He’s a cartoon, comedic mouse beloved by generations; a corporate icon endlessly adaptable to new ages through updated antics and fresh animation; an iconic character leading a pack of cartoon misfits recognized by kids of all ages. Know who we’re talking about? Okay, okay… What if we told you that the rodent we’re thinking of also loves pizza, arcade games, and redeeming prize tickets for pencils, sticky slap-hands, and Slinkies?
As our longtime readers know, here at Theme Park Tourist, we’re big into themed entertainment design and the Imagineering industry… That’s why our LEGEND LIBRARY is stocked with the in-depth stories of closed, classic Lost Legends, astounding Modern Marvels, failed Declassified Disasters, and never-built Possibilitylands from around the globe. But today’s exploration is in a class all its own…
If you had a child, knew a child, or were a child in the ’80s or ’90s, it’s nearly impossible that you avoided a trip to Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza. In fact, for generations of themed entertainment design fans, this unexpectedly elaborate pizza parlor and arcade was a theme park close to home; a chance to play, win, and eat in an exploratory environment “where a kid can be a kid;” where an animatronic band of cartoon characters felt real and alive; where Entertainment was literally the host’s middle name.
Believe it or not, the surprising story of Chuck E. Cheese’s might not be what you expect. So today, we’re digging deep to explore the history of this American icon… and its mousey mascot. If you’re ready to uncover the unusual origins of this family entertainment center (and the many knock-offs that have followed), sit back, relax, and let’s cash in for some tokens.
Game masters
For a moment, forget rats, pizza, or animatronics. The birth of Chuck E. Cheese actually begins with something unexpected: Spacewar! Created in 1962, Spacewar! was a rudimentary – but revolutionary – computer game designed by computer scientist Steve Russell. Playable on a PDP-1 computer, this shockingly simple “top-down” shooter game gave players control of a “needle” and “wedge” spaceship respectively, engaged in a missile-launching dogfight around the gravity well of a star.
Considered one of the most influential games of all time, Spacewar became increasingly accessible in the 1960s as computers with monitors became more commonplace, and its code (left in the public domain by Russell) fueled an early surge in porting the game and expanding on its coding among the cutting-edge communities forming around so-called “video games.”
It took four years, but when our protagonist Nolan Bushnell (above) finally got to see Spacewars! with his own eyes in 1966, it awoke something in him. That’s why – in 1968 – when Bushnell was working at a San Francisco-based technology company, he was delighted to find that his coworker, Ted Dabney, shared his fascination with the new medium of computer-based games. Together, the pair began to imagine those games powered by standalone computer systems with attached monitors… and something else noteworthy: a coin slot.
To make a long story short, in 1972 both Bushnell and Dabney officially incorporated a new company called ATARI, Inc. For that reason, some call Bushnell and Dabney the inventors of the video game – something Bushnell rejects (instead assigning the title to Spacewars! developer Steven Russell).
Their first product was 1972’s Pong. The duo initially constructed just one cabinet, consisting of a black and white television from Walgreens, the game hardware, and a coin mechanism from a laundromat with a milk carton inside to catch deposited coins.
After it was tested, they constructed and distributed ten more Pong game cabinets to local bars, which – to their surprise – averaged around $400 a week in sales, consistently “breaking” when overflowing coin collectors jammed up the collection mechanism!
It won’t surprise you that Atari would go on to be the preeminent name in early video gaming through the 1970s. But for Bushnell, the success of the video game startup meant he could finally focus on a project he’d be imagining for years…
Dreams
Even if Nolan Bushnell’s eventual work with Atari is most closely tied to his legacy, he had another pet project that he cared about just as deeply. In fact, his Atari co-founder Ted Dabney recalled to Fast Company that it was truly the idea of a pizza restaurant that “became his dream… That was the beginning of everything. He didn’t even think about a video game until later.”
Given that Bushnell had worked for a number of years at the Lagoon amusement park in Utah, “[h]e liked that kind of atmosphere, and he always wanted to build a restaurant that had that in it. His whole thing was a pizza parlor with talking beer barrels.” Though it might not seem radical today, Bushnell’s idea for a carnival pizza restaurant with entertainment embedded within was sincerely groundbreaking at the time.
You have to imagine, after all, that in the mid-1970s, amusement arcades – home to coin-operated pinball, Skee-ball, mechanical games of skill, and, yes, Pong – had a somewhat unsavory image in pop culture. Coin-operated games were often associated with bars, truck stops, and the rare early amusement arcade overrun with trouble-making teenagers…
Yep, just as Walt Disney had fought an uphill battle to prove that his Disneyland was different from the dirty, dangerous amusement parks of the day, Bushnell believed that the image of the arcade could be resuscitated… it just needed a strong concept to redefine it. Almost eerily, Bushnell looked back in 1981 on the state of arcades at the time and proclaimed, “but they should be more than that; a way for the family to play together.”
As a bonus, the success of Pong and the development of new ATARI games made Bushnell’s dreams of a pizza parlor even more poignant. After all, this dream restaurant could act as a proving ground and direct-to-consumer market for ATARI games; a way to shepherd games from “end-to-end,” development to display, controlling the experience and redefining arcade gaming.
“It’s rat pizza” (1974 – 1977)
And by the mid-70s – with Atari up and running – Bushnell was getting serious about the new restaurant concept that he hoped would redefine arcade games into a family-friendly market where Atari technologies could be tested… and boy did he have a plan.
If you can believe it, the birth of Chuck E. Cheese began in earnest when Bushnell attended the 1974 IAAPA Expo (the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions) with his “Coyote Pizza” concept in mind, and purchased a mascot costume from a vendor to use as the restaurant’s namesake anthropomorphic icon. As the story goes, it wasn’t until the costume actually arrived that Bushnell realized it wasn’t a coyote at all, but a pink-tailed, buck-toothed rat.
Undeterred, he went with the flow and decided to change the restaurant concept’s name to…Well… Rick Rat’s Pizza.
Before he could open the first Rick Rat’s Pizza, though, the situation changed. In 1976, Atari was acquired by Warner Communications (today, WarnerMedia) for $28 million – money that helped secure both Atari’s next console (the Atari 2600) and their secret weapon: Gene Landrum, a technology marketing aficionado whose job was to sell it.
When the new Atari 2600 console was delayed, Bushnell saw an opportunity to task Landrum with using his marketing expertise on getting Rick Rat’s Pizza rolling. And in fact, Landrum might really be the father of the restaurant… After all, he designed its initial procedures, operating finances, menus, and even layouts.
Atari’s board of directors and Bushnell himself were so impressed with Landrum’s plan, they made him the head of Atari’s newly-formed Restaurant Operating Division. He recalled, “He gave me a buttload of money and said, ‘Go build one.’”
Before he could, Landrum had one requirement: Rick Rat had to go. Rats, he argued, were “too predatory and too lethal” for a kid’s restaurant. They were associated with unsanitary and unfriendly places. If the anthropomorphized host of the new place was going to attract families, the rodent mascot at least needed a friendlier image.
In the mid-70s, Atari began using the costumed rat as their own mascot, leaving “Rick Rat” behind and giving him the more playful name, “The Big Cheese.” However, executives soon discovered that “The Big Cheese” was already trademarked. The mascot needed another reimagining and a new name. Yep… “Chuck E. Cheese” was born. Bushnell called it “a three-smile name,” with the same musical cadence as Mickey Mouse.
That meant that Rick Rat’s Pizza needed a name change, too. And in 1977, in San Jose, California (today, the tech capital of Silicon Valley), the first ever PIZZA TIME THEATRE had its premier. As you can imagine, that’s just the start of the story… Read on…
Pizza Time Theatre (1977)
When the first Pizza Time Theatre opened in 1977, it must have felt like the realization of a dream for Nolan Bushnell, the ATARI co-founder who hoped to revolutionize (and redeem) arcade gaming for a new era. Still, it was really thanks to marketing genius Gene Landrum that Bushnell’s dreamy concept had become a reality at all.
Pizza Time Theatre was a groundbreaking reinvention, reimagining the dirty business of arcades for a family audience. It was a safe, celebratory place for kids to eat, play, climb, and meet the memorable Chuck E. Cheese. An entirely new product – the family entertainment center – had been born.
From the very start, there’s one thing that set Pizza Time Theatre apart – yep, the theatre.
In 1963, Disney’s creative division (WED Enterprises) had done the unthinkable by making animation three-dimensional. So-called Audio-Animatronics (literally, animated robotics synchronized to sound, patented by Disney) were “living, breathing” mechanical figures brought to life by then-cutting-edge computer technology, reading reels of tape to trigger pneumatic pistons, synchronizing animated figures to audio tracks.
When Walt Disney World opened in 1971, among its exclusive highlights was the Modern Marvel: The Country Bear Jamboree – an all-animatronic, wisecracking, toe-tapping musical revue that delighted audiences… and became the precursor to a similarly smart band in the Pizza Time Theatre for its 1977 debut.
Almost alarmingly simple, this early generation of Chuck’s “Cyberamics” band was initially just brought to life through robotic torsos and heads cropped by on-stage picture frames.
In its original incarnation, the band was made up of Crusty the Cat, Pasqually P. Pieplate (an Italian chef), and Chuck E. Cheese himself – at that time, a cigar-smoking, tuxedo-clad, streetwise New Jersey rat with a penchant for sexual innuendo.
Voiced by John Widelock, the gruff rat was intentionally cast to mimic the voice and mannerisms of wise-talking hooligans from ‘30s and ‘40s films, as it was expected that parents – not kids – would be the main audience of the animatronic show (given that kids would be out spending tokens to play Atari games).
Just as Bushnell had planned, Pizza Time Theatre was something the likes of which pop culture hadn’t seen before… a family-friendly arcade and restaurant with its own built-in animatronic show and walkaround costumed characters, the new concept was a hit. And even if its star – Chuck E. Cheese – was a rough-around-the-edges, cigar-smoking rat that would never make the cut today, it was clear that Bushnell had a hit on his hands…
In fact, Chuck E. Cheese’s invention of the “family entertainment center” was too big a hit to ignore. And as it turned out, Pizza Time Theatre’s signature starring act – its robotic dinner show – became the element competitors were eager to outstage…
Compete, collaborate, combine (1980 – 1992)
By 1980, Pizza Time Theatre (by then, owned entirely by Bushnell) had dozens of locations in multiple states. The concept of an arcade-based family entertainment center had proven itself a success. So it should be no surprise that competitors rushed to bring their own family entertainment centers to market… Chief among them was Showbiz Pizza Place, founded by Bushnell’s almost-partner Robert Brock.
Showbiz Pizza Place emulated most of Pizza Time Theatre’s features, including a cartoon star (Billy Bob the hillbilly bear) and a robotic show… but Showbiz Pizza Place used much more sophisticated animated figures designed by Brock’s Creative Engineering firm for its Rock-afire Explosion Band, seemingly besting Chuck E. Cheese at his own game (and becoming a cult classic in its own right)…
Pizza Time Theatre (that’s Chuck’s place) successfully sued Showbiz Pizza (Billy Bob’s), and was awarded a portion of all of Showbiz Pizza’s future earnings – a major win! But behind the scenes, things were shifting with Bushnell’s entertainment enterprise.
If Pizza Time Theatre had offered “dozens” of locations in 1980, then its growth was exponential in the years that followed. By 1983, there were 240 Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatres in the United States. In their rush to meet the initial demand for the cutting-edge concept, Pizza Time Theatre had accidentally oversaturated the market. It wasn’t unusual for cities and towns to have multiple Pizza Time Theatres, plus an influx of competitors like Showbiz Pizza coming online in response.
To make matters infinitely worse, both franchises were severely hurt by the “video game crash of 1983” (sometimes called Atari shock), caused by oversaturation in the market (and solved only by the introduction of the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, which successfully brought video games into homes, further decreasing the “uniqueness” of Chuck’s place.)
In 1984, Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre officially declared bankruptcy… and its ‘80s “knock-off,” Showbiz Pizza Place, swooped in and purchased their competitor. The new, merged company (with the portmanteau name, Showbiz Pizza Time, Inc.) continued to operate both “Pizza Time Theatres” and “Showbiz Pizza Places” (see ad above)! Chuck E. and Billy Bob were no longer competitors, but cousins!
But before long, Billy Bob was furloughed. The stronger Chuck E. Cheese character won out, and in 1992, every location worldwide was renamed CHUCK E. CHEESE’S PIZZA.
Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza (1992 – 2012)
In the ‘80s, a planned animated film starring the character kicked off a major redesign of Chuck E. Cheese (both voice and body), “rounding” his sharp edges and changing Chuck from a tuxedo-wearing, cigar-smoking adult rat into something more palatable for kids. In fact, any ‘90s kid will be able to identify that sporty, baseball-hat-wearing teenager of ambiguous-rodent-species voiced by Duncan Brannan (who also voiced Barney the Dinosaur from 1997 to 2000).
Arguably, Chuck E. Cheese’s ‘90s and early 2000s aesthetic remains its most iconic; a dayglo entertainment center tailor-made for a generation fueled by Bubble Tape, Pop Rocks, and Warheads; a fluorescent paradise of clattering bronze tokens, buckets of prize tickets, climbable sky-tubes… oh, and, of course, pizza.
But for most visitors young enough to have Chuck E. Cheese as a fond memory, one of the highlights must be the ‘90s mainstay of “Munch’s Make Believe Band”, with Chuck E., Jasper, Helen Henny, Munch, and Pasqually in the lineup. With recurring shows throughout the day, this spectacular “live” production brought a piece of Disney Parks showmanship to your local strip mall… an unforgettable and iconic piece of “magic” in hundreds of hometowns across the country.
For ‘90s kids, the rest is history. Chuck E. Cheese’s became the go-to party place for a generation, with its robotic band, its “in pizza we trust” coin tokens, and its prize redemption center where $50 in tokens might earn you a pencil sharpener, a notebook, and a whole lot of fun.
In fact, Chuck E. Cheese’s was meant to be a respite for parents, too. The attraction’s long-standing policy of admitting adults only with an accompanying child (and hand-stamping everyone for good measure, ensuring you leave with any many children as you brought; no more and no less) was revolutionary in that it allowed parents to relax with a pizza and beer.
From a video gamers dream to a modern family attraction, the invention, growth, decline, and reinvention of Chuck E. Cheese’s is a truly spectacular tale. And believe it or not, this rodent-led restaurant inspired by Disney imagination actually turned around and became the basis for a short-lived Disney experiment itself… On the last page, we’ll see where the concept has been tested by others and finish off with Chuck E. Cheese’s modernization and future… Read on…
Racing the rat
If you’ve been around Theme Park Tourist long enough, the stories in our LEGEND LIBRARY tend to have a certain cadence to them, and understanding the ebbs and flows of the industry become second nature. For example, the ‘90s were a time when – thanks to the 1989 opening of the Disney-MGM Studios and the subsequent debut of Universal Studios Florida in 1990 – ”studio” themed parks became the flavor of the week. Warner Bros., MGM, and Paramount each set out to plant their flag in “studio parks” of their own, beginning a new era of rapid expansion, licensing deals, and parks changing hands.
Believe it or not, it happened about that way for family entertainment centers, too. Despite Chuck E. Cheese’s rough patch in the ‘80s, by the dawn of the 1990s, everyone was eager to get into the business. Across the country, a “rat race” began, with innovative family entertainment centers (sometimes licensing IP tie-ins) opening, gobbling one another up and rebranding in an effort to match Chuck E. Cheese’s success.
One of the largest, Discovery Zone, entered the scene in 1990, emphasizing multi-story play structures, slides into ball pits, foam climbing blocks, and giant obstacle courses. Within four years, Discovery Zone had over 300 locations (thanks to the acquisition of McDonald’s short-lived entry into the play-place market, Leaps and Bounds, and aggressive ownership by Viacom… technically, Discovery Zone and the Paramount Parks were both subsets of Viacom’s Blockbuster Video!).
As quickly as it had permeated the United States, Discovery Zone disappeared. In 1996, it declared bankruptcy, closing half of its 300 stores overnight (with Chuck E. Cheese purchasing 13 of them), and shuttering the other half by 2001.
Maybe you visited a Bullwinkle’s location (themed to the The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show and set in a rustic Dudley Do-Right Canadian cabin setting, complete with its own robotic show, arcade games, party room, laser tag and more). Once widespread, the three remaining Bullwinkle’s (all in the Pacific Northwest) have shed much of their ‘90s kitsch and even overt cartoon references in favor of bowling alleys and ropes courses.
From Boomers! to Sky Zone, America’s Incredible Pizza Company to Scence 75, dozens of chains of themed family entertainment centers followed Chuck E. Cheese’s lead. Nolan Bushnell had founded an entirely new enterprise and spurred an era of expansion and retraction within it. In fact, the rapid expansion of the family entertainment was part of its undoing. With the bar raising ever-higher, cities became flooded with animatronic shows, play-places, and arcades, then layered on bowling, laser tag, go-karts, batting cages, bumper boats, mini-golf… and soon, cannibalized each other out of existence.
Club Disney
Still, one of the latest entries in the ‘90s entertainment center market is still remembered as the most legendary. In 1996, Disney Regional Entertainment was created with the simple goal of exporting Disney-style experiences to cities around the country and globe. It wasn’t a bad idea. After all, the ‘90s had turned the Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood into attractions in their own right in cities across North America. In fact, then-chairman of Disney, Michael Eisner, brought in Art Levitt (a former Disney Cast Member with a few years at Hard Rock under his belt) to head up the new Disney Regional Entertainment.
But given that Bushnell had essentially cited Disney as the inspiration for Chuck E. Cheese’s, it made sense that Disney could use the Regional Entertainment division to reclaim the idea as their own, leveraging their IP (including that of the in-progress Disney Renaissance) to create an industry-dominating family entertainment center of their own. Club Disney opened its first location in Thousand Oaks, California in February, 1997. Unlike Chuck E. Cheese’s, Club Disney was a pay-one-price attraction with an entry fee (also offering Annual Passes), creating an exclusive setting and experience.
Inside, guests found play-places, Disney karaoke, animation classes, a computer lab called ‘The Mousepad,’ the Applaudeville Theater, arcade games, dance stages, and more. Subsequent installations (in West Covina, California; Chandler, Arizona; Lone Tree, Colorado; and finally Glendale, Arizona) would feature uniquely-themed play structures and one-off attractions like a Tarzan-themed zipline and “Herc’s Gym” themed to Hercules.
Club Disney’s also promoted themselves as field trip destinations during the week, offering “educational” classes (met with some controversy given they were clearly a ploy for business). Locations even offered recurring educational classes parents could sign up for, like “Poohrobics” – a parent/child stretching and exercise class.
Club Disney wasn’t the hit Disney had hoped, as evidenced in the definitive telling of the story by our longtime friends at Defunctland. All five locations closed on November 1, 1999 – the first failure of Disney Regional Entertainment (followed soon after by the abandonment of the Declassified Disaster: DisneyQuest that took the “family entertainment center” concept to the next level, and the eventual end of its last project, the ESPN Zone bar and grill).
Modern mouse (2012 – present)
In 2012, Chuck E. was redesigned once more, even swapping species into a sleeker, cooler mouse dropping the ‘90s skateboard and knee pads in favor of an electric guitar (and new voiceover and original songs by Jaret Reddick of the band Bowling for Soup). Frankly, it was a redesign that was way overdue by 2012 and at least visually elevated Chuck into the realms of modern animated characters (even if he’s still never had a film or television show of his own).
In any case, it didn’t help much, as revenue continued to decline, leading to the 2014 acquisition of the chain by Apollo Global Management – a private equity firm specializing in “leveraged buyouts” of distressed brands for quick rehabilitation and resale. Under Apollo, Chuck E. Cheese’s parent company – CEC Entertainment, Inc. – purchased one of its remaining widespread competitors, Peter Piper Pizza, with 129 locations (maintaining the separate brand).
But nothing good can last forever… And even if the kitschy, cartoon styling of Chuck E. Cheese’s had been a de facto style icon of the ‘90s, nostalgia wasn’t fueling many visits. In 2017, CEC Entertainment, Inc. announced their intentions to modernize their properties by stripping away dated styling (in favor of an upscale, “muted” decor). Test stores started to recieve radical redesigns, transforming into the sleeker, more modern Chuck E. Cheese Pizzeria & Games – a 21st century rebranding with a 21st century mouse.
And in the name of progress, modern Chuck E. Cheese’s have made some edits to their offerings, too. For example, to replace those iconic tokens with reloadable, scannable “Play Pass” cards, and to phase out those clunky robotic shows in favor of high-energy dance floors with digital characters on screens.
CEC Entertainment Inc. CEO Tom Leverton explained the end of the robotic dinner show in 2017 to NPR’s Morning Edition by saying, “A child today has such high expectations for entertainment that the animatronics, even at their absolute best, can’t live up to those expectations.” He added to CBS News, “The kids stopped looking at the animatronics years and years ago, and they would wait for the live Chuck E. to come out.”
We’ll have to take his word for it.
Even as the family entertainment center industry receded, shrinking back down after an era of massive overexpansion, the chain that started it all was the obvious victor. More than 500 Chuck E. Cheese locations operate in the United States alone (with nearly a hundred more between Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, and the Middle East).
And sure, Chuck E. Cheese’s has had its fair share of odd pop culture publicity… think, sledgehammering character heads, the death of ball pits, parent-on-parent brawls, Five Nights at Freddy’s, and most recently, a surprisingly morbid backstory for Chuck himself… But through it all, it’s remained a nostalgic icon for kids of the latter third of the 20th century.
Hometown magic
Chuck E. Cheese’s didn’t just create, then dominate the “family entertainment center” market – its influence spread into the next generation of hands-on attractions, like LEGOLAND Discovery Centers located in upscale shopping town centers across the country; its influence can be felt in science centers, children’s museums, trampoline parks, VR attractions, and even theme parks.
It’s no surprise that – even as kid-focused family entertainment centers contracted in the ‘90s – a new generation of entertainment was born. The same kids that once leapt face-first into ball pits and wasted their parents money on Skee-ball can now relive the magic as adults at Dave & Buster’s, “barcades,” and dozens of local entertainment businesses that trade on nostalgia for those who’ve outgrown sky tubes and costumed mascots. That also arguably led to the ’90s invention of so-called “urban entertainment centers” like Universal CityWalk and Downtown Disney’s West Side – larger-than-life playgrounds for adults.
But perhaps most important of all, for generations, Chuck E. Cheese’s was pure, hometown magic – a shining, glittering, Las Vegas of kid-friendly entertainment just minutes from home. Imagine! Animatronic shows, games, playgrounds, prizes, and pizza in a glowing paradise “where a kid can be a kid.”
Walt Disney was fond of saying, “I only hope we never lose sight of one thing: that it was all started by a mouse.” But for a generation of today’s Imagineering fans, a lifelong interest in play, imagination, and themed entertainment may have actually been started by a cigar-smoking, tuxedo-wearing coyote-rat-mouse named Charles Entertainment Cheese.
