Charles Entertainment Cheese | |
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Chuck E. Cheese character | |
First appearance | May 17, 1977 |
Created by | Nolan Bushnell |
Voiced by |
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In-universe information | |
Full name | Charles Entertainment Cheese |
Species |
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Gender | Male |
Occupation |
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Nationality | American |
Charles Entertainment Cheese, or Chuck E. Cheese for short, is the mascot of CEC Entertainment Concepts L.P.'s Chuck E. Cheese chain of family entertainment centers (FECs) [1] [2] From 1977 to 1992 he was an anthropomorphic rat, changing to a mouse in 1993. [3] [4] [5] [6] In 2012, he was rebranded into a smaller version in response to an ongoing decrease in sales during 2011. [7]
The character was originally created as the mascot for a restaurant proposed by Nolan Bushnell (founder of Atari) in 1977. [8] Bushnell attended the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) conference in Orlando and saw walk-around character costumes for sale. Among them, Bushnell spotted a costume that appeared to be a coyote, so he bought it for his planned Coyote Pizza restaurant. When the costume arrived at Atari, it was discovered that the costume was actually a rat with a long pink tail; this costume was also much larger and furrier than the final product seen in all of the original locations. Bushnell decided to change the restaurant's name to Rick Rat's Pizza. However, Bushnell's group of planners believed that a rat for the name of a restaurant would not be appropriate. Bushnell's group of planners finally decided on the name Chuck E. Cheese for the mascot and changed the restaurant's name to Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre. [9] [10] The first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre opened in San Jose, California on 370 South Winchester Boulevard, in the same year Chuck E. Cheese was proposed – 1977.
The rat mascot was originally given a New Jersey accent, telling jokes – sometimes holding a cigar. His voice was delivered by John Widelock for the first seven years, then by Scott Wilson. In 1993, Duncan Brannan was hired as the new voice of the mascot, with the task of transforming him from a rat to a mouse. [7] By circa 1994–1995, the mouse was given a more child-friendly makeover, with a wider cheek structure, a less pointy, shorter snout, longer eyes, smaller ears, and a slimmer physique. This version started appearing in the restaurants with the skateboarder outfit in 2001.
In July 2012, the mascot was changed into a Rockstar version of the character, who played guitar. Jaret Reddick, the frontman and guitarist for the band Bowling for Soup, replaced Brannan. [7]
Nolan Kay Bushnell is an American businessman and electrical engineer. He established Atari, Inc. and the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre chain. He has been inducted into the Video Game Hall of Fame and the Consumer Electronics Association Hall of Fame, received the BAFTA Fellowship and the Nations Restaurant News "Innovator of the Year" award, and was named one of Newsweek's "50 Men Who Changed America". He has started more than 20 companies and is one of the founding fathers of the video game industry. He is on the board of Anti-Aging Games. In 2012, he founded an educational software company called Brainrush, that is using video game technology in educational software.
Chuck E. Cheese is a chain of American restaurants founded in 1977 by Atari's co-founder Nolan Bushnell. Headquartered in Irving, Texas, each location features arcade games, amusement rides and musical shows in addition to serving pizza and other food items; former mainstays included ball pits, crawl tubes, and animatronic shows. The chain's name is taken from its main character and mascot, Chuck E. Cheese. The first location opened as Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre in San Jose, California. It was the first family restaurant to integrate food with arcade games and animated entertainment, thus being one of the pioneers for the "family entertainment center" concept.
The Rock-afire Explosion (RAE) is an animatronic character band designed and manufactured by Creative Engineering, Inc. (CEI) for use in ShowBiz Pizza Place restaurants in the 1980s and early 1990s. The band's characters were various anthropomorphized animals, including a brown bear, a grey wolf and a silverback gorilla. They performed medleys of classic rock, pop, and country music, as well as original compositions and comedic skits.
1977 had sequels such as Super Speed Race and Datsun 280 ZZZAP as well as several new titles such as Space Wars. The year's highest-grossing arcade games were F-1 and Speed Race DX in Japan, and Sea Wolf and Sprint 2 in the United States. The year's best-selling home system was Nintendo's Color TV-Game, which was only sold in Japan.
A theme restaurant is a type of restaurant that uses theming to attract diners by creating a memorable experience. Theme restaurants have a unifying or dominant subject or concept, and utilize architecture, decor, special effects, and other techniques, often to create exotic environments that are not normally associated with dining because they are inaccessible, no longer exist, are fictional or supernatural, or taboo. The theme may be further extended through the naming and choices of food, though food is usually secondary to entertaining guests.
A family entertainment center (FEC) in the entertainment industry, also known as an indoor amusement park, family amusement center, family fun center, soft play, or simply fun center, is a small amusement park marketed towards families with small children to teenagers, often entirely indoors. They usually cater to "sub-regional markets of larger metropolitan areas." FECs are generally small compared to full-scale amusement parks, with fewer attractions, a lower per-person per-hour cost to consumers than a traditional amusement park, and not usually major tourist attractions, but sustained by an area customer base. Many are locally owned and operated, although there are a number of chains and franchises in the field. Some, operated by non-profit organizations as children's museums or science museums, tend to be geared toward edutainment experiences rather than simply amusement.
Duncan Brannan is an American voice actor, who has provided voices for numerous mainstream children's entertainment characters, English-language dubs of Japanese anime, and other commercial properties. He is mainly known for being the voice of Chuck E. Cheese from 1993-2012.
Samuel Frederick "Ted" Dabney Jr. was an American electrical engineer, and the co-founder, alongside Nolan Bushnell, of Atari, Inc. He is recognized as developing the basics of video circuitry principles that were used for Computer Space and later Pong, one of the first and most successful arcade games.
Cheese is a dairy product usually made from the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep.
Peter Piper Pizza, LLC is an American pizza and entertainment company with locations in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas and Mexico.
ShowBiz Pizza Place, often shortened to ShowBiz Pizza or ShowBiz, was an American family entertainment center and restaurant pizza chain founded in 1980 by Robert L. Brock and Creative Engineering (CEI). It emerged after a separation between Brock and owners of the Chuck E. Cheese franchise, Pizza Time Theatre. ShowBiz Pizza restaurants entertained guests through a large selection of arcade games, coin-operated rides, and animatronic stage shows.
Atari, Inc. was an American video game developer and home computer company founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. Atari was a key player in the formation of the video arcade and video game industry.
Pizza Showtime was a family restaurant and entertainment centre operating in Perth, Western Australia from 1980 to 1984. Similar to the American Chuck E. Cheese chain it was a sit down pizza restaurant complemented by arcade games, and animatronic characters.
Sente Technologies was an arcade game company. Founded as Videa in 1982 by several ex-Atari employees, the company was bought by Nolan Bushnell and made a division of his Pizza Time Theatre company in 1983. In 1984 the division was acquired by Bally Midway who continued to operate it until closing it down in 1988. The name Sente, like Atari, is another reference to Bushnell's favorite game, Go and means "having the initiative."
Aaron Fechter is an American mechanical engineer, entrepreneur, voice actor, singer, and musician who owns and operates Creative Engineering, Inc. (CEI). He is best known as the creator of The Rock-afire Explosion, an animatronic show featuring a variety of characters created primarily for Showbiz Pizza Place restaurants throughout the 1980s. A fallout between Showbiz and CEI, along with the chain's dwindling revenue, led to the show's decline and eventual removal by the early 1990s.
Cyan Engineering was an American computer engineering company located in Grass Valley, California. It was founded by Steve Mayer and Larry Emmons. The company was purchased in 1973 by Atari, Inc. and developed the Atari Video Computer System console, which was released in 1977 and renamed the Atari 2600 in November 1982. It also carried out some robotics research and development work on behalf of Atari, including the Kermit mobile robot, originally intended as a stand-alone product intended to bring a beer. The company also programmed the original "portrait style" animatronics for Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre pizza chain in 1977.
Above the receptionist's desk was the smiling face of Chuck E. Cheese, the company's mascot—a rat.
The star of the show is a feisty-looking rat named Chuck E. Cheese, who Bushnell hopes will become as big a celebrity as Mickey Mouse.
Bushnell called his new venture Pizza Time Theaters. He named his restaurants Chuck E. Cheese after the robotic rat mascot.