Some arcade history up on ebay

[DrumAnBass]

Auction (not mine...!) for some Chuck E Cheese animatronic characters!

http://tinyurl.com/35fhkx

[ChadTower]

It's so sad when they get old, can't get work anymore, and end up a common drunk whore in a saggy red dress.

[SavannahLion]

Not all of us have had the joy of going to Chuck-E-Cheese for our arcade/cheap pizza fix. I've always wanted to go as a kid, but my parents would simply never take me. No idea why.

Does that bird have boobs?

[leapinlew]

Not all of us have had the joy of going to Chuck-E-Cheese for our arcade/cheap pizza fix. I've always wanted to go as a kid, but my parents would simply never take me. No idea why.

Because it's not cheap pizza... thats why. If they invested in a quality pizza they might've been on to something.

[shardian]

So where is Billy Bob, Dirty Bird, The Ape piano player, the surfer guitar guy, the Cheerleader main vocal girl, the pinwheel hat wearing drummer dude, the handpuppet wearing-joke telling wolf guy? These are the characters I've seen in every Billy Bob's/Chuck-E-Cheeses I've ever been in.

[ChadTower]

I would consider buying the giant Elvis lion.

[Crowquill]

So where is Billy Bob, Dirty Bird, The Ape piano player, the surfer guitar guy, the Cheerleader main vocal girl, the pinwheel hat wearing drummer dude, the handpuppet wearing-joke telling wolf guy? These are the characters I've seen in every Billy Bob's/Chuck-E-Cheeses I've ever been in.

They were all characters that originally belonged to Showbiz Pizza Place. Originally a competitor to Chuck E Cheese, they eventually bought them out and assumed their name at all the stores. The whole sordid story can be found here:

http://rock_afire.tripod.com/info/history/index.html

We only had Showbiz in the town I grew up in. The only time I've seen working Chuck E Cheese animatronics is at Jungle Jim's, a wacky international grocery store just north of Cincinnati. If you look in the 'attractions' part of the web page you can see some of them (including the Elvis lion).

[horseboy]

We had a showbiz here as well. It was fantastic. I actually saw a Chuck E. Cheese commercial the other day that made reference to Showbiz, I thought it was interesting.

[shardian]

So where is Billy Bob, Dirty Bird, The Ape piano player, the surfer guitar guy, the Cheerleader main vocal girl, the pinwheel hat wearing drummer dude, the handpuppet wearing-joke telling wolf guy? These are the characters I've seen in every Billy Bob's/Chuck-E-Cheeses I've ever been in.

They were all characters that originally belonged to Showbiz Pizza Place. Originally a competitor to Chuck E Cheese, they eventually bought them out and assumed their name at all the stores. The whole sordid story can be found here:

http://rock_afire.tripod.com/info/history/index.html

We only had Showbiz in the town I grew up in. The only time I've seen working Chuck E Cheese animatronics is at Jungle Jim's, a wacky international grocery store just north of Cincinnati. If you look in the 'attractions' part of the web page you can see some of them (including the Elvis lion).

Wow, very interesting read. Thanks for that link!

Locally, I have always had a Billy Bob's wonderland with the Rock-A-Fire-Explosion stage. There is a Chuck-E-Cheese's in Charleston, but I've never been there. I think it is time I make a lunch run over there to check out what they have...besides, they have a Ripley's pin and a Monopoly pin I have been  meaning to check out.

[DrumAnBass]

Yah I was lucky -  growing up near the Silicon Valley in northern California, we had a giant Chuck E Cheese, with a large theater setup for the animatronic characters. Back then it was also chock-full of all the classic videogames; a far cry from the redemption junk in the current restaurants...

[shardian]

I was in Billy Bob's on Saturday night. What a ---smurfing--- joke! Hardly anything worked, and what did work had issues. The only bright spot was that they keep their Elvis pin in very good working order, and you can get 3 credits for $1.

I talked to one of their "technicians" - a 17 year old kid who had no clue whatsoever except how to load tickets and flick the coin switch to give free games. According to him, he will be done with training and be able to fix anything in the place by next week. I thought that was pretty funny. I can just imagine showing him a multimeter and seeing the puzzled look on his face.

[RayB]

They keep building new Chuck E Cheeses up here in southern Ontario. I guess the chain is doing well in other parts of the world than where it originated. Never been in one though.  Been to a Bullwinkle's thought!