May 10, 2008 Ship of Thieves! Stealing the Magic..AGAIN!!! Panama Canal FL to CA!!! Part 3

[Ginamarie]

The history of Chuck E Cheese: (I actually worked for Atari and Nolan)
The following information has been put together from various sources. If you have anything to add, please send me a note. A good chunk of this information was found on the CEC links.

1972 - Nolan Bushnell founds Atari with about $500.

1977 - Seeing no other way to stay competitive in the growing games market, Bushnell sells Atari to Warner Communications for $28 million. At this point, the company is producing arcade and home video games. Bushnell opens First Chuck E. Cheese "Pizza Time Theatre" in San Jose, CA. The unique feature of this chain is the use of animatronic animals (robots). First CEC tokens issued.

1978 - Because of tension with Warner executives, Bushnell leaves Atari and signs a lucrative five-year agreement not to compete with the company he started. Bushnell purchases the Pizza Time Theatres franchise.

1979 - Bob Brock acquires franchise rights to develop Pizza Time Theatres in 14 states. Before exercising these rights, Brock meets Aaron Fechter, head of Creative Engineering, and decides to start a new restaurant chain with more sophisticated animatronic animals. (See note from Steve Brock).

1980 - Brock separates from Pizza Time Theatre and begins ShowBiz Pizza Place. First ShowBiz tokens made (probably "25c Play Value" designs). Lawsuit develops between the two concepts. Bushnell's Pizza Time Theatre becomes a major success as new arcade games boom and families with children are increasingly drawn to the robots and electronic games.

1981 - Both companies expand - often within sight of each other. US arcades reach their highest revenues - $5 billion. Americans spend more than 75,000 man-years playing video games.

1982 - Lawsuit settled in favor of Pizza Time Theatre, Brock is required to give a portion of ShowBiz profits to Pizza Time Theatre for the next ten years. The arcade business begins to fade (it continues to fade for the next 15 years.)

1983 - Expansion declines. As the video game industry collapses in the United States amidst a huge glut of similar looking and priced software, Nintendo releases the Family Computer (Famicom) in Japan in July. "Adult Mouse I" design replaces "old rat" on tokens. Final year of tokens which include the names of cities (Maplewood, MN). Nolan Bushnell begins to off-spin companies from the profits of Pizza Time Theatre, these spin off drain money from Pizza Time Theatre, leaving it unable to pay its bills. Bushnell leaves the company.

1983-84 - Chuck E Cheese "Super Token" issued in Portland, OR.

1984 - Pizza Time Theatre is forced to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and is bought by Bob Brock. Pizza Time Theatre and Showbiz merge as Showbiz Pizza Time Inc, although it continues to operate both ShowBiz and Chuck E. Cheese restaurants. The year becomes known as the "Great Crash" for the games business. Some predict that the video game "fad" has come to an end.

1985 - Dick Frank joins Showbiz Pizza Time as president. Focus is placed on food quality, execution, parent & children satisfaction, marketing and finances (back to basics). Unprofitable restaurants are closed. Major financial restructuring is undertaken with support of Hallwood Group.

1986 - Sales increase. Remodeling of all restaurants begins. Aggressive marketing begins. Financial restructuring is completed. ShowBiz balance sheet improves by nearly $90 million. Hoffman Mint start making CEC tokens.

1987 - Sales increase by 5%. Opens first new restaurant in 3 years. Terry Spaight joins company as Vice President and Director of Operations.

1988 - ShowBiz is spun-off from parent company (Brock Hotels?) and becomes publicly traded (NASDAQ:"SHBZ"). Sales increase 8.3% over 1988. More new restaurants are opened and plans are made to open 10-15 centers per year over the next 3-5 years.

1990 - 4.5 years of real sales growth. Joint Chuck E Cheese/Showbiz token issued. First year of new token design "Where a Kid Can be a Kid" ("Adult Mouse II").

1992 - To elimate the costs of maintaining two sets of characters/artwork/merchandising, ShowBiz locations are phased out in favor of Chuck E. Cheese. (ShowBiz charcters were licensed from Creative Engineering, while Chuck E Cheese characters were owned by ShowBiz Pizza Time.)

1994 - Last ShowBiz locations closed. Last year of ShowBiz token production?

1995 - Tokens are issued with "Juvenile Head" (AKA "Thumb Chuck") design. Hoffman Mint loses main CEC token contract, but continues to make tokens for franchises. Tokens with "Adult Mouse II" design continue to be issued. (Probable but unconfirmed: "Juvenile Head" designs are for company operated locations, "Adult Head" designs are for franchises.)

1996 - A number of simulation games begin to enjoy popularity in arcades, including skiing, snowboarding and jet ski games from Namco and Sega, as arcades face another period of unsurprising decline. Nolan Bushnell reemerges in the industry as the president of Aristo Games, a company that makes Internet stations for arcades and bars.

1997 - ShowBiz Pizza Time has been renovating locations and updating entertainment offerings to boost repeat business. Total sales of $350 million (up 19% from previous year). Headquarters in Irving, TX. Dick Frank is still CEO. There are 4 locations in Canada, 2 in Chile, and 1 in Guatamala.

1997 (winter) - Chuck E. Cheese is officially announced to be a mouse, and not a rat.

1998 (June) - ShowBiz Pizza Time changes name to CEC Entertainment (NYSE:"CEC").

1999 - CEC Entertainment is no longer franchising in the United States, and is gradually buying existing franchises. CEC Entertainment does have an interest in franchising in selected other countries. (Note: CEC seems to have had a policy of buying franchises since at least 1992, see table below.)

1999 (July) - Discovery Zone arcade files Chapter 11 and is purchased by CEC. CEC intends to convert ten of the locations to Chuck E. Cheese restaurants and sell the remaining land and property.

1999 (August) - CEC purchases three Circus Pizza locations in Minnesota, they will be converted to CEC restaurants.

2000 - Hoffman Mint is making ~100,000 "2000" dated CEC tokens per week (These are all the "Adult Mouse II" type for the independant franchises.)

Wow, that's a lot of info about the rat!

 

[birkner]

Ok, that one is a my mom thing. The first time I did it, I thought she was insane. But it is kind of fun. You take the hard boiled eggs and roll them down the hill trying to get them not to break, which they always do. Actually there are always a lot of families doing it, it's just a crazy thing. My cousin would do anything for money. One Easter we told him we would give him $5 if he would eat a whole bottle of the super hot habenero peppers. Yep, did that, sick all night...

We never were the normal family on the block!

The first time I ever I did an egg roll was on the lawn at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. It use to be very popular in the 1950's.

 

[mom_of_2_princesses]

This totally reminds me of something I did on my last cruise, but didn't put it in the trip report. I purposely took all my old underwear that I would have been throwing away soon anyway, same with some clothes too, so that I could throw out a bunch of stuff before coming home, leaving more room in the suitcase for souvineers and other new stuff. Well, I did do laundry at one point, and threw away a bunch of old stuff in the laundry room. Then on the last night, as I was packing, I threw all that old underwear away in the garbage can in our room. We went to dinner, out to have other fun, etc. At the end of the night, when we all returned to our room for the last time, we found that when the room steward cleaned our room, he took all those underwear out of the garbage can and put them on my bed! We were just dying laughing at what that poor guy must have been thinking as he was fishing ratty old underwear out of the garbage can! I'm cracking up laughing as I'm typing this!

That is so funny! I have to clean my laptop screen from all the Diet Coke I just spit at it.

 

[Jhalkias]

The only reason she has hers on still is because it has been what 2 or 3 years since you could see the sidewalk? That's about right for the snow right?:

The other day when it got up to 70 Sophia had her bike out. Of course, when I got home it was right in the middle of the garage and I couldn't pull my car in . . .

 

[nskjerven]

we're off to celebrate teh racer with Chinese food for dinner.

Please tell me DH is not a repeat...I'll check back then.

 

[mom_of_2_princesses]

The other day when it got up to 70 Sophia had her bike out. Of course, when I got home it was right in the middle of the garage and I couldn't pull my car in . . .

You have to love it when they do that. My DD lost her trike last year because she left it behind my truck and I did not see it late one night. OOPS!

 

[birkner]

In

We had an incident when Tyler was 3 at McDonalds. He came out of the play structure and told me a bigger boy pushed him down, so I told him to just stay away from him and play with other kids instead. Then, as I watched, I saw that bigger boy walk right up to him for no reason at all and shove him down, really hard! I was up in those tubes before I even realized what I was doing, and told the other boy, "Excuse me, but we don't play like that. It's not nice to push kids, especially kids smaller than you. If I see it happen again, I will let your mother know you're not playing nice." I didn't raise my voice, just calmly spoke to him. Well, his mother was LIVID! She came barrelling up the tubes and started yelling at me for "disciplining" her child (which I did not do). I remained calm and tried to reassure her, but it was no use. I just had to walk away and ignore her comments to her son about how he can play

however he wants. Sheesh!

This once happened to me at the old Nut Tree where a child poked my daughter in the eye. I just got the security people to deal with the child. We were very fortunate that the security guard witness the child poking my daughter in the eye for absolutely no reason. The child and their parents were asked to leave. I try never to have direct confrontations if possible and let security, if available handle the situation.

 

[mom_of_2_princesses]

DH is a REPEAT. I just looked this stinks!

 

[fourmcds]

V: Please finish your trip report. I stumbled upon it yesterday, and now I am awaiting the rest of the trip. I'm dying to read about all the DisGeeks, so dish.

I agree completely!!!

I already told DH I'm not doing laundry on the cruise so we will stock up on socks and underwear before we go!!!



I think DH is a rerun tonight

How horrible. I have been waiting to see a new one. Is it just me, or are shows just horrible about repeats these days? It seems like they show 1 new one, 3 repeats, 1 new one, etc. At least Amazing Race will be new.....

 

[HollyTyler]

I think DH is a rerun tonight

You're right! I'm so bummed! I guess that means I'd better just go to bed early. Yeah, right....like that will happen!

More racing update!!! Wilson came in 4th today out of his pack of 11. The best of Calif and the best time at this track where also racing (I'm sure they were 1 & 2) I expect a good story tonight. This is his 2nd year go-karting. First year everyone wins. 2nd year it's for the win.
Congrats to Wilson! WOOHOO!

The first time I ever I did an egg roll was on the lawn at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. It use to be very popular in the 1950's.

I'd never even heard of one (except the kind I eat) until this thread.

And thanks for the detailed CEC info! Very informative! I personally liked the shows and characters at ShowBiz way better. I think their main character was a big bear instead of a mouse.

 

[mom_of_2_princesses]

I agree completely!!!


How horrible. I have been waiting to see a new one. Is it just me, or are shows just horrible about repeats these days? It seems like they show 1 new one, 3 repeats, 1 new one, etc. At least Amazing Race will be new.....

I know they seem to be real bad this year.confused3

I love your report also V. Please post some more.

 

[HollyTyler]

That is so funny! I have to clean my laptop screen from all the Diet Coke I just spit at it.

You know? I have that same effect on people at work too!

 

[LisaG520]

How horrible. I have been waiting to see a new one. Is it just me, or are shows just horrible about repeats these days? It seems like they show 1 new one, 3 repeats, 1 new one, etc. At least Amazing Race will be new.....

Grey's Anatomy is a repeat this week too!!! Maybe Lost has the right idea - show all new in order and skip the repeats in the middle of the season! Although no Heroes until April 23rd is killing me! (Hi my name is Lisa and I'm a tv junkie!!!)

 

[Jhalkias]

V: Please finish your trip report. I stumbled upon it yesterday, and now I am awaiting the rest of the trip. I'm dying to read about all the DisGeeks, so dish.

Do I need to go over there???? Do I need to change my name???

1997 (winter) - Chuck E. Cheese is officially announced to be a mouse, and not a rat.

He's a RAT I tell you - I don't care what they say! It gave me a headache reading all that CEC history.

 

[mom_of_2_princesses]

You know? I have that same effect on people at work too!

Grey's Anatomy is a repeat this week too!!! Maybe Lost has the right idea - show all new in order and skip the repeats in the middle of the season! Although no Heroes until April 23rd is killing me! (Hi my name is Lisa and I'm a tv junkie!!!)

You and I will join the same support group.

 

[HollyTyler]

This once happened to me at the old Nut Tree where a child poked my daughter in the eye. I just got the security people to deal with the child. We were very fortunate that the security guard witness the child poking my daughter in the eye for absolutely no reason. The child and their parents were asked to leave. I try never to have direct confrontations if possible and let security, if available handle the situation.

That's what I'll do in the future because people can be so crazy. But it was the first time and I reacted before a thought could enter my head. I was automatically up there before I realized where I was.

 

[HollyTyler]

Do I need to go over there???? Do I need to change my name???



He's a RAT I tell you - I don't care what they say! It gave me a headache reading all that CEC history.

Once again, you just crack me up John!!!

 

[HollyTyler]

HEY! Guess what we played tonight?!

Tyler took this pic of me....sort of blurry. He was nice enough to let me have a turn wearing his Capt. Hook hat and hook. But ever since Grandma gave him a cool sword for Christmas, I'm always stuck playing with his old Captain Feathersword sword. No fair! (Ignore vaccuum hose on the right side of pic. Was in the process of cleaning today.)

 

[disneylover5]

I hope this is not a rude question, it is mere curiosity. Do ministers in the US have a fixed salary, and if they do who pays for it?

My husband is the "Director of Praise and Worship" We have 11 paid employees at the church. Most salaries are set by the Personnel Comm. This is made up of church members. For my DH and the Senior Pastor, the session sets the "The Terms of Call" (which includes everything from $$$ and all benefits and vacation) and then the entire congregation votes on The Terms of Call. This is funded by donations. Our church is in a major growth mode. Our budget is about 1.5 million $$$ and we just build a brand new building. It is such a gift!! We have a mortgage of 4 million....!!!

My DH is doing a production of Godspell.....has been working on this for 1 year and it is next weekend...Friday night..Sat night and Sun afternoon. I have been selling tickets...and we have sold about 1,000 tickets.....should be a great event!!!

Our life is the church......

Today was blackberry and weed spraying day. I stepped in a hole, fell with the 5 gal backpack sprayer on and sprained my ankle. Ouch! Not too bad though, with ice and a bit of tylenol I was able to limp to dinner and then to the store to get milk.

OUCH!!

You know, most of the other women here, probably have NO idea what you're talking about! Including me. Are you still talking basketball? Our few men here (is it 3?) need to come back so you'll have somebody to talk to about the game! Sorry!

I love to talk sports....I think that is why DH married me. That is all that was talked about while I was growing up with two olde brothers and a sports nut dad........

Maryland lost, so now I'm cheering for SIU. I grew up in Illinois.

The HOKIES lost as well I think I will cheer for Georgetown now!! Don't want to cheer for any other ACC teams.....

I know John1 will disagree...but I would love an all SEC final four....


us
Vandy
Tennessee
Kentucky



SWEET!

No...Georgetown is very strong.....I have picked them to win from the beginning..I think it was a shame they did not get a #1 seed. (Glad you are not picking NC....)

But he's only 4....and aren't most kids closer to 6 before you take training wheels off?[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

I have told many Gretchen stories here.....she is my youngest and wildest!! She rode without Training Wheels 1 month before her 4th birthday....She also walked at 8 months!!

trying to catch up before I go and redo the pantry (went to the $300.00 store on our way home, spent $340!!! ]

Me too.....went to the $300 store and spent $248.84....I got off cheap!!

Sophia still has hers on. I think someone could make a lot of money with a service to teach kids how to ride. I would pay.

I wish I lived closer, I loved teaching all three of mine to ride.....we all have bikes...but it is so sad that we rarely find time to ride as a family.

You know, it is a lot easier to teach someone elses kid to ride......than your own.

 

[gydell]

I hope somebody is taking notes on all that is being discussed on this thread, since there is no way that I can read it all. It's all I can do to keep up with the May 12th thread. When I return in June then I will be able to spend more time here, so keep good notes for those of us that will be joining later!