Father, I established two inviolable rules:
- We leave as soon as we run out of tokens.
- Don’t put your mouth on anything, especially the pizza. CEC has always been more petri dish than deep dish.
holding a half-hour in my hand.
Gimme the loot! Gimme the loot!
Score!
Beep. Buzz. Bam.
Alashazam.
22 minutes later, we were ghost! And 45 minutes later, Joaquin asleep.
I hope you covered them in sanitizer on your way out.
I boiled the kids in hot water. I’m allergic to sanitizers.
I hadn’t realized Chuck E’s look had changed again. I still remember the old school Chuck E. I think he had on a vest and bow tie. Not to keep dissing the food, but I think an overweight rodent at least signals that someone is getting fed (versus an underweight one).
That’s right. I remember a Chuck that looked like he was dealing blackjack on a Mississippi riverboat. Here we go: http://www.simplydesign-online.com/simplydesign/Blog/Entries/2012/7/14_The_Evolution_of_Chuck_E._Cheese_1.html
Plus the “animatron” show they used to have every 35-45 mins, was a watered down version of Disneylands “Coubtry Bear Jamboree”
and now they play top 40 music complete with references to bumping, grinding, etc.
I always HATED goin to friends’ kids bday parties there (bc I didn’t have kids of my own yet so why was a being subjected to this cruel punishment!?!?!) BUT they get bonus points (some of them) for selling White Zinfandel!!!
Ooops – I’m Anonymous
Lu – CIA