The Darkness at the Heart of Chuck E. Cheese
April 10, 2023 8:57 AM Subscribe
Last Squeak Tonight is a special web-only episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, a nearly half hour exploration of the Chuck E. Cheese chain of pizza parlors with singing animatronics, from its strange, off-kilter beginnings as way for Nolan Bushnell’s Atari to make money off arcade machines, to its depressing, soulless present. Even if you’ve never set foot inside a Chuck E. Cheese, it is a grimly fascinating watch.
Oh, and if you want to watch the Rock-afire Explosion perform Love in This Club, the video is right here.
posted by Kattullus at 9:10 AM on April 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by Kattullus at 9:10 AM on April 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
Pizza sucked, too.
it was by far the most sugary pizza i'd ever had - awful
posted by pyramid termite at 9:15 AM on April 10, 2023
it was by far the most sugary pizza i'd ever had - awful
posted by pyramid termite at 9:15 AM on April 10, 2023
Don't have time right now for a 30 minute segment but I assume at some point they cover Grubhub favorite Pasqually’s Pizza is actually a Chuck E. Cheese ‘ghost’ kitchen.
posted by pwnguin at 9:23 AM on April 10, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by pwnguin at 9:23 AM on April 10, 2023 [5 favorites]
There weren't any Chuck E. Cheese locations within an hours drive growing up, but for a few years we did stop at the one on Newington, NH on our way back from family vacations in the White Mountains. I think it must have previously been a Showbiz Pizza because it had a secondary theater with the King. I still have a bunch of unused tickets and tokens from there.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 9:34 AM on April 10, 2023
posted by RonButNotStupid at 9:34 AM on April 10, 2023
Reminded of the Nate Bargatze bit about C.E.C.:
Have you seen that place lately? It's like they're trying to go out of business and can't.
Everything in C.E.C. falls somewhere on the spectrum of unpleasantly and mysteriously sticky. When the Guy children were little and we went to the many, many birthday parties at C.E.C, I would always turn to my wife and say, "We're going home and burning their clothes."
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 9:52 AM on April 10, 2023 [11 favorites]
Have you seen that place lately? It's like they're trying to go out of business and can't.
Everything in C.E.C. falls somewhere on the spectrum of unpleasantly and mysteriously sticky. When the Guy children were little and we went to the many, many birthday parties at C.E.C, I would always turn to my wife and say, "We're going home and burning their clothes."
posted by BigHeartedGuy at 9:52 AM on April 10, 2023 [11 favorites]
Unless I've blocked it from my memory (which seems entirely possible) I don't think I've ever been to a Chuck E. Cheese. But it's such an inescapable part of the cultural background that this segment was fascinating.
I discovered quite a few years ago that I have mutual friends with Nolan Bushnell, and I've met him in person. What a small world.
posted by allegedly at 9:56 AM on April 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
I discovered quite a few years ago that I have mutual friends with Nolan Bushnell, and I've met him in person. What a small world.
posted by allegedly at 9:56 AM on April 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
The joke that started this whole thing off was that the actual episode was about Homeowners Associations , seen here, and John Oliver said, "If you're under 35, you will NEVER be able to afford your own home, so none of this will ever be relevant to you, so we set up a segment for you online." The joke backfired on them when the segment on Chuck E. Cheese ended up being longer than the segment on Homeowners Associations.
posted by dannyboybell at 10:02 AM on April 10, 2023 [12 favorites]
posted by dannyboybell at 10:02 AM on April 10, 2023 [12 favorites]
Chuck E Cheese is remembered in my family as the place of the Great Poopisode. After suffering the horrors of bad pizza, animatronic nightmare, and bad video game cacophony, my toddler beshat the "hamster tubes" so thoroughly that my wife grabbed her like a football and fled the restaurant.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:04 AM on April 10, 2023 [52 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:04 AM on April 10, 2023 [52 favorites]
I had to go to a Charles Entertainment Cheese establishment once with my older daughter. We always saw the commercials but as far as I knew there wasn't one near our house when I was a kid, so my first visit was when I was 43.
The selection of video games was laughably bad. The pizza was, to my Brooklyn taste buds, inedible. The combination of "pizza and videogames" is so simple that it should be a no-brainer to do it, if not well, then at least acceptably. Hell, the $1 slice place near my high school hit the ball out of the park by doing little more than sticking Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Samurai Showdown machines at the back of the shop. But somehow, everything about the place just plain sucked. How did it last this long? Why is it still here?
posted by 1adam12 at 10:06 AM on April 10, 2023 [8 favorites]
The selection of video games was laughably bad. The pizza was, to my Brooklyn taste buds, inedible. The combination of "pizza and videogames" is so simple that it should be a no-brainer to do it, if not well, then at least acceptably. Hell, the $1 slice place near my high school hit the ball out of the park by doing little more than sticking Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Samurai Showdown machines at the back of the shop. But somehow, everything about the place just plain sucked. How did it last this long? Why is it still here?
posted by 1adam12 at 10:06 AM on April 10, 2023 [8 favorites]
For a while there was a one-off Chuck E. Cheese ripoff near here that had previously been a sports bar but had re-themed itself while holding on to it's alcohol license for the parents. I went to so many birthday and youth soccer parties there.
One time I went to the manager to complain that some of the skee ball lanes didn't have enough balls because someone had stuffed them all into one machine. He handed me like 7 or 8 dollars worth of tokens and just said "well fix it then" in a voice that I swear sounded an awful lot like Grunkle Stan from Gravity Falls. I spent the rest of the night just walking up and down the skee-ball lanes counting the number of balls in each machine and using the quarters to redistribute them evenly.
It was awesome.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 10:14 AM on April 10, 2023 [75 favorites]
One time I went to the manager to complain that some of the skee ball lanes didn't have enough balls because someone had stuffed them all into one machine. He handed me like 7 or 8 dollars worth of tokens and just said "well fix it then" in a voice that I swear sounded an awful lot like Grunkle Stan from Gravity Falls. I spent the rest of the night just walking up and down the skee-ball lanes counting the number of balls in each machine and using the quarters to redistribute them evenly.
It was awesome.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 10:14 AM on April 10, 2023 [75 favorites]
I spent the rest of the night just walking up and down the skee-ball lanes counting the number of balls in each machine and using the quarters to redistribute them evenly
You were an awesome kid.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:18 AM on April 10, 2023 [29 favorites]
You were an awesome kid.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 10:18 AM on April 10, 2023 [29 favorites]
I had friend who was manager at a CEC when I was in college. The pizza wasn't great, but the other stuff (salad bar) was fine, and the free tokens to play skiball were great. It's not much of step down from MainEvent or Dave & Busters or whatever game place corporate events are always at, and the food about the same.
I've been to a few parties at CEC for my kids' friends. Small kids like the pizza and find the games amazing, but they age out around 7-9 years old. Small window I guess..
posted by The_Vegetables at 10:19 AM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
I've been to a few parties at CEC for my kids' friends. Small kids like the pizza and find the games amazing, but they age out around 7-9 years old. Small window I guess..
posted by The_Vegetables at 10:19 AM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
You were an awesome kid.
Thank you.
I want to say I was like a tiny Bruce Wayne using the infinite cash I had been given to right wrongs and make sure justice prevailed but in reality I was probably more like The Tick swooping in to get people their money back from a malfunctioning vending machine.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 10:29 AM on April 10, 2023 [30 favorites]
Thank you.
I want to say I was like a tiny Bruce Wayne using the infinite cash I had been given to right wrongs and make sure justice prevailed but in reality I was probably more like The Tick swooping in to get people their money back from a malfunctioning vending machine.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 10:29 AM on April 10, 2023 [30 favorites]
I don't remember ever seeing a band, I just remember playing obsessive amounts of skee-ball, which is what happens every time I get near skee-ball.
The joke backfired on them when the segment on Chuck E. Cheese ended up being longer than the segment on Homeowners Associations
OF COURSE IT DID.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:48 AM on April 10, 2023
The joke backfired on them when the segment on Chuck E. Cheese ended up being longer than the segment on Homeowners Associations
OF COURSE IT DID.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:48 AM on April 10, 2023
I realize this is pretty low on the list of weird things here, but why couldn't they even look up how to spell Pasquale?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:54 AM on April 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 10:54 AM on April 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
I idly wondered if the weird spelling was explained anywhere and found myself on the Pasqually P. Pieplate page on the Chuck E. Cheese wiki, which didn’t answer my question, but like everything else about the wider Charles Entertainment Cheese universe, was both intensely depressing yet oddly compelling at the same time.
posted by Kattullus at 11:03 AM on April 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by Kattullus at 11:03 AM on April 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
There are only three CEC's that show up when I google them. None of them are particularly close. Which may explain why I didn't have to endure the kids party's there.
I did grow up with Shakey's, which had actual musicians playing, and you could look into the kitchen and watch them make your pizza. A bit before video games, but there might have been pinball...
posted by Windopaene at 11:05 AM on April 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
I did grow up with Shakey's, which had actual musicians playing, and you could look into the kitchen and watch them make your pizza. A bit before video games, but there might have been pinball...
posted by Windopaene at 11:05 AM on April 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
Decoder Ring did a great podcast episode on the 1980s pizza war between Chuck E. Cheese and Showbiz.
I find myself recommending Decoder Ring all the time. Worth checking out if you haven't listened before.
posted by msbrauer at 11:08 AM on April 10, 2023 [5 favorites]
I find myself recommending Decoder Ring all the time. Worth checking out if you haven't listened before.
posted by msbrauer at 11:08 AM on April 10, 2023 [5 favorites]
During the height of the pandemic I remember how shocked I was that the local Chuck E Cheese put up a huge banner advertising "We now have pizza to go!"
Like, who would get Chuck E Cheese pizza ever if they weren't forced to because they were at some party there?
I also wonder if the same number of parents are now going back to Chuck E Cheese, Gymboree, etc... or if Covid permanently destroyed a sizeable percentage of their business? What's the calculus for parents needing a place to take their eyes off their kids for a second versus wanting to not be in a noisy crowded place with awful food?
posted by BrotherCaine at 11:40 AM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
Like, who would get Chuck E Cheese pizza ever if they weren't forced to because they were at some party there?
I also wonder if the same number of parents are now going back to Chuck E Cheese, Gymboree, etc... or if Covid permanently destroyed a sizeable percentage of their business? What's the calculus for parents needing a place to take their eyes off their kids for a second versus wanting to not be in a noisy crowded place with awful food?
posted by BrotherCaine at 11:40 AM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
My dad was a regional manager for an arcade chain in Florida. People kept using CEC tokens in their stores. After enough of those would accumulate, we'd go to one of their stores and "give" them back by playing their games.
There may have been pizza involved the first time, but there was not on subsequent visits.
posted by Foosnark at 11:44 AM on April 10, 2023 [14 favorites]
There may have been pizza involved the first time, but there was not on subsequent visits.
posted by Foosnark at 11:44 AM on April 10, 2023 [14 favorites]
There was a CEC (as I guess we're calling it now?) next to the second-run-cinema-that occasionally-showed arty films in town where I grew up and I remember making a good impression on a date in high school once when we played a bit of skeeball before the show and I gave my winning tickets to a random kid who looked like he could use them. That trumps any kid party memory of the place.
posted by St. Oops at 11:50 AM on April 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by St. Oops at 11:50 AM on April 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
My local CEC eventually turned into a Nathan's, and I went to the Nathan's more times during my college years (and the long dark year after college, before I moved out on my own) than I ever went as a kid from the target demographic. I never ate the pizza, but I did play the hell out of some Police Trainer and got unreasonably competitive about air hocket.
posted by grumpybear69 at 12:11 PM on April 10, 2023
posted by grumpybear69 at 12:11 PM on April 10, 2023
I have never been to a CEC. But I have watched videos of the massive brawls that happen there. So I feel like I've been there.
posted by Splunge at 12:12 PM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Splunge at 12:12 PM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
why couldn't they even look up how to spell Pasquale?
Pure speculation but I presume it's because when confronted with the correct spelling a kid would pronounce it like "pask-whale".
posted by axiom at 12:13 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
Pure speculation but I presume it's because when confronted with the correct spelling a kid would pronounce it like "pask-whale".
posted by axiom at 12:13 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
I recall going to Chuck E Cheese for parties a fair few times when I was a kid, but it was only ever a lesser glory to Discovery Zone. The kids who hosted their birthdays at DZ were the coolest!
posted by TheKaijuCommuter at 12:14 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by TheKaijuCommuter at 12:14 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
One of my earliest memories is of my birthday party at Chuck E Cheese's. I guess it would have been my fifth. I really had to beg as my parents didn't want to step foot in the place. My recollection is that it was a loud place and struck just the right balance of fun and terror for a kid my age. Amazing establishment. I wonder if my kids would like it.
posted by potrzebie at 12:19 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by potrzebie at 12:19 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
Bushnell was definitely on to something because he had Bally spooked in 1980. Bally went out and acquired the Barnaby's Pizza chain in 1981 to convert those restaurants into hybrid arcade/pizza joints.
Bally had a handful of "TomFoolery" test stores in the Chicago area + Wisconsin and I visited the Waukegan/Park City location a few times as a kid. It wasn't bad. Barnaby's pizza is pretty good, and the menu looked like Pac-Man. Of course the arcade was jammed with Bally/Midway machines.
But then the arcade world imploded, Bally's conquest for world dominiation dissolved, and somehow Barnaby's survived which warms my heart. I still have a few tokens in a box somewhere.
posted by mookoz at 12:33 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
Bally had a handful of "TomFoolery" test stores in the Chicago area + Wisconsin and I visited the Waukegan/Park City location a few times as a kid. It wasn't bad. Barnaby's pizza is pretty good, and the menu looked like Pac-Man. Of course the arcade was jammed with Bally/Midway machines.
But then the arcade world imploded, Bally's conquest for world dominiation dissolved, and somehow Barnaby's survived which warms my heart. I still have a few tokens in a box somewhere.
posted by mookoz at 12:33 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
I had no idea that the CEC animatronics preceded the Rock-a-fire Explosion the way it did. If you’ve never seen the documentary, it’s equal parts fascinating and terribly depressing.
posted by dr_dank at 12:38 PM on April 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by dr_dank at 12:38 PM on April 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
I want to see a higher-resolution version of that TomFoolery menu--I have some questions about the 'International Burgers.'
posted by box at 12:40 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by box at 12:40 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
Birthday Parties at Chuck E Cheese in 1983-84! It was real. We're talking serious video game action. All the best ones.
posted by Liquidwolf at 12:49 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Liquidwolf at 12:49 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
I did grow up with Shakey's ... a bit before video games, but there might have been pinball...
The first video games I ever encountered (Space Wars and Stunt Cycle) were at a Shakey's Pizza in, I think, District Heights, MD. Changed my whole life.
posted by hanov3r at 12:51 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
The first video games I ever encountered (Space Wars and Stunt Cycle) were at a Shakey's Pizza in, I think, District Heights, MD. Changed my whole life.
posted by hanov3r at 12:51 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
It's been more than 40 years, but my folks still haven't quite forgiven me for demanding a party there. I took my kids as guests to a few birthday parties and now understand.
But you know, the kids (of all generations) enjoyed the horridness. De gustibus non est disputandum.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 12:51 PM on April 10, 2023
But you know, the kids (of all generations) enjoyed the horridness. De gustibus non est disputandum.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 12:51 PM on April 10, 2023
I was a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant manager 1995-2000, coincidentally during the years that my kids were in the peak demographic. AMA. It certainly made me the celebrity parent for the pre-school, early elementary set.
There were a lot of things I loved about that job, so I get a little sad and defensive at how gleefully everyone hates on the place. It's for kids! Many, many kids love it! Kids get dragged unwillingly into adult spaces all the time, so it seems only fair that once in a while they should be able to drag their adults into a space made just for them.
I have horror stories of course, but also joyful and touching stories. One regular family dropped in on the way home from the hospital after their youngest was born. That baby came to Chuck E. Cheese before she went home for the first time! More than once, a parent would pull me aside during a party and say a version of: "It's really his half-birthday, but we're not sure the chemo will work, and he really wanted a party here, so we're celebrating now."
So yes, Chuck E.'s is noisy and chaotic and expensive and some parents are badly behaved, but it is also the setting for meaningful, memorable moments for many kids and families.
posted by rekrap at 1:02 PM on April 10, 2023 [92 favorites]
There were a lot of things I loved about that job, so I get a little sad and defensive at how gleefully everyone hates on the place. It's for kids! Many, many kids love it! Kids get dragged unwillingly into adult spaces all the time, so it seems only fair that once in a while they should be able to drag their adults into a space made just for them.
I have horror stories of course, but also joyful and touching stories. One regular family dropped in on the way home from the hospital after their youngest was born. That baby came to Chuck E. Cheese before she went home for the first time! More than once, a parent would pull me aside during a party and say a version of: "It's really his half-birthday, but we're not sure the chemo will work, and he really wanted a party here, so we're celebrating now."
So yes, Chuck E.'s is noisy and chaotic and expensive and some parents are badly behaved, but it is also the setting for meaningful, memorable moments for many kids and families.
posted by rekrap at 1:02 PM on April 10, 2023 [92 favorites]
Splunge: But I have watched videos of the massive brawls that happen there
The Last Squeak Tonight video is, in some ways, an attempt to answer the question why massive brawls regularly happen at Chuck E. Cheese. I think the conclusion the writers come to is rather fascinating. To paraphrase, the theory is that the twisted weirdness of original Chuck E. Cheese fascinated children and confused adults enough to keep everyone engaged. However, as the years went by the strangeness got stripped away, and by about 2010 it had become a depressing, soulless chain restaurant that had nothing for nobody. I've been thinking about that theory since I watched the video, because there's a lot of art and literature that captivates me which I also find unsettling when I look at it from certain angles.
posted by Kattullus at 1:06 PM on April 10, 2023 [6 favorites]
The Last Squeak Tonight video is, in some ways, an attempt to answer the question why massive brawls regularly happen at Chuck E. Cheese. I think the conclusion the writers come to is rather fascinating. To paraphrase, the theory is that the twisted weirdness of original Chuck E. Cheese fascinated children and confused adults enough to keep everyone engaged. However, as the years went by the strangeness got stripped away, and by about 2010 it had become a depressing, soulless chain restaurant that had nothing for nobody. I've been thinking about that theory since I watched the video, because there's a lot of art and literature that captivates me which I also find unsettling when I look at it from certain angles.
posted by Kattullus at 1:06 PM on April 10, 2023 [6 favorites]
As an '80s kid I loved video arcades (no CEC within reach of my home, we just had big rooms full of arcade games and no pizza) so I was excited to take my kid to CEC when he was old enough (early 2000s). We went pretty often because he liked running around the Habitrail and we had some mean air hockey battles, but I was disappointed because they had hardly any actual video games that you could play, just games that were essentially slot machines that spat out tickets. No whatever-the-early-2000s equivalent of Pac-Man and Frogger and Asteroids and Galaga would have been. Just a big Vegas-style casino floor for kids.
posted by Daily Alice at 1:23 PM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Daily Alice at 1:23 PM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
There are shoot outs too.
Heres a video of a 80 person brawl and can't find the story on another shoot out.
"customize and save!"
posted by clavdivs at 1:28 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
Heres a video of a 80 person brawl and can't find the story on another shoot out.
"customize and save!"
posted by clavdivs at 1:28 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
Shakey's, which had actual musicians playing
There was a chain? Idea? In the late 1970s of barely-renovated brick warehouses as pizza joints with LIVE PIPE ORGANS in them. Same thing? It was the best.
Fern bars for families, more or less.
Though I longed to hear Beethoven’s Fifth on one, and once my parents gave me tip money to wrap a request around, and the musician read it out and everybody laughed which was bad enough but then he didn’t play it. All I wanted was the big intro!
posted by clew at 1:51 PM on April 10, 2023 [6 favorites]
There was a chain? Idea? In the late 1970s of barely-renovated brick warehouses as pizza joints with LIVE PIPE ORGANS in them. Same thing? It was the best.
Fern bars for families, more or less.
Though I longed to hear Beethoven’s Fifth on one, and once my parents gave me tip money to wrap a request around, and the musician read it out and everybody laughed which was bad enough but then he didn’t play it. All I wanted was the big intro!
posted by clew at 1:51 PM on April 10, 2023 [6 favorites]
Growing up there wasn't a Chuck E. Cheese anywhere near my hometown, but I always wanted to go to one. There was a Showbiz, which is a CEC ripoff but probably pretty much the same thing. We went once when I was a kid and it was awesome.
Those places are like hell for adults, but they're not for adults. Kids like them.
posted by zardoz at 2:02 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
Those places are like hell for adults, but they're not for adults. Kids like them.
posted by zardoz at 2:02 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
Growing up in second city in the 70s and 80s, it was a big deal when CEC opened a branch nearby. There were no video arcades or anything like that in my area at the time, and CEC had ALL the best games, at first. That was short-lived though, and within a few months (maybe one year, tops?) most of the arcade games went away and were replaced with skee-ball and ball pools. My guess was/is that CEC management wanted to appeal to parents with toddlers, so they cultivated a more "family-friendly" environment, which was not so interesting to us teenagers. I haven't been inside a CEC for nearly 40 years now.
posted by abraxasaxarba at 2:17 PM on April 10, 2023
posted by abraxasaxarba at 2:17 PM on April 10, 2023
Everything in C.E.C. falls somewhere on the spectrum of unpleasantly and mysteriously sticky.
Well, it is a kids’ restaurant, and Fran Lebowitz once observed that children are often inexplicably sticky, even when deprived of obvious sweets.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:19 PM on April 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
Well, it is a kids’ restaurant, and Fran Lebowitz once observed that children are often inexplicably sticky, even when deprived of obvious sweets.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:19 PM on April 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
I just noticed yesterday while driving north to Easter dinner that the Bonkers Fun House in Peabody seems to have turned into a Dave and Busters Clone.
There also used to be a Bonkers Fun House south of Boston. And then Building 19 bought it. Yes, that Building 19. They actually ran a pizza arcade for a while, and I went there a few times when it was still Bonkers and after it had become Bonkers 19. I'm pretty sure if there was an Action Park of Chuck E. Cheese clones, Bonkers 19 would probably be it.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 2:28 PM on April 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
There also used to be a Bonkers Fun House south of Boston. And then Building 19 bought it. Yes, that Building 19. They actually ran a pizza arcade for a while, and I went there a few times when it was still Bonkers and after it had become Bonkers 19. I'm pretty sure if there was an Action Park of Chuck E. Cheese clones, Bonkers 19 would probably be it.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 2:28 PM on April 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
I spent the rest of the night just walking up and down the skee-ball lanes counting the number of balls in each machine and using the quarters to redistribute them evenly.
So I had the polar opposite skeeball experience at Chuck E. Cheese, or more specifically, my son (then maybe 6 or 7) did.
He had won a few games of skeeball, when suddenly the machine malfunctioned and started spitting out like...all the tickets. A cavalcade of valuable paper, he and his friends went ecstatic, a literal dream come true!
Except, my darn moral compass kicked in and I had to break it to him that this was an accident (which even at that age, he knew inside).
So I found the manager and told him what happened, he angrily sighed, clearly this wasn't the first time this had happened. So he strode over to the machine, took out the 8 gazillion tickets and put an "out of order" sign on it.
But then he took *all* the tickets, including the ones that my son had legitimately won before the glitch, and just quickly walked off. Tears began welling up in my son's eyes. (I know! I know!)
Uh, dude, no.
I chased him down and explained this fact to him. He started to push back, I honestly can't remember the conversation (this was 15 years ago). I do remember saying something like "You know that a less honest person would have kept quiet and cashed them in for that Playstation on the top shelf that's impossible to get right?"
He ended up doing the right thing, but I can't help this was some weird lesson on capitalism that I have yet to comprehend.
posted by jeremias at 3:29 PM on April 10, 2023 [21 favorites]
So I had the polar opposite skeeball experience at Chuck E. Cheese, or more specifically, my son (then maybe 6 or 7) did.
He had won a few games of skeeball, when suddenly the machine malfunctioned and started spitting out like...all the tickets. A cavalcade of valuable paper, he and his friends went ecstatic, a literal dream come true!
Except, my darn moral compass kicked in and I had to break it to him that this was an accident (which even at that age, he knew inside).
So I found the manager and told him what happened, he angrily sighed, clearly this wasn't the first time this had happened. So he strode over to the machine, took out the 8 gazillion tickets and put an "out of order" sign on it.
But then he took *all* the tickets, including the ones that my son had legitimately won before the glitch, and just quickly walked off. Tears began welling up in my son's eyes. (I know! I know!)
Uh, dude, no.
I chased him down and explained this fact to him. He started to push back, I honestly can't remember the conversation (this was 15 years ago). I do remember saying something like "You know that a less honest person would have kept quiet and cashed them in for that Playstation on the top shelf that's impossible to get right?"
He ended up doing the right thing, but I can't help this was some weird lesson on capitalism that I have yet to comprehend.
posted by jeremias at 3:29 PM on April 10, 2023 [21 favorites]
He ended up doing the right thing, but I can't help this was some weird lesson on capitalism that I have yet to comprehend.
The lesson is less about capitalism and more about gambling: the house always wins.
posted by pwnguin at 4:29 PM on April 10, 2023 [9 favorites]
The lesson is less about capitalism and more about gambling: the house always wins.
posted by pwnguin at 4:29 PM on April 10, 2023 [9 favorites]
Canada, late 80's, pre-grade 3 or 4 CEC was The go to place for birthday parties. Even then, it needed a pretty long car ride to some small satellite town to find one.
Even back then, I had an instinctive visceral disgust response against the ball pit and the climbing tubes.
I think we figured how to pull out waay more tickets from machines than the machine was intending to hand out.
posted by porpoise at 5:27 PM on April 10, 2023
Even back then, I had an instinctive visceral disgust response against the ball pit and the climbing tubes.
I think we figured how to pull out waay more tickets from machines than the machine was intending to hand out.
posted by porpoise at 5:27 PM on April 10, 2023
There was a chain? Idea? In the late 1970s of barely-renovated brick warehouses as pizza joints with LIVE PIPE ORGANS in them. Same thing? It was the best.
Dunno if it was a chain or not, but I remember a Pizza & Pipes in Tacoma, WA. One of the regular organists there also played at my wedding, and served some time as the Seattle Mariners organist when they played in the Kingdome. The organ literally spread all over the restaurant...there was percussion near the entrance, organ-powered birds in cages hanging from the ceiling...
posted by lhauser at 7:17 PM on April 10, 2023 [7 favorites]
Dunno if it was a chain or not, but I remember a Pizza & Pipes in Tacoma, WA. One of the regular organists there also played at my wedding, and served some time as the Seattle Mariners organist when they played in the Kingdome. The organ literally spread all over the restaurant...there was percussion near the entrance, organ-powered birds in cages hanging from the ceiling...
posted by lhauser at 7:17 PM on April 10, 2023 [7 favorites]
I grew up in the Twin Cities and frequently found myself at birthday parties at Circus Pizza, which thanks to this wiki I now know was formerly a Showbiz Pizza. I didn't realize the connection until Oliver showed pictures of the Rock-afire Explosion, which were 100% the animatronics we had at Circus.
Circus was also where I learned the concept of the (extremely unfortunately named) "suicide" drink, where you go to the soda fountain and put a little bit of every single kind of pop in one cup. And then maybe add some salt and pepper for good measure. We used to do this at Godfather's, too.
posted by leftover_scrabble_rack at 7:24 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
Circus was also where I learned the concept of the (extremely unfortunately named) "suicide" drink, where you go to the soda fountain and put a little bit of every single kind of pop in one cup. And then maybe add some salt and pepper for good measure. We used to do this at Godfather's, too.
posted by leftover_scrabble_rack at 7:24 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
I've been to exactly one Chuck E. Cheese, long long ago as a kid. I had a change to walk in a couple of months ago, but didn't take it.
A problem with them is that the arcade industry is a much more depressing place now. I only know of two US arcade video game companies still in business, Raw Thrills and Play Mechanix, and little I've seen them make seems very interesting. They seem focused on making thrill-ride types of games, driving and light gun games.
I have thought more than once about creating an arcade game that sought to make the best out of that format. Like, a 2D Zelda-style game, but one in which players could modify the game world. Like, digging tunnels through mountains, planting trees, destroying monster lairs, things that would be writ upon the game world for later players, a single-player game, but one where the communal nature of the game would be an essential part of it. Sadly, as is the story of my life, I can't ever seem to make a solid go of making it before some important thing or other gets in the way an obliterates my focus upon it.
I often think I might have actually made something nice in my life if I didn't get my attention pulled away from those projects so often.
posted by JHarris at 7:33 PM on April 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
A problem with them is that the arcade industry is a much more depressing place now. I only know of two US arcade video game companies still in business, Raw Thrills and Play Mechanix, and little I've seen them make seems very interesting. They seem focused on making thrill-ride types of games, driving and light gun games.
I have thought more than once about creating an arcade game that sought to make the best out of that format. Like, a 2D Zelda-style game, but one in which players could modify the game world. Like, digging tunnels through mountains, planting trees, destroying monster lairs, things that would be writ upon the game world for later players, a single-player game, but one where the communal nature of the game would be an essential part of it. Sadly, as is the story of my life, I can't ever seem to make a solid go of making it before some important thing or other gets in the way an obliterates my focus upon it.
I often think I might have actually made something nice in my life if I didn't get my attention pulled away from those projects so often.
posted by JHarris at 7:33 PM on April 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
It certainly seems like the arcade market has bifurcated into "premium experiences on expensive machines you can't replicate at home" and "ticket games that keep people coming back to win a prize". I've seen a lot of the ticket-focused arcades open up here in Sydney.
I have thought more than once about creating an arcade game that sought to make the best out of that format. Like, a 2D Zelda-style game, but one in which players could modify the game world.
This is close enough to Minecraft that it would be constantly compared to Minecraft, including the bit where you can see the remains of other people's play.
posted by Merus at 7:42 PM on April 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
I have thought more than once about creating an arcade game that sought to make the best out of that format. Like, a 2D Zelda-style game, but one in which players could modify the game world.
This is close enough to Minecraft that it would be constantly compared to Minecraft, including the bit where you can see the remains of other people's play.
posted by Merus at 7:42 PM on April 10, 2023 [3 favorites]
The aforementioned Pizza & Pipes had Mighty Wurlitzer organs I think? At least in the SF Bay Area. Sadly they'd ripped out the organ before I got to go to one.
posted by BrotherCaine at 8:09 PM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by BrotherCaine at 8:09 PM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
I went to Pizza and Pipes at least a couple of times as a young kid, 5 or younger. And I've never forgotten it. It was amazing to my little child brain.
posted by meese at 8:36 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by meese at 8:36 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
I remember one of the pizza and organ places in the Midwest, and maybe Atlanta? When an idea’s time has come…
posted by clew at 9:14 PM on April 10, 2023
posted by clew at 9:14 PM on April 10, 2023
I’ve never been to a CEC - we had Showbiz Pizza. I believe that’s where the Rock-a-fire Explosion started.
posted by bendy at 10:18 PM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by bendy at 10:18 PM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
On simularity to Minecraft, maybe? But in an in-person community style. A kind of arcade game where every machine is like its own server. But not what I'd call a "creativity" game. Instead, a difficult game where players can make it easier through their efforts. This is off the topic though.
What I remember about that Chuck E Cheese is, it was probably around 1985-6 or so, but it still had some older arcade games. I remember they had Sinistar (a sit down model!), but also Pleiades and Turbo.
God I miss those kinds of arcades. I didn't get to go to them much when I was a kid. I know of one decent local arcade, but their video game selection never changes. They're good people, and they get new pinball in frequently but clearly their arcade selection is an afterthought.
posted by JHarris at 10:29 PM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
What I remember about that Chuck E Cheese is, it was probably around 1985-6 or so, but it still had some older arcade games. I remember they had Sinistar (a sit down model!), but also Pleiades and Turbo.
God I miss those kinds of arcades. I didn't get to go to them much when I was a kid. I know of one decent local arcade, but their video game selection never changes. They're good people, and they get new pinball in frequently but clearly their arcade selection is an afterthought.
posted by JHarris at 10:29 PM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
When my nephew was 5 he HAD to go there for his birthday, along with his pals. I owned a Suburban, so i got to be the bus driver. The smell was... foul. Vomit and urine and shit, oh my. A delightful dinning experience. They all enjoyed the pizza-like food they were served, and had a nice food fight with the birthday cupcakes my sister brought. I ended up tipping the waitresses and bussers twenty each because of the mess.
There were some saving graces. the kids were color tagged so they couldn't wander off with the wrong family. The seating area was as far from the stage as possible.
But the best, they had a liquor license to sell beer, and next door was a nice italian take-out storefront so I could smuggle in a meatball hero. The manager came over and explained that it wasn't "cool" to bring other restaurants food in. I just asked him where he eats lunch, and slid a fiver across the table to him. I told him I didn't mean to cause a problem, and he walked away. I found out later he made a deal with them to put their sandwichs on his specials menu.
posted by Marky at 11:35 PM on April 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
There were some saving graces. the kids were color tagged so they couldn't wander off with the wrong family. The seating area was as far from the stage as possible.
But the best, they had a liquor license to sell beer, and next door was a nice italian take-out storefront so I could smuggle in a meatball hero. The manager came over and explained that it wasn't "cool" to bring other restaurants food in. I just asked him where he eats lunch, and slid a fiver across the table to him. I told him I didn't mean to cause a problem, and he walked away. I found out later he made a deal with them to put their sandwichs on his specials menu.
posted by Marky at 11:35 PM on April 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
When my kids were at the “parents stay” party ages my introvert husband and I had a deal that I did all of them, except the CEC and LaserQuest ones, which he did. Win-win. I missed out on the end of a friend’s marriage there though.
I do get why kids love it, but I can’t take the sensory overload.
If you’re in Toronto and just like arcade games, Zed*80 only has a $5-$10 cover and unlimited classic games. It’s low key. CEC for exhausted GenX, at least during the kiddy hours.
posted by warriorqueen at 2:59 AM on April 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
I do get why kids love it, but I can’t take the sensory overload.
If you’re in Toronto and just like arcade games, Zed*80 only has a $5-$10 cover and unlimited classic games. It’s low key. CEC for exhausted GenX, at least during the kiddy hours.
posted by warriorqueen at 2:59 AM on April 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
I went to a CEC once in the eighties, as a goof with some college friends, and all that I really remember about it was that there was a family in the booth next to us that had a bunch of kids who were straight out of Village of the Damned: very blonde, weirdly silent, starey.
Shakey's struck me as something very different: a place that tried to evoke the ambiance of a pre-Prohibition tavern without any of the booze (AFAIK). Never saw one with live music, it was always player-piano ragtime.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:47 AM on April 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Shakey's struck me as something very different: a place that tried to evoke the ambiance of a pre-Prohibition tavern without any of the booze (AFAIK). Never saw one with live music, it was always player-piano ragtime.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:47 AM on April 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
Did you know: Chuck E. Cheese's middle name is "Entertainment" because that was his mother Livia's maiden name. Her middle name was "Adult."
Liv Adult Entertainment was also a performer.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:35 AM on April 11, 2023 [8 favorites]
Liv Adult Entertainment was also a performer.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:35 AM on April 11, 2023 [8 favorites]
It certainly seems like the arcade market has bifurcated into "premium experiences on expensive machines you can't replicate at home" and "ticket games that keep people coming back to win a prize".
Brawls were common at traditional arcades and adults concerned about teenage hangouts so they were mostly zoned out of existence, and that's why there aren't many around any more, or they mostly sell food.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:53 AM on April 11, 2023
Brawls were common at traditional arcades and adults concerned about teenage hangouts so they were mostly zoned out of existence, and that's why there aren't many around any more, or they mostly sell food.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:53 AM on April 11, 2023
I always joked that the “E” stood for “Eats.”
I remember adoring Showbiz Pizza in its/my day, and I felt like I won the lottery the day my parents stopped on the way out to get me a doll of the mouse-cheerleader character.
Why was any of this a thing? Why did we love it so much? In hindsight, it’s weird to think of the adults tolerating this for us — the same generation of my friends’ parents who refused to stop smoking in the house, would willingly subject themselves to three hours of robots who looked like bad taxidermy and pizza made to taste like cake, just “for the kids.”
John Oliver’s exploration of it was an illuminating hoot, anyway. Glad you shared it!
posted by armeowda at 7:59 AM on April 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
I remember adoring Showbiz Pizza in its/my day, and I felt like I won the lottery the day my parents stopped on the way out to get me a doll of the mouse-cheerleader character.
Why was any of this a thing? Why did we love it so much? In hindsight, it’s weird to think of the adults tolerating this for us — the same generation of my friends’ parents who refused to stop smoking in the house, would willingly subject themselves to three hours of robots who looked like bad taxidermy and pizza made to taste like cake, just “for the kids.”
John Oliver’s exploration of it was an illuminating hoot, anyway. Glad you shared it!
posted by armeowda at 7:59 AM on April 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
My family loved CEC in the 90s. The store gave out some number of free tokens for good grades, so 4 times a year my parents would take us with our report cards and let us having a fun reward. I never remember my parents being upset to be there, and can't believe they would have continued to take us year after year if they hated it.
I have so many fond memories given how many times we went. I started small enjoying the little rides and ball pit and tubes (I never remember a terrible ballpit/tube event, even as we joked they were germ pits and send us home with colds). I got bigger and did the basketball and skeeball and shooting games. Eventually my brothers and I were all playing a multiplayer arcade game all night long trying to get farther than we got last visit. By the time I was a teen I had gotten pretty reliable at hitting the jackpot-score at skeeball and would spend my time watching the jackpot creep up till it seemed big enough to go after, then winning and handing off the tickets to one of my little siblings. Good times.
posted by jermsplan at 8:04 AM on April 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
I have so many fond memories given how many times we went. I started small enjoying the little rides and ball pit and tubes (I never remember a terrible ballpit/tube event, even as we joked they were germ pits and send us home with colds). I got bigger and did the basketball and skeeball and shooting games. Eventually my brothers and I were all playing a multiplayer arcade game all night long trying to get farther than we got last visit. By the time I was a teen I had gotten pretty reliable at hitting the jackpot-score at skeeball and would spend my time watching the jackpot creep up till it seemed big enough to go after, then winning and handing off the tickets to one of my little siblings. Good times.
posted by jermsplan at 8:04 AM on April 11, 2023 [1 favorite]
No idea why they went with "Love in the Club" when there's also a Rock-A-Fire Explosion cover of "Ms. New Booty" by Bubba Sparxxx.
Booty, booty, booty, booty, rockin' everywhereposted by DirtyOldTown at 8:09 AM on April 11, 2023 [3 favorites]
Booty, booty, booty, booty, rockin' everywhere
Booty, booty, booty, booty, rockin' everywhere
Rockin' everywhere, rockin' everywhere
Back in 99 or 2000, there was a month when my kids were invited to CEC birthday parties three weekends in a row. It was just as much fun (for the parents) as you imagine. The kids, I'm sure, loved it.
posted by COD at 8:45 AM on April 11, 2023
posted by COD at 8:45 AM on April 11, 2023
Chris Thrash, the guy behind these fan programming videos, opened a Showbiz Pizza-like restaurant in his hometown that closed after a couple of years. Apparently, selling his setup back to Creative Engineering. Full story here.
posted by dr_dank at 10:57 AM on April 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by dr_dank at 10:57 AM on April 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
TL;DR Accidentally held business meeting at Chuck E. Cheese, but it was the client's fault so no real harm done beyond loss of hearing from screaming children.
I may have told this story before. In roughly 1995, my colleagues and I, all mid-career professionals in suits, agreed to meet a developer at the pizza place located in a shopping center near the project site. We arrive about 30 minutes early and the only pizza place of any kind is a CEC. We know we're at the right location, so in we go. Now, I can't stand screaming kids and the place has me breaking out in hives. The staff treat us like child molesters while the mothers give us filthy looks. We decide to order pizza to minimize our overall time in this hellhole. Then the client calls: he can’t find us and is standing in front of an empty storefront. It turns out the pizza place he had in mind closed and he never intended us to be at CEC. But we've already ordered the pizza, so we start our meeting.
The biggest issue re: the meeting was that the developer guy was falling all over himself apologizing and couldn't roll with it; there were many ways to handle it gracefully and he couldn't find any of them. From a practical standpoint, it was loud and the waitress was enjoying interrupting us with "helpful" requests about whether we wanted more soda, etc. We were sitting at the free-standing tables so we could spread out, but that meant being near the video games; there was a stage with audio-animatronic figures that erupted into noise at one point. I remember being struck by how cheap it all was, e.g., low ceilings with low-end acoustical tiles and tables right out of a restaurant catalog. This CEC had the ceiling level gerbil tubes and I remember having the drawings all spread out and looking up at a creepy kid staring at me.
The project never materialized, but the jokes went on forever.
posted by carmicha at 11:20 AM on April 11, 2023 [19 favorites]
I may have told this story before. In roughly 1995, my colleagues and I, all mid-career professionals in suits, agreed to meet a developer at the pizza place located in a shopping center near the project site. We arrive about 30 minutes early and the only pizza place of any kind is a CEC. We know we're at the right location, so in we go. Now, I can't stand screaming kids and the place has me breaking out in hives. The staff treat us like child molesters while the mothers give us filthy looks. We decide to order pizza to minimize our overall time in this hellhole. Then the client calls: he can’t find us and is standing in front of an empty storefront. It turns out the pizza place he had in mind closed and he never intended us to be at CEC. But we've already ordered the pizza, so we start our meeting.
The biggest issue re: the meeting was that the developer guy was falling all over himself apologizing and couldn't roll with it; there were many ways to handle it gracefully and he couldn't find any of them. From a practical standpoint, it was loud and the waitress was enjoying interrupting us with "helpful" requests about whether we wanted more soda, etc. We were sitting at the free-standing tables so we could spread out, but that meant being near the video games; there was a stage with audio-animatronic figures that erupted into noise at one point. I remember being struck by how cheap it all was, e.g., low ceilings with low-end acoustical tiles and tables right out of a restaurant catalog. This CEC had the ceiling level gerbil tubes and I remember having the drawings all spread out and looking up at a creepy kid staring at me.
The project never materialized, but the jokes went on forever.
posted by carmicha at 11:20 AM on April 11, 2023 [19 favorites]
I loved going to CEC as a kid. There were other arcades around but CEC was kids focused and didn't have as many unstable adults getting angry at the game machines. As a teenager I went with some friends and played Turtles in Time until we finished the whole game. I've taken my kids to a couple of parties there as well and they had a great time too. The video games are all super dated so there wasn't much of an attraction there but the hamster pipes, skeeball and other ticket games were pretty fun for them. I am always impressed with the car ride that takes your picture and prints it out like a low-resolution fax for the low price of 1 token because at one time that was cutting edge and it is way better value than playing an arcade game from 2003 that might not work.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:26 PM on April 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:26 PM on April 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
The lesson is less about capitalism and more about gambling: the house always wins.
Sufficiently advanced capitalism is indistinguishable from gambling.
posted by MrBadExample at 4:05 PM on April 11, 2023 [6 favorites]
Sufficiently advanced capitalism is indistinguishable from gambling.
posted by MrBadExample at 4:05 PM on April 11, 2023 [6 favorites]
Too scared to click on the link and have my memories of vintage 80's CeC colored by what it has apparently become (I haven't stepped in one since at least '85). It was the only "arcade" that had the Mad Alien game (a "sit-down" Space Invaders-meets-driving game where a cop shoots at fleeing aliens) that was my fave as a young one. Hopefully my folks have since forgiven me for dragging them there so often.
posted by gtrwolf at 8:06 PM on April 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by gtrwolf at 8:06 PM on April 11, 2023 [2 favorites]
I guess the vague memory I had of Chuck E Cheese is actually of Showbiz Pizza, because I remember that terrible loud scary gorilla.
Mostly I remember being told to stop whatever I was doing because “the band was going to play”, and, being 5 or 6 at the time, not really having the vocab or self-knowledge to tell the adult that 1) I wanted to finish my game 2) even in 1986(ish?) the band did not have very good animatronics and it seemed kind of dumb and 3) most importantly I was scared of the big gorilla anyway and had chosen a game far away from him on purpose.
So I wasn’t really a fan. Still better than the time a friend’s parent managed to leave me at an indoor water park (probably because I wandered off to avoid something, likely not a gorilla though).
posted by nat at 12:47 AM on April 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Mostly I remember being told to stop whatever I was doing because “the band was going to play”, and, being 5 or 6 at the time, not really having the vocab or self-knowledge to tell the adult that 1) I wanted to finish my game 2) even in 1986(ish?) the band did not have very good animatronics and it seemed kind of dumb and 3) most importantly I was scared of the big gorilla anyway and had chosen a game far away from him on purpose.
So I wasn’t really a fan. Still better than the time a friend’s parent managed to leave me at an indoor water park (probably because I wandered off to avoid something, likely not a gorilla though).
posted by nat at 12:47 AM on April 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
Oh, separately, the Phoenix area still has Organ Stop Pizza in nearby Mesa.
posted by nat at 12:53 AM on April 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by nat at 12:53 AM on April 12, 2023 [3 favorites]
Oh, and clew, you might be interested in this link.
posted by nat at 1:11 AM on April 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by nat at 1:11 AM on April 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
RonButNotStupid: Hey, hey, hey. I will not hear a single bad word about that man.
(I do not know if this Twitter account is in any way official. I do not care. He's a family-friendly Chuck Tingle, complete with Arthur instead of Son Name of John. Good is real. Also, SPOON!)
posted by BiggerJ at 4:54 AM on April 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
(I do not know if this Twitter account is in any way official. I do not care. He's a family-friendly Chuck Tingle, complete with Arthur instead of Son Name of John. Good is real. Also, SPOON!)
posted by BiggerJ at 4:54 AM on April 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
My last big birthday party as a teenager was at CEC. My best friend suggested it out of an abundance of ironic humor. I seized on the idea because I love shitty and rundown things, and there's little more shitty and rundown than an early 2000s CEC in a mill town. The janky animatronics, scuffed doors and gummy floor tiles, the bad pizza... the strangely gloomy lighting, like a grocery store running on generator power. Imagine the kind of affection you might have for a particularly shitty dive bar. That was how I felt about it.
I suggested everyone wear costumes, but not everyone did, which made it even funnier. I had a blast despite the unspeakable stickiness mentioned in posts above. We were all goth/alt kids and enjoyed making the parents there uncomfortable by our mere presence (their kids barely noticed us).
Before that, as a smaller kid, I did have a few normal non-ironic birthdays at CEC and enjoyed them very much. CEC was an improvement over the squalid house I lived in, and an improvement over early childhood birthday parties I had at uh, McDonald's. I'm sure my better-off friends had different opinions of the place, but it was spendy for us. I say this lovingly, but I think y'all might find the persistent cultural cachet of CEC puzzling partially because you have higher standards than a mill worker living in a single-wide. :D
posted by the liquid oxygen at 6:30 AM on April 12, 2023 [4 favorites]
I suggested everyone wear costumes, but not everyone did, which made it even funnier. I had a blast despite the unspeakable stickiness mentioned in posts above. We were all goth/alt kids and enjoyed making the parents there uncomfortable by our mere presence (their kids barely noticed us).
Before that, as a smaller kid, I did have a few normal non-ironic birthdays at CEC and enjoyed them very much. CEC was an improvement over the squalid house I lived in, and an improvement over early childhood birthday parties I had at uh, McDonald's. I'm sure my better-off friends had different opinions of the place, but it was spendy for us. I say this lovingly, but I think y'all might find the persistent cultural cachet of CEC puzzling partially because you have higher standards than a mill worker living in a single-wide. :D
posted by the liquid oxygen at 6:30 AM on April 12, 2023 [4 favorites]
nat, both those links made me very happy, thank you. Disco Fifth!
posted by clew at 9:45 AM on April 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by clew at 9:45 AM on April 12, 2023 [1 favorite]
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posted by Thorzdad at 9:07 AM on April 10, 2023 [3 favorites]