Knowing that Bushnell's people were fully capable of taking apart conductors and finding out how a show worked, Fechter feared that Bushnell would quickly run him under and thus politely declined his offer. Much of this was accomplished by contemporizing the Chuck E. Cheese character into a CGI "rockstar" mouse, with a completely new look and a brand new voice. 1980 as the 15th Pizza Time Theatre with a Portrait Stage. The first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre opened on May 17, 1977 in San Jose, California. Showbiz Pizza Once the costume was shipped and arrived at Atari, the long pink tail indicated it was actually a rat costume they had purchased. The Pizza Time Theatre was as innovational as it was groundbreaking and became an immediate success. Most of these locations originated as Pizza Time Theatre locations. WebShowBiz Pizza Place, often shortened to ShowBiz Pizza or ShowBiz, and operating as ShowBiz Pizza Fiesta in Mexico, is an American restaurant pizza chain and family entertainment center founded in 1980 by Robert L. Brock and Creative Engineering. The 2-Stage in Cherry Hill, New Jersey has Chuck E. wearing his Rockstar outfit. Somewhere in the early 1990's Showbiz Pizzas were turned into Chuck E. Cheese locations. Fourth oldest CEC location currently. Huntington Park (8 miles) Glendale (10 miles) West Hollywood (12 miles) Alhambra (12 miles) San Gabriel (14 [3] As it turned out, Bob Brock and his associates were unhappy with the idea of being franchisees. The 2-Stage in Chesapeake, Virginia (Sam's Circle) has a unique base for Chuck E. and his Avenger Chuck hat, Helen's 1990s mask, a PTT Chuck drumhead for Pasqually (from Hampton, VA after it relocated in 2002), and Jaspers overalls. Bushnell displayed an interest in purchasing only characters without a control system, pointing that CEI's characters were better in an artistic sense, but his engineers at Atari could build a superior control system. In order to make the purchase of Pizza Time, ShowBiz issued 4,000,000 shares of ShowBiz Pizza Place common stock as well as 500,000 shares of preferred stock to the creditors of Pizza Time. In 1985 Richard M. Frank joined the company as president and CEO of ShowBiz, replacing Brock who remained CEO and chairman of Brock Hotel Corp. It was the final 2-Stage to have it. All the mechs (except Pasqually) are from Lancaster as well. In November 1979 they found what they were looking for. WebThere are currently 6 locations that are known to have existed. ShowBiz Pizza.com does NOT have any affiliation with CEC Entertainment Inc, or Creative Engineering Inc. No copyright/trademark infringement is intended. Other additions included an improved pizza ordering system called "NOTALOG", developed by Bushnell's former partner at Atari, Ted Dabney. Merchandise with character names and artwork is produced and vinyl records of the Rock-afire's songs are sold in the gift shops. By the end of 1979, Pizza Time had 8 units open, including the first two outside of California. Although the stage was too complex and unstable, it paved the way and gave rise to the Chuck E. Cheese stage show concept known as Studio C. Designed and produced by Garner Holt Productions, Studio C contained only one animated figure, Chuck E., with the other characters present only on television monitors. Last location from the 1970s that is still open. On the main stage, where Chuck E. usually stands, there is a large-screen rear projection TV that plays the current showtape; above the TV is a color-changing Fiber Optic display that reads "Chuck E. Cheese". This location received 2.0 in August 2019. Straddled with debt and losing close to $20 million per month, Pizza Time Theatre Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 28, 1984. The atmosphere just had a special feel to it. Another change made to the second store is the alteration of the disco room which became the sports room. San Diego / Mira Mesa, California, United States. This new cast of Rock-afire singing talent would remain the same for many years. They could build the restaurants, they could buy the games, but there was one missing piece of the puzzle for which they still needed Pizza Time to provide the animated entertainment. Some Studio C shows were installed with little more than a backdrop of color changing circles known as Circles of Lights, eventually giving way to Circles of Lights stages with no animatronic character at all (with only the costumed character appearing periodically to perform special shows). Another discussion occured between Fechter and Bushnell, and this time around Bushnell offered to purchase CEI. ShowBiz Pizza Ad This brings a lawsuit from Chuck E. Cheeses company against ShowBiz Pizza in 1980 citing breach of contract. Chuck E. Cheese's - Kansas City, MO 'Antioch' (2005) NEW HAMPSHIRE LOCATIONS.