What was Chuck E. Cheese like back in the 1980s?

[Syzygy1]

On 5/8/2020 at 9:42 AM, Tempest said:

TMI dude.  TMI.

Yeah, you're probably wondering "where did Grid get the silk from, anyway?"

[CreeB]

Chuck E. Cheese was a haven for "bad kids" like me. The pizza sucked, but I didn't care about that. I liked the arcade games. There were a lot of more obscure games there like Major Havoc. And there were some cocktail cabinets. I loved that place... last time I went, it was full of redemption games (aka kiddie gambling.)

[CaptainCanadian]

When I was a kid this place was AWESOME, it was like Disney World...every kid wanted to go there. Pizza was this thing that you rarely had, usually you went out for a pizza. A lot of places around my hometown were 'eat in' places. Mother's pizza was a big one, back then Pizza was amazing, now it sucks. I mean its ok but nothing beats pizza out with the family. That was around 85 or 86. I played MACH 1 at Chuck E Cheese, that was wicked back then, I remember sitting transfixed by the amazing graphics.  I don't remember much else other than the animatronics, those were BAD ASS, I loved the whole place. For awhile in my late twenties I worked as a Balloon Twister at kids parties, I give major props to people and companies that make products to entertain children, they are doing gods work. 

 

My parents used to own a place in Orlando, Florida [around Altemonte Springs]. There was this place called Star Bucks that was basically a wicked arcade with tons of amazing games, ticket skee balls and those casino type machines but instead of money, they spit out little tokens. There was also a... like a cell or a tank but it was filled with dollar bills and if you scored high enough on a casino machine or something [I don't recall exactly] well you could go into the tank for a bit and wind would blow up and you'd try to grab the money. It reminded me sooooooooooooooooooooo much of the old show FUN HOUSE.  Man that place was the bees knees, my parents loved it, I loved it. Family fun was a big deal back in those days....back when the nuclear family was still intact. The 80's were a kickass time to be alive. Long live the good times!

[Keatah]

Our ChuckE establishment was strangely inviting to fat men. It was a like a roller coaster buffet or something. They'd pull up to the station and load their plates. Climb the hill while walking (struggling) back to the table. Sit down and go on a 20-minute binge of ups and downs, cresting and descending the mountain of food on their plates. When the "ride" was over they'd pull into the "station" and go around again.

[Leeroy ST]

Some still were up until the mid 90's where it seemed like every region took turns getting worse.

 

Also in the 80's and 90's they actually had cool prizes you actually wanted, including electronics and video game consoles. 

 

 

[CreeB]

I remember there was one near me that opened in like 1981,,, puppy pong was there.. cheese maze.. hated the pizza and may have barfed in a garbage can.. first saw major havoc there.. joust was there.. think i remember night driver.. battlezone.. mr do..

 

Then it became kiddie gambling when i went with my cousins in the 2000s.. hated it..

[+bent_pin]

A carnival barker, great at starting businesses, not so much at maintaining them. As an Idea Man he would have done better developing concepts for others, but that's just my opinion.

[CreeB]

in the Eighties cec was peak.. it is because of corona it is failing.. and the fact kids don't play games anymore..

 

On the subject of cec does anyone remember GADGETS???? like cec but owned by warner bros.. this was before they owned six flags.. i went to the one in atlantic city one summer and found it cool as heck.. played a lot of qbert there..

[DragonGrafx-16]

I had fond memories of 90s Chuck E Cheese but when I was little I was scared of the rat man lmao Even in the 90s they still had way more video games than more recent years. One year I went to a birthday party of my sister's friend in the mid 2000s and spent the entire time there just playing Galaga and Ms. Pacman because they had an Anniversary cabinet. The only other video game they had was Mario Kart GP which I really really wanted to play but the use item button was broken.

[CreeB]

On 9/5/2023 at 5:59 PM, DragonGrafx-16 said:

I had fond memories of 90s Chuck E Cheese but when I was little I was scared of the rat man lmao Even in the 90s they still had way more video games than more recent years. One year I went to a birthday party of my sister's friend in the mid 2000s and spent the entire time there just playing Galaga and Ms. Pacman because they had an Anniversary cabinet. The only other video game they had was Mario Kart GP which I really really wanted to play but the use item button was broken.

They also had that son of a gun SPIDER STOMPING game that made me feel uncomfy when i looked at it,,,, that's seriously something hanna-barbera would come up with,, , but a frikin KID instead???? Birdman penelope pitstop daphne and the others were legal adults (or in daphne's case late high school).. yeah get kids traumatized in THAT WAY from a game at chuck e cheese,,,, we didn't have that when i was growing up..