Chuck E. Cheese's Origin Story Is Sadder Than You Remember 

I went there a lot when I was a kid. I vividly remember being blown away when some teenagers graciously donated their tickets to me. Ever since, on the occasion I find myself in an arcade that offers tickets, I give it away to kids, or sometimes adult who are collecting. The reaction of the kids are worth everything.

I loved Chuck E Cheese......... As a kid you never notice the poor pizza quality, the bored and underpaid staff, or the filthy poorly maintained animatronics.... it was truly magical.

That mouse and his gang scared the crap out of me at 6 years old. I'm 36 and his eyes still creep me out a little.

I actually worked as the Costume Character at my local Chuck E. Cheese. My senior year of high school. It was a great way to burn fat. Lol! And all I really had to do was take care of the costume, rotate the music video DVD, and prepare birthday cake with sprinkles and names. It was great time!

Believe it or not, there was at least one located in Hong Kong back in the early 80’s, when it was still a British colony. As a kid growing up in HK, visiting Chuck E. Cheese was a major event.

"Charles was an orphan" The absolute savagery.

An orphan just wanting to give kids the best birthday ever because he never had a a birthday celebration of his own is surprisingly wholesome

The animatronics were always “broken” when I went. As an adult, I realize that was a smart choice on their part hahaha

I dunno, maybe it's just being a child of the 80s, but the animatronics never frightened me as a child.

Kudos to them for the ghost kitchen thing. That whole industry did boom once every restaurant realized they could be 5 restaurants. The food probably mostly sucked, but it's still a genius idea.

I had some of the best and fun memories as a kid there during the 1990s. Chuck E Cheese has a special place in my heart next to Toys R Us!

When my friend’s daughter was only about 3 years old, she couldn’t say Chuck E. Cheese. So when she would want to go to Chuck E. Cheese, she would ask her dad, “daddy, can we please go to Chunky Jesus?“ It was WAY TOO funny!

My dad was a district manager for Chuck E Cheese and I used to get to go to work with him. Handfuls of tokens. Got to make my own pizzas and sundaes. It was awesome!

As an adult I know it's only the nostalgia that makes me love that place. It's pizza was bland, the games would break, and the band only half worked at the branch I went to. But considering the shit childhood I had, where the only time I saw my moms side of the family was at chuck e cheese, that place was a God send. Literally some of my happiest shild hood memories are there.

I recall a couple of early 80s birthdays here, mine and other kids. The video games were definitely the best part, although to my single digit age palate the pizza was pretty good too. And the animatronics would sing happy birthday which was hella exciting when you were 7. Organ Piper had better pizza but was already too old school by 1985.

I went a few times as a teenager there to both the San Jose, and Modesto locations but I did not know that the San Jose location was the original. For me was usually overwhelming. Not the chaotic atmosphere of those places but because of how it overstimulated my parents lol.

We had a Showbiz Pizza where I lived as a kid and I used to love it. Playing all those awesome Atari arcade games was a lot of fun. =)

As a child I found him creepy… As an adult, I find Chuck E Cheese terrifying

So glad I found this channel (or I guess found Weird History and subsequently found this sister channel) because I was so crazy about DidYouKnowGaming's sister channel DidYouKnowFood but they made like 5 videos then stopped abruptly. This is great!!

Never been.-Was beyond happy to go to the "Hut". And lucky to get 50c to battle Space Invaders😣

The K-Mart K-Cafe would be great to see.

This whole video is just hilarious. Thanks so much 😁

One of my earliest memories is being completely terrified underneath a Chuck E. Cheese table while those freaky things ‘performed’.

I remember going to one as a young 7 year old. One of the animatronics sparked and caused a small fire. Needless to say, that was the highlight of the party. Don't worry. The employee put it right out.

I remember one of the characters singing “she works hard for the money,” by Donna Summers in the nineties

My favorite thing about chuck e cheese was the overnight stay event that I got to attend. Staying the night at chuck e cheeses. playing AS MANY games as you want, free tokens, so much pizza. AND doughnuts for breakfast. Looking back at it now, I question the sanity of whoever thought of it, props to the adults stuck with all of us, and sad that something like this will NEVER happen again.

Had my first birthday here in ‘88, and still have a VHS of that day somewhere at my parents house lol 😊 They sang Good Day Sunshine haha 😆

I use to work at Chuck E cheese's a few years ago and I loved being Chuck E, some of the most fun I had was getting to interact with the kids for sure. Other aspects were left to be desired, but the brand has done a fine job cleaning things up especially during covid. The location I worked at served beer, a salad bar to draw in a lunch crowd, would allow anyone in regardless if they had kids or not, and they're pizza tastes like hungry howies now, but more distinct. All in all the pizza was good ( Cause I got it 50% off ) Was sad I started working there right when they ripped out the last animatronic, which was ChuckE for the new touch dance floor for the Easy dance/ ticket splash.

I actually went to a birthday party of one of my nephews at the San Jose Chuck E. Cheese's in the early 80s. Kind of like an additional babysitter for his party with food and game benefits! Haha! It was a decent fun time and I remember the pizza wasn't horrible but not really that memorable either!

I grew up in a military family. My father was a no nonsense SF guy and a Vietnam vet. Hard as a coffin nail. My mom roped him into taking me and my sisters to Chuckie cheese. He'd seen some shit in Nam, but the look on his face by the time we left made me think it broke him. We all gave him a hug and promised we wouldn't ever go back. Too funny 🤣

These old videos of showbiz pizza feels like something out of a dystopian nightmare lol...and as a kid growing up in the 80s, i always wanted to go.

All these years living in San Jose, and seeing that 30 ft mouse in the building, and I never knew it was the first Chuck E Cheese

I was so scared of the animatronics! I remember going to chuck e cheese when I was really young in the early 00s, I went up to chuck e cheese between sets and he was just standing there, head down eyes open. terrifying...but now it's an iconic memory for me. I'm glad I got to experience seeing them.

The stomp spider arcade game was my favorite part of chuck E. cheese.

I love this place! Loved Chuck as Friar's Club reject, loved him as a 90's dude, love him how as sanitized symbol. I am so happy that the chain survived the pandemic. Chuck E. Cheese forever!!!!

Is it me or does Chuck E Cheese smell funky?

Back during the covid lockdowns Chuck e cheese was offering $5 to go pizzas. I've only been there once in my life and didn't have fond memories of the pizza but it was the only thing around. I stopped and got one and it was actually a damn good pizza. I've ordered from there a couple of times since.

I interviewed with Alan Bushnell once. Came across as more of a shuckster than a real inventor.

I got scared by Chuck E Cheese when I was 3. We never went back 😂😂 Dave and Busters is a lot more fun!! Would love a video on them!

I remember when I was 10 I was living in a foster care group home. It was my friends birthday, he got to choose 2 other kids to take to chuck e cheese. Right as we were getting ready to walk out to the van, the tornado siren went off. It started to pour and hail. We went back inside to hear a tornado warning playing on the TV. We went to the basement and waited. I remember getting upset because I thought the tornado was going to stop us from going. An hour felt like forever, but we got to go anyway.

Chuck E. Cheese will always be a memory in my heart! Had one of my birthday parties there, good times! We all had a fun time! ❤😂🐭🍕

The history of "Wimpy" burger restaurant, and "Happy Eater" restaurants in the UK would be wonderful. They are awesome childhood-memory places, wonderfully British, and very old.

"And as you'd expect from a kid whose middle name stood for Entertainment, Charles was an orphan."

The animatronics are still imbedded in my brain 25 years later

I grew up in San Jose and went to the big Chuck E Cheese there in the late 90s early 2000s. That place shaped what I thought it meant to be an adult. The posters of the characters looking tough in an alley way, some of them looking like they’re in a jazz band. It’s a huge place too. It was like going to Carnegie Hall for a 5 year old

I loved this place! Not the show because it kind of scared me. But I loved the tube structures to climb in. And the last time I went I was maybe 11 and it was my baby brother’s birthday and I felt too old to be there anymore. I was in such a mood and I got in a little fight with whoever was wearing the chuckee costume haha

The arcade and ball pit were everything. Broken up by running over to free soda refills and asking parents for more money. This video doesn't mention what my dad pointed out why parents loved the place too, it had one entrance/exit. For a few dollars you could send your kids off and not have to worry about them for a couple hours while they get all their energy out. The adults could have a couple beers and chill. They go home the kids are burned out and ready for bed. Quiet stress free evening for the parents.

I've never been there, but when I was a young teen, I remember some of my classmates and/or friends talking about how great this place was. I was jealous.

Honestly, I never understood the hate about those animatronic animals. I guess I'm too much of a geek. I loved them as a kid, along with the rows of video games. I don't remember anything about the pizza, but I was too much into the games to notice.

ahhh yes, the deep lore

I would love to create a horror themed Chuck E. Cheese style arcade place. Like with bloody animatronic characters holding medieval battle axes, in a dark and gloomy horror cabin type place.

My favorite thing about Chuck E. Cheese was that someone in my Girl Scout troop's adult advisors knew one of the 'big cheese' folks at Chuck E. Cheese's corporate, so my Juniors troop got to tour their Research and Development facility. We heard about all kinds of exciting potential games and ideas, including a variation on human pinball/pachinko, which to my kid brain sounded like the most amazing thing ever.

And.... the nightmares return.

Chuck E Cheese was pretty cool when I was a kid. In S.C., it took over this place called Showbiz Pizza where Billy Bob was the mascot. Good times😄

My favorite thing about Chuck E Cheese was that one time when he randomly turned to the camera and shouted "PAWGERZ" at me.

"POGGERS!" - Chuck E. Cheese

By 1977 I had enough of truck driving (25 years) and decided to slow down despite a pay cut… I started working at Chuck E Cheese’s as a prep cook. Enjoyed it, re the job. I worked their till 2005

OMG ... Our daycare used to take us to Chuck E. Cheese on outing days circa early 90s. I actually loved the robotics and was constantly trying to figure out how they work. Fast forward to today and I sometimes work with robots or the same algorithms that run robots.

“Like a shotgun wedding, a child of compromise.” That’s a great line!

I remember when an employee left a roll of tickets behind and I took it,had about 3,000 tickets 😂

So don’t have these in the U.K., but I think they look so cool. Like they are kinda creepy as a adult, but as a kid - I think I’d have love them!

My local Chuck-E-Cheese was awesome. They had teen night for teens only twice a month in the mid 80’s, no child or parents. It was a lot of fun. They has lip syncing contests, different types of music, free pizza and all the games we wanted to play.

In-N-Out has such a crazy cult following in America, and I think it would be really cool to see a video on their origins, why they are stuck in the West, etc

I always went to Showbiz Pizza as a kid because Chuck E.Cheese was way across town. Then Showbiz closed down and Chuck moved into the building and I worked there all through college.

oh man, my childhood... Weird History you are my favorite channel(s)

For a related bit of creepiness, I would recommend viewing, without context, and preferably with friends, the video floating around named Concept Unification, distributed internally by restaurants who were transforming from Showbiz branding to Chuck E Cheese branding. Nothing intentionally disturbing, it's mostly boring actually, but that's just upping the background creepiness factor. The worst you'll see is animatronics internals.

The one I used to go to was in Tacoma, WA. They had a big window with a rotating statue of Chuck E. Cheese. They just recently replaced the statue with a lame neon sign with "Cool Chuck", which is weird because that version was one redesign behind the current one.

I grew up with ShowBiz Pizza Place actually. I can still remember my church youth group taking a trip there each year (as the closest was over an hour from our homes) and it being a huge deal every single time! It was like a indoor Six Flags to my child self.

Could yall do sonic drive in Jimmy john's jack in the box firehouse subs auntie anne pretzels

I remember a few years ago when there just seemed to be fights breaking out at Chuck E Cheeses all over the country, so you go pizza, a show, games and a fight.

I can't be the only person that's never even stepped foot inside of a Chuck E. Cheese at all in my 23 years of life. I am familiar with the resturant but I have no never been inside of one.

Chuck's back story has gone through more reboots than Pete Parker's or Bruce Wayne's. 🐭🕷️🦇

His backstory escalated too quickly lol

Would you be able to do a video on Old Country Buffet? Great memories of going there as a kid!

I am a 90's kid. I had a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese and Discovery Zone (DZ).

Youth memories. And adult memories. Kicking back on a hot day. Pitcher of beer and good pizza that doesn't taste like cardboard w/ tomato sauce.🤩👍❤❤🤠🤓😝😁

This is the best story I never knew I needed to be told.

Cigar smoking and rebel flags at a kid's restaurant -the 70's were quite the time!

When I was a teenager, the local Chuck E Cheese was next to the theater. After a movie, my chum and I tried to go in to play some games but they wouldn't allow entry by anyone under eighteen without an adult. May a pox be upon Chuck E Cheese and his cardboard mockery of pizza! Also, the Chuck E Cheese near my childhood home burned when I was seven and never rebuilt. Such cherished memories.

Another awesome video guys

I'll never forget Chuck E Cheese because this was the first time I ever experienced the zone. Accidentally. While playing video games.

The joke at 9:22 actually made me laugh hard because of how jarring it was, great video 😂

I’m from the San Jose area, the original Chuck E. Cheese building is still there. I drive past it everyday off the 101.

Had my son's birthday party there and Ol Chucky came out via a mascot suit. My son screamed ran outside and refused to comeback in. Birthday cake birthday presents be damned. He wasn't doing no man-sized rat.

Thumbs up if you ever got to experience this IRL instead of an internet history video. Post stories.

Kind of fun! Our group in Grass Valley put together the prototype animation for Nolan that we installed in the first store on Winchester blvd. I personally worked out the animation stuff for the rat himself with a skilled model maker and several programmers. I wore the yelllow tee shirts for many years. Our whole group under Larry Emmons had a lot of fun on the project. It came right after we had cooked up what became the Atari 2600 system. Ron

Honestly the backstories for the characters are wild, I gotta respect that. 😂

When I was six, my auntie yanked out one of my loose teeth in the bathroom of a Chuck-e-Cheese because I kept crying about the possibility of losing it while playing.

I was deathly afraid of Luigi, the pizza guy. I would hide under the table until he passed by. He was super creepy in the 1990’s.

I can't believe this channel doesn't have more subs. Awesome content.

I never got to experience going to a Chuck E. Cheese. I'm 40 years old but in my part of the world (Northeastern Ontario, Canada) there weren't any of these restaurants in my area. I'd see the commercials on TV (since most channels were American ones) and see the references to this place in movies but unfortunately I never got to go to one to experience it for myself.

that very first chuck e cheese in sj the two story one at 2:18, I used to go there all the time as a kid, it spoiled me on all other chuck e cheeses, 2 stories wall to wall arcade games, huge play area, lots of rooms to hang out, it was like an indoor theme park... years later I went to a b day party of a cousin's of mine across town and it was this sad little one story chuck e cheese, I felt bad for all those kids, they had no idea what they were missing out on

I was a child in the 80’s and all I know is that any kid that had a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese’s was on top list of friends

Good video. Nostalgic, informative, entertaining, funny.

Wowee, this spinoff channel exploded in only a month. Thank you, youtube algorithm, for another subscription to have.

The ball pit was a classic for me and the best place to catch everyone else's germs! I spent my first birthday at Chuck E. Cheese with my family and there's a picture of my grandpa holding me next to the rat himself. Grandpa and I had the same birthday.

I actually liked the pizza, and the games. Then again, I was just a kid. The animatronics creeped me out, though.

This was excellent.

This is officially my new favorite channel 😂

Had a good five year run of bdays at Chuck E. Cheese when I was young. Magical time