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A walk down memory lane at CEC
Ummon:
--- Quote from: ArtsNFartsNCrafts on June 15, 2008, 10:54:13 am ---I've not been to our local Chuck E. Cheese's...I've always been a little hesitant to go in there as an adult, because I don't want to come off as some sort of child predator, haha. But when I was younger, we didn't have a CEC...we had 'Showbiz Pizza' in foothills mall, and I celebrated many a birthday there.
They've got an original Ms. Pac Man (on whose scoreboard I put my name at the top yesterday) in there, and they just recently put in an original centipede cabaret that is in great condition.
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Showbiz was the east coast version of Chuck-ees. And if it was original, there is no 'scoreboard' on Ms Pac. You have the high score or you don't.
--- Quote from: Turnarcades on June 15, 2008, 05:25:06 pm ---Be thankful you guys in the States had such entertainment centres. CEC was developed as a showcase by Bushnell for video games so arcades grew fast in the States. Over here in Britain you only got to see arcade machines if you lived in a seaside town or if you had a sports/bowling centre or something nearby. 9 out of 10 times they were not original cabinets and we never really had dedicated amusement arcades in-land.
Seems ridiculous really when we were probably the 3rd biggest market for video games at the time, after Japan and America.
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Well, it all started here. And the American economic model allowed it.
ArtsNFartsNCrafts:
--- Quote from: Ummon on June 16, 2008, 10:42:36 pm ---
Showbiz was the east coast version of Chuck-ees. And if it was original, there is no 'scoreboard' on Ms Pac. You have the high score or you don't.
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Yeah, that's what I meant. I had it up at the top of the screen, rather.
protokatie:
--- Quote ---Showbiz was the east coast version of Chuck-ees.
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Odd. I have never seen a showbiz in my life, but New England has plenty of CECs... Or did you mean west coast??? :dunno
CheeseSndwch:
Showbiz Pizza was the place to go for birthdays when I was growing up. There was a CEC right across the street but for some reason it wasn’t up to par with Showbiz Pizza. Then one day they changed my Showbiz Pizza to CEC and it all went downhill. Luckily I discovered a new place to have my birthday parties…Aladdin’s Castle!
Ummon:
Well, I may be wrong. I remember seeing Showbiz commericals on channel WGN chicago (this was on cable, of course, as I lived in the southwest), and thinking it might've been related to Chuck-ees because of the animatronics. Also, since I've gotten into Mame, I thought I read somewhere that Showbiz was the eastern (maybe not east coast) version. Or maybe it was someone else who purchased the animatronics from Bushnell, and made their own cast, but it was then bought by Bushnell? I dunno.