1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to 2 00:00:27,640 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so much 3 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:34,280 Speaker 1: for tuning in. Let's give it up our super producer, 4 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:36,440 Speaker 1: the Man, the Myth, the leg of mister Max Williams, 5 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: Maximus to the maximum. He's there, he's our guy. We were. 6 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:48,560 Speaker 1: We were singing to each other again off air. I'm 7 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 1: Ben your knoll and our all fair conversations are generally 8 00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:56,520 Speaker 1: kind of fun. I think most times on this show, 9 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: what would you say else? Good? I say completely agree, 10 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:07,080 Speaker 1: that's uh. These are the fun times, the fun podcast times. 11 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:11,120 Speaker 1: M Yeah, and uh. This had me wondering, this is 12 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 1: totally unrelated. But before we get rolling today, we were 13 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:19,080 Speaker 1: talking about a smooth criminal right by Michael Jackson. Well, 14 00:01:19,120 --> 00:01:22,040 Speaker 1: we were just sort of all three humming along. We 15 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: were just checking in and making sure we were all okay, yes, yeah. 16 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 1: And it reminded me of our good friend of the show, 17 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: Annie Reese of Savor and stuff. Mom never told you fame. 18 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 1: I'm sure she's irritated by that song. And I was wondering. 19 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:42,039 Speaker 1: I was trying to guess, do you guys have songs 20 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:44,280 Speaker 1: about your name? And if so, how do you feel 21 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:46,759 Speaker 1: about them? Nole, I'd imagine the closest is the first 22 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: Noel you would you would imagine correctly, And every time 23 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:53,160 Speaker 1: someone sings that at me, they think they're the first 24 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:56,560 Speaker 1: one to have ever done it. Bully for them was 25 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: what I say. Go on thinking that, Yeah, I'm wondering 26 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 1: if you guys can guess which one I've always gotten. 27 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:11,079 Speaker 1: Let's man something maximum Maxwell silver hammer, Oh yeah, Max 28 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:16,960 Speaker 1: bang bang Yeah. The murder eyest of Beatles songs, right, 29 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:21,520 Speaker 1: songs basically about a school shooter that uses a hammer, 30 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:27,359 Speaker 1: and I am cursed, I would say. With the Michael 31 00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:30,560 Speaker 1: Jackson song Ben, which is about his friend who is 32 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: a rat. Uh and there's also Benny in the Jets, 33 00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:36,240 Speaker 1: I don't even want to give it airtime, but I 34 00:02:36,320 --> 00:02:38,360 Speaker 1: just gave it to you. It's already living rent free 35 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 1: in all of our minds. It doesn't go anywhere. The 36 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:45,519 Speaker 1: song does a mohair suit. No. I read it in 37 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 1: a magazine. Oh so, so wait, let's maybe we stay 38 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:53,960 Speaker 1: on the rat because um, that was for a movie, 39 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:57,720 Speaker 1: do you know that? Starting Crispin Glover, I vaguely remember 40 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:00,720 Speaker 1: hearing that I've never seen the film. The movie is 41 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:03,360 Speaker 1: about Crispin Glover, who I think it's actually a remake 42 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:06,040 Speaker 1: of like a movie from maybe with a Vincent Price 43 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:08,560 Speaker 1: movie or so. It's about a dude who like controls 44 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: rats with his mind, like the way you control corvids 45 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:16,800 Speaker 1: with your mind. It's definitely a connection. Oh shucks. Yeah, 46 00:03:15,919 --> 00:03:19,800 Speaker 1: when when noelan or ride or die, mister Matt Frederick 47 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:22,560 Speaker 1: and I were on the road most recently, we had 48 00:03:22,600 --> 00:03:25,400 Speaker 1: a weird moment. We were at a fancy grocery store 49 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:30,120 Speaker 1: and I thought a pack of hard boiled eggs, and Noel, 50 00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:32,440 Speaker 1: I think for a moment you thought I was just 51 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:36,400 Speaker 1: going to eat them. I didn't know you were the eggman. Not. 52 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 1: I'm baffled at people buy hard boiled eggs by themselves, 53 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,000 Speaker 1: the Walrus Sun if you're not the eggman. Oh gosh, uh, 54 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 1: we're going so many places. We had a segue anyway, Yeah, 55 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: I've fed those to the crows, so they were not 56 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 1: I wasn't just sitting eating goblin mode. And then you 57 00:03:54,800 --> 00:03:58,760 Speaker 1: got the chastised by just a regular Joe, regular fella 58 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:01,440 Speaker 1: for eat for feeding the rows because apparently they're like, 59 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:05,160 Speaker 1: I don't know that it emboldens them. Yeah, you call 60 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 1: them Sky rats. So if you're listening, sir, I didn't 61 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:11,680 Speaker 1: learn a thing and will not change my ways. This 62 00:04:11,720 --> 00:04:16,799 Speaker 1: segue holds though. We're talking about a rat of today. Yeah, yeah, 63 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:21,040 Speaker 1: we are talking about one of the most famous rats 64 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:27,479 Speaker 1: formerly rats in all of American culture. And this is 65 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:30,719 Speaker 1: part two of a two part episode. We're talking about 66 00:04:30,760 --> 00:04:36,200 Speaker 1: the legendary Charles Entertainment cheese. Now. No, we left on 67 00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 1: a bit of a cliffhanger in part one. That's right, 68 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:44,279 Speaker 1: things were really heating up. In June of nineteen seventy nine, 69 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: a guy named Bob Brock, not Bob Rock, the Metallica producer. 70 00:04:51,080 --> 00:04:55,760 Speaker 1: Bob Brock wanted to get an exclusive franchise deal with 71 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:59,720 Speaker 1: Pizza Time, the Pizza Time theater franchises, so he signed 72 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:04,600 Speaker 1: a two hundred million dollar code development deal with our 73 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: friend mister Bushnell of Atari fame and animatronic singing robot fame. 74 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 1: And this gave mister Brock exclusive franchising rights to Pizza 75 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 1: Time theaters in sixteen states across the southern and Midwestern US, 76 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:29,120 Speaker 1: And it gave him some pretty specific superpowers that maybe 77 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:33,560 Speaker 1: our mister Bushnell might not have fully realized at the time. Yeah, 78 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:38,600 Speaker 1: and it was pretty bold, pretty aspirational. The contract aimed 79 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:40,880 Speaker 1: for a target of two hundred and eighty five stores, 80 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:45,359 Speaker 1: two hundred of which would be directly operated by TIM, 81 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:48,640 Speaker 1: which is Bob Brock's company, and another eighty five will 82 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:55,359 Speaker 1: be subfranchised out. And this was pretty big money because TIM, 83 00:05:55,520 --> 00:05:59,400 Speaker 1: that's short for Topeka in Management, would be ponying up 84 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:02,200 Speaker 1: the capitol to build these locations and they were going 85 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:06,160 Speaker 1: to spend about a million dollars a pop. This was 86 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:10,440 Speaker 1: pretty cool for a while for a bit, because during 87 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:15,000 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty Pizza Time theater flourished. They added dozens and 88 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:20,480 Speaker 1: dozens of stores to their crew. This included both franchised 89 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:23,760 Speaker 1: as and corporate owned locations, and there were even some 90 00:06:23,839 --> 00:06:31,159 Speaker 1: international locations. Things grew really quickly, and sometimes in the 91 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:35,040 Speaker 1: world of corporate business, when things grow quickly, they can 92 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:40,640 Speaker 1: grow quickly out of hand. It only took about a 93 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 1: year for Brock's deal to show its ugly side. Brock's 94 00:06:48,640 --> 00:06:52,120 Speaker 1: firm had received training on how to run all these 95 00:06:52,160 --> 00:06:55,760 Speaker 1: Pizza Time locations, and there's definitely a science to it, right, 96 00:06:56,360 --> 00:06:59,160 Speaker 1: and once they had the information, once they knew how 97 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:02,640 Speaker 1: to conduct day to day business, they went back on 98 00:07:02,680 --> 00:07:06,440 Speaker 1: their contract, dude, and they opened up their own competing 99 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:11,600 Speaker 1: chain of restaurants, which they called show Biz Pizza. Yeah. 100 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:15,880 Speaker 1: And it's funny because essentially they were like their own copycats, 101 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:18,920 Speaker 1: and they joined the ranks of a bunch of other 102 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:25,520 Speaker 1: copycat kind of you know, futuristic robotic pizza restaurants, including 103 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:29,880 Speaker 1: a place called Bullwinkle's Family Restaurant, which is cool. I 104 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:32,320 Speaker 1: imagine that would have an intellectual property tie in with 105 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 1: the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show featuring the iconic Moose and Squirrel. 106 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:40,520 Speaker 1: A place called Celebration Station which sounds like a delightful 107 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:44,960 Speaker 1: place to have a slice, fair Play Pizza Theater, which 108 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,240 Speaker 1: sounds a little innocuous and kind of dull. It's like, 109 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:50,800 Speaker 1: that's not where the real fun happens. That's where everything 110 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:56,080 Speaker 1: is just equitable. That's like hundred percent fair play pizza. 111 00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: That doesn't sound like anyone's taking many risks there, Major 112 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:05,360 Speaker 1: Magic's All Star Pizza review that sounds like a good time. 113 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:10,400 Speaker 1: And then a place called Harazmatazz love it Yeah, and 114 00:08:10,560 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: bush Nall said that they had around twenty of these 115 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:17,640 Speaker 1: copycats that they were competing with, and now, going back 116 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:23,480 Speaker 1: on that contract, Showbiz was essentially the most popular of 117 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:27,040 Speaker 1: these these knockoffs. Right. And by the way, we're getting 118 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:30,239 Speaker 1: a good bit of this information from the actual history 119 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: of Showbiz Pizza on Showbiz Pizza dot com, slash history 120 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:37,719 Speaker 1: slash index, dot aml and a really great article from 121 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:40,440 Speaker 1: Fast Company with a fabulous name called Robots Pizza and 122 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:46,520 Speaker 1: Sensory Overload. The Chuck E Cheese origin story by BENJ. Edwards, Yeah, correct, 123 00:08:46,559 --> 00:08:50,600 Speaker 1: and the article by Binge Edwards is I think one 124 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:52,880 Speaker 1: of the go to reads here. It's a long read, 125 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:55,600 Speaker 1: but it's worth it, so right at the top long read, 126 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:59,760 Speaker 1: so the fit and do check it out, folks, because 127 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:03,880 Speaker 1: it is worth it anyway. As Edwards as Edwards rights, 128 00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 1: Brock had a reason for this betrayal. He discovered a 129 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:15,680 Speaker 1: new kind of animatronics technology that he thought was better 130 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:19,240 Speaker 1: than what Bushnell's team had created. This is the work 131 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:22,720 Speaker 1: of a guy named Aaron Fetcher of creative engineering that 132 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:27,320 Speaker 1: you might recognize from some documentaries of Days gone By, 133 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:32,360 Speaker 1: which I love. Fetcher had developed these huge, full body, 134 00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:38,319 Speaker 1: life size animatronic characters. He called them the rock Afire Explosion, 135 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:43,800 Speaker 1: and they had smoother movements than the Chucky Cheese cyberamics 136 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:49,760 Speaker 1: characters they were like, and they're a different crew, right, 137 00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:53,200 Speaker 1: but if you look at what they're doing, it's one 138 00:09:53,280 --> 00:09:56,679 Speaker 1: hundred percent pulled from the Chuck E Cheese playbook, which 139 00:09:56,760 --> 00:10:01,000 Speaker 1: itself has some notes of plagiarism from the mouse. So 140 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:04,040 Speaker 1: this is like, this is a bridge too far for 141 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 1: Pizza Time, right, And it's funny because you know, I 142 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:10,720 Speaker 1: think we all were a little confused as to which 143 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:15,080 Speaker 1: one of these stores we actually remembered from our youth, 144 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:17,679 Speaker 1: because you know, I think me and you Ben were 145 00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:21,760 Speaker 1: a little older than Max. Uh. No specifics need be named, 146 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:27,079 Speaker 1: but I do remember Showbiz Pizza, and I always assumed 147 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:30,320 Speaker 1: that Showbiz Pizza and Chuck E Cheeses were the same thing. 148 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:33,720 Speaker 1: I don't remember Pizza Time Theater, but I do remember 149 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:36,600 Speaker 1: maybe they were like remnants or something like that, or 150 00:10:36,679 --> 00:10:39,160 Speaker 1: like little you know, some of these like fake posters 151 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:42,960 Speaker 1: for these bands or whatever, these you know, robot musicians 152 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,040 Speaker 1: that maybe had still some branding from that, but they 153 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:51,080 Speaker 1: were originally separate entities, right. And because when this, you know, 154 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:54,360 Speaker 1: Showbiz Pizza came out with the with the higher quality animatronics, 155 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:57,280 Speaker 1: it did really really well, and that did not sit 156 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:04,160 Speaker 1: well with Bushnell. He actually sued Brock's firm and eventually 157 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:09,160 Speaker 1: one what's called like a profit garnishing judgment, which I 158 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:12,280 Speaker 1: imagine it's sort of like if you sue over like 159 00:11:12,360 --> 00:11:15,560 Speaker 1: a song that copies you, then you end up entitled 160 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:19,839 Speaker 1: to all or a portion of the earnings from that song, 161 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:25,839 Speaker 1: like a blurred lines kind of situation. Yeah, and unfortunately 162 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:31,079 Speaker 1: this judgment came too late to be super useful to 163 00:11:31,200 --> 00:11:36,080 Speaker 1: Bushnell and team because they were trying to turn Pizza 164 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 1: Time from a kid's place to more a what they 165 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:44,319 Speaker 1: called a diversified leisure or a leisure company. In their 166 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:48,000 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two annual report, you can see this, Bushnel writes, 167 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:50,560 Speaker 1: we believe the nineteen eighty three will be a time 168 00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:53,160 Speaker 1: of growth and change in which the transition from a 169 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:57,920 Speaker 1: specialized restaurant concept to a diversified leisure company will be evident. 170 00:11:58,559 --> 00:12:01,079 Speaker 1: They're trying to go They're doing a daven Busters is 171 00:12:01,120 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 1: what they're trying to do. David Busters for Everyone was 172 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:08,640 Speaker 1: opened in Dallas in nineteen eighty two, so he may 173 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:11,400 Speaker 1: have been aware of something like this, but he definitely 174 00:12:11,440 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 1: had his finger on the pulse and it wasn't a 175 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:17,520 Speaker 1: bad instinct. It just maybe was again too little, too late. 176 00:12:17,720 --> 00:12:20,360 Speaker 1: The timing is everything, and I'm sorry, guys. I keep 177 00:12:20,360 --> 00:12:23,400 Speaker 1: referencing this show Halt and catch Fire because I am 178 00:12:23,440 --> 00:12:25,600 Speaker 1: like in the thick of it, and now in the 179 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:28,720 Speaker 1: show where I am in season four. It's now the 180 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:31,160 Speaker 1: early nineties, and the show has been you know, following 181 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:35,280 Speaker 1: the explosion of technology, including video games and companies like 182 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:38,560 Speaker 1: Atari since around this time. And what you see time 183 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:41,199 Speaker 1: and time again in the show against like a fictionalized 184 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:43,800 Speaker 1: kind of like alt history version of a lot of 185 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:46,320 Speaker 1: these things that really really happened, for example, like the 186 00:12:46,679 --> 00:12:49,080 Speaker 1: you know, the development of the World Wide Web and 187 00:12:49,120 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: all of that. Timing is everything. You can have the 188 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:55,880 Speaker 1: best idea in the world, but if it's not ready, 189 00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:59,160 Speaker 1: if consumers aren't ready for it, or the content isn't 190 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:01,960 Speaker 1: there yet to fill it, then it's gonna it's not 191 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:06,720 Speaker 1: gonna fly right right, And that could be a huge issue. 192 00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:11,760 Speaker 1: In early nineteen eighty three, Pizza Times balance sheet was 193 00:13:11,840 --> 00:13:16,600 Speaker 1: looking bad. One slight push in the wrong direction could 194 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:21,120 Speaker 1: fell the company entire and this push came in the 195 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:26,560 Speaker 1: form of a US tech stock crash. Investors who are 196 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:32,960 Speaker 1: a pretty sensitive bunch, were immediately frightened. And when tech 197 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:36,280 Speaker 1: investors get frightened, as we can see in the in 198 00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:39,400 Speaker 1: the current days of the United States, there are a 199 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:43,840 Speaker 1: lot of ramifications. Once the tech sector got scared in 200 00:13:44,120 --> 00:13:49,440 Speaker 1: the stock crash of eighty three, they started cutting ties 201 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:53,200 Speaker 1: with Atari. Atari became a shadow of its former self. 202 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:56,319 Speaker 1: People didn't want to invest in tech, so lines of 203 00:13:56,440 --> 00:14:01,319 Speaker 1: credit dried up for Bushnell's firms. Pete Time stock fell 204 00:14:01,520 --> 00:14:05,200 Speaker 1: from twenty six dollars per share all the way down 205 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:08,840 Speaker 1: to four dollars per share, and then wait, it gets worse. 206 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:13,960 Speaker 1: It plummeted further to two dollars and fifty cents a share, 207 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 1: and then, wait, it gets worse. Pizza Time came out 208 00:14:18,679 --> 00:14:22,800 Speaker 1: and confirmed it had been losing money for three fourths 209 00:14:22,800 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 1: of the previous year. Yeah, I mean, we already talked 210 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:30,400 Speaker 1: about the hefty price tag on each one of these locations, 211 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 1: a million nineteen eighty three bucks, you know, per pizza restaurant, 212 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:40,360 Speaker 1: with over two hundred and forty locations across the US, 213 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:44,240 Speaker 1: even sometimes you know, in smaller cities that maybe did 214 00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:48,800 Speaker 1: not necessarily have the audience yet to support these they 215 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:52,600 Speaker 1: were making a big play and maybe I think definitely 216 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:57,240 Speaker 1: overplaying their hand here, because you had folks like showbiz 217 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 1: that it maybe already learned from the inside, you know, 218 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:03,760 Speaker 1: how to ease in a little bit more, you know, 219 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:07,400 Speaker 1: to dip the toe into the market, maybe not spend 220 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:09,800 Speaker 1: every single dollar, you know, in the same way the 221 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:13,680 Speaker 1: Pizza Time Theater had. Also with all these copycats, you 222 00:15:13,720 --> 00:15:17,800 Speaker 1: were getting a little bit of saturation with this whole 223 00:15:17,880 --> 00:15:24,200 Speaker 1: concept because again, like you can't really exactly copyright this concept. 224 00:15:24,360 --> 00:15:27,200 Speaker 1: You can copyright actual characters and the way they look 225 00:15:27,240 --> 00:15:29,480 Speaker 1: and all that stuff, and as we know, it's not 226 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:31,880 Speaker 1: that hard to just tweak a few little details, and 227 00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:34,840 Speaker 1: you can even get away with ripping off Mickey Mouse, 228 00:15:35,280 --> 00:15:38,520 Speaker 1: but you can't really copyright the idea of a robot 229 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:44,240 Speaker 1: driven you know, entertainment pizza arcade joint. So people were 230 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:46,960 Speaker 1: almost a little bit tired of the concept at this point, 231 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 1: and it was a little bit of like kind of 232 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:52,240 Speaker 1: brand confusion too. I think may have because again we're 233 00:15:52,280 --> 00:15:54,440 Speaker 1: talking about the stuff when we were kid. We had 234 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:57,800 Speaker 1: serious brand confusion many many years later. Which one is 235 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:00,200 Speaker 1: which we don't know and there's a reason for that 236 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:02,240 Speaker 1: because of what's about to happen. That's sort of the 237 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:12,320 Speaker 1: answer to the questions that we have. Yeah, and we're 238 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:16,320 Speaker 1: going to get some more information here from Anna Green 239 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:20,480 Speaker 1: writing at Mental Floss the Chuck E Cheese, Showbiz, pizza, 240 00:16:20,760 --> 00:16:24,120 Speaker 1: robot wars. Who doesn't love a robot war? Yeah, Rockham 241 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:27,600 Speaker 1: Sockam Yeah. Everybody listening after twenty forty, I guess, But 242 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:32,240 Speaker 1: so they they really like the novelties wearing off. You 243 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:36,960 Speaker 1: describe it perfectly. And Bushnell also is aware of the problem. 244 00:16:37,120 --> 00:16:40,960 Speaker 1: It's not just that the industry has expanded with all 245 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:46,520 Speaker 1: these competitors, it's that Chuck e Cheese itself has expanded 246 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:49,920 Speaker 1: way too far, way too fast. He had this interesting 247 00:16:50,000 --> 00:16:53,280 Speaker 1: quote where he said Chuck e Cheese was so new 248 00:16:53,360 --> 00:16:55,840 Speaker 1: that when we would first open a unit in Saint Louis, 249 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:59,320 Speaker 1: you wouldn't have enough capacity. It was just okay, bar 250 00:16:59,480 --> 00:17:01,880 Speaker 1: the door. But that lasted for about a year and 251 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:04,439 Speaker 1: a half. Then people would settle down. They didn't need 252 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:06,640 Speaker 1: to go to Chuck e Cheese every time Grandma came 253 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:08,520 Speaker 1: to town. They didn't need to go to Chuck e 254 00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:10,760 Speaker 1: Cheese once a month. They found that we'll do the 255 00:17:10,840 --> 00:17:13,760 Speaker 1: kid's birthdays and we'll go somewhere on special events, and 256 00:17:13,800 --> 00:17:16,640 Speaker 1: the frequency visits dropped from ten a year to three 257 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:21,920 Speaker 1: a year. He had racked up additional debt twenty two 258 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:25,320 Speaker 1: million dollars in debt because Bushnell had been using Chuck 259 00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:30,320 Speaker 1: E Cheese money to fund other startups. Yeah. Can I 260 00:17:30,359 --> 00:17:33,280 Speaker 1: say real quick, I've got an expression that I use 261 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:35,680 Speaker 1: a lot in my regular life and it comes from 262 00:17:35,680 --> 00:17:39,679 Speaker 1: a TikTok video of this kid. And he's got a 263 00:17:39,760 --> 00:17:43,320 Speaker 1: paper plate with Charles Entertainment cheese on it, and it's 264 00:17:43,359 --> 00:17:46,800 Speaker 1: got some some like chocolate chips on it, and he says, 265 00:17:47,600 --> 00:17:52,240 Speaker 1: chocolate chips on the Chuck E Cheese plate. Oh yeah, baby, 266 00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:55,919 Speaker 1: oh yeah. So whenever something's awesome, I say, man, that 267 00:17:56,040 --> 00:17:58,400 Speaker 1: is chocolate chips on the Chucky Cheese plate right there. 268 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:01,000 Speaker 1: Oh yeah baby, Oh yeah. Okay, I had to. I 269 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:02,320 Speaker 1: had to fit that, and I promise my kid I 270 00:18:02,320 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 1: would fit that in. Okay, yeahs Because you know, this 271 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:07,919 Speaker 1: branding is still with us, and it did manage to 272 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:12,080 Speaker 1: kind of, you know, insert itself into into the zeitgeist. 273 00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:14,520 Speaker 1: And then we're going to get to the now of 274 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:17,840 Speaker 1: Chuck E Cheese. But at this point they are not 275 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: doing well. That is not a good play, my friend. 276 00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:22,639 Speaker 1: That is not chocolate chips. On the Chucky Cheese play 277 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,520 Speaker 1: to use that money to fund other startups, because we 278 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:29,760 Speaker 1: know startups. This is the era, the beginning of startup culture. 279 00:18:30,080 --> 00:18:32,800 Speaker 1: You know this like kind of Silicon Valley, like fake 280 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:35,199 Speaker 1: it till you make it attitude, And we know that 281 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:40,520 Speaker 1: most startups fail miserably, and that money evaporates, and if 282 00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:43,160 Speaker 1: you're just pulling it from the kiddie from you're already 283 00:18:43,160 --> 00:18:47,680 Speaker 1: struggling business. That is a recipe for disaster. Yeah, many 284 00:18:47,720 --> 00:18:51,280 Speaker 1: startups these days are created entirely in hopes of selling 285 00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:54,480 Speaker 1: them to a bigger company later. It's a different mentality 286 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:58,919 Speaker 1: than what you would want for for restaurants. So Bushnill 287 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:01,840 Speaker 1: and team have to file for bankruptcy in nineteen eighty 288 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:05,960 Speaker 1: four as a result of all these deletarious factors. Bushnell 289 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:10,040 Speaker 1: gets pushed out. Showbiz buys up the failing franchise, and 290 00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:16,280 Speaker 1: it operates both Chucky Cheese and Showbiz locations independently. Because, 291 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:19,600 Speaker 1: probably because at this point Chuck E. Cheese was so 292 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:22,080 Speaker 1: well known that they want to kill him off, they 293 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:26,880 Speaker 1: renamed the company Showbiz Pizza Time, which does sound like 294 00:19:26,920 --> 00:19:30,360 Speaker 1: the name of it does sound like the name of 295 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:36,000 Speaker 1: several weird off brands restaurants I've been to in other countries. 296 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:40,160 Speaker 1: Someone's like, make something sound America, call it pizza time. 297 00:19:40,240 --> 00:19:43,920 Speaker 1: No give it, hit it with that. Rasmu'tazzi pizza time. 298 00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:45,639 Speaker 1: We don't even know. It's not even to start it 299 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:48,080 Speaker 1: on Rasmua task. I was talking to you. You met 300 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:51,000 Speaker 1: my friend Steven when we were out in La and 301 00:19:51,040 --> 00:19:53,320 Speaker 1: I was talking to him about this subject and he 302 00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:56,480 Speaker 1: was like, I swear I went to Chuck E Cheese 303 00:19:56,520 --> 00:20:00,240 Speaker 1: and Showbiz Pizza at different times when I I was 304 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:02,359 Speaker 1: a kid growing up in the eighties. And the answer 305 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:05,760 Speaker 1: is quite possibly, definitely. It is that kind of a 306 00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:08,240 Speaker 1: Mandela effect, though, you know what I mean, where it's 307 00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:11,399 Speaker 1: like which one was it? Was it Shazam or was 308 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:13,879 Speaker 1: it Kazam? Was it Chuck E Cheese or was it 309 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:16,439 Speaker 1: show It was probably both. And then there came a 310 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,679 Speaker 1: point where you'd probably have ones that were under one branding, 311 00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:22,320 Speaker 1: that worked in that area and that already were doing 312 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:24,960 Speaker 1: good business. They just left well enough alone. And then 313 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:27,280 Speaker 1: they you know, they probably monitored it and saw which 314 00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:29,440 Speaker 1: ones were doing better, and they left them as they 315 00:20:29,440 --> 00:20:32,280 Speaker 1: were because but they also they shared characters. At this point. 316 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:35,479 Speaker 1: If I'm not mistaken right, because I remember the song. 317 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:40,720 Speaker 1: There was a commercial it was Showbiz Pizza where a 318 00:20:40,800 --> 00:20:43,600 Speaker 1: kid can be a kid, and then later it became 319 00:20:43,720 --> 00:20:46,280 Speaker 1: Chuck E Cheeses where a kid can be a kid. 320 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:49,080 Speaker 1: And that's why I was super confused, because they did 321 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:52,439 Speaker 1: coexist simultaneously, and then I think they were kind of 322 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:55,280 Speaker 1: squashed together. And now there are no more show businesses. 323 00:20:55,440 --> 00:21:00,760 Speaker 1: There's only the mouse the big Cheese. We'll get to this. 324 00:21:00,800 --> 00:21:07,840 Speaker 1: So right now, Bob Brock and Fetcher are victorious, but 325 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:11,880 Speaker 1: only for a time. Remember Fetcher is the creative guy. 326 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:17,760 Speaker 1: Brock is more the corporate money centric type. So Fetcher 327 00:21:18,240 --> 00:21:24,080 Speaker 1: loses out. Shopiz is still hemorrhaging money, and management says, okay, 328 00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:28,720 Speaker 1: part of the reason this is not more profitable is 329 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:33,200 Speaker 1: because those rock of Fire explosion acts are just increasingly elaborate. 330 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:38,040 Speaker 1: They're increasingly expensive, so they start sidelining Fetcher and they 331 00:21:38,119 --> 00:21:42,159 Speaker 1: use voice impersonators to play his characters. Fetcher is getting 332 00:21:42,320 --> 00:21:46,640 Speaker 1: increasingly disillusioned with the corporate world and he starts tinkering 333 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:50,400 Speaker 1: with other projects. He builds new animatronics, high tech rock 334 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:53,639 Speaker 1: afire toys that honestly a lot of people couldn't afford 335 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:57,800 Speaker 1: he starts working on the anti gravity machine. He called 336 00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:01,400 Speaker 1: it it's a predators, sounds like a predecessor to email. 337 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:05,000 Speaker 1: They could send messages over telephone lines. And then in 338 00:22:05,080 --> 00:22:09,560 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety his company, Fetcher's Company, Creative Engineering, was kicked 339 00:22:09,560 --> 00:22:13,679 Speaker 1: out of Showbiz completely. Fetcher lost the war. He was 340 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:16,720 Speaker 1: able to take rock Afire Explosion with him because he 341 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:20,600 Speaker 1: refused to sell the character rights to Showbiz and he 342 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:22,680 Speaker 1: was convinced. He was like, I believe in my rock 343 00:22:22,760 --> 00:22:26,760 Speaker 1: Afire gang. I know that they can do something outside 344 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:29,080 Speaker 1: of this pizza joint. So he said, I'm going to 345 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:34,000 Speaker 1: keep working on the robots. And because Showbiz no longer 346 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:35,879 Speaker 1: had the rights to those characters, this is where the 347 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:41,400 Speaker 1: confusion occurs. They converted the remaining Rock a Fire robots 348 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:47,040 Speaker 1: into Chucky Cheese characters, replacing their exteriors and kind of 349 00:22:47,040 --> 00:22:51,160 Speaker 1: a Westworld style thing. They left the original machinery intact. 350 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:55,680 Speaker 1: This was called concept unification. And there's another example of this. 351 00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:59,159 Speaker 1: It's a little conspiratorial. But if you go to the 352 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:02,879 Speaker 1: Hall of Press Residents, right everybody knows Disney Hall of Presidents, 353 00:23:03,119 --> 00:23:06,679 Speaker 1: you'll notice that one in particular, it looks very weird. 354 00:23:07,119 --> 00:23:12,960 Speaker 1: It's it's the statue or animatronic character of former President 355 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:17,320 Speaker 1: Donald Trump. It looks a lot like somebody started building 356 00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:20,280 Speaker 1: it with the intention that it would be President Hillary 357 00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:24,720 Speaker 1: Clinton and then had to change it. Oh man, election 358 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:27,760 Speaker 1: came through. Pull up a picture. I'm telling you, that's 359 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:29,960 Speaker 1: super cool. I actually was. When I was at Disney recently. 360 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:32,080 Speaker 1: I intended to go to the Hall of Presidents, but 361 00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:34,560 Speaker 1: it's one of those things that happens on a schedule. 362 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:37,040 Speaker 1: You can't just wander in, and I just missed. I 363 00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:40,359 Speaker 1: missed the timing for it because the fireworks happened, and 364 00:23:40,400 --> 00:23:43,000 Speaker 1: I wasn't going to miss that obviously. But this is 365 00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:46,439 Speaker 1: super interesting, Ben. This like reskinning of these like you know, 366 00:23:47,000 --> 00:23:51,120 Speaker 1: Terminator exoskeleton kind of guys. And as we I think 367 00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:53,600 Speaker 1: we mentioned briefly, there is a you've alluded to a 368 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,600 Speaker 1: minute ago. There's a really cool documentary called I think 369 00:23:56,640 --> 00:23:59,679 Speaker 1: it's just called the Rock a Fire Explosion Band or 370 00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:01,560 Speaker 1: maybe just Rocks. It's easy to find and you could 371 00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:04,479 Speaker 1: watch the whole thing on YouTube actually, but Fetcher is 372 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:07,080 Speaker 1: a main character in it, and it basically is about 373 00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:10,360 Speaker 1: all of these Rock a Fire super fans that kind 374 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:13,359 Speaker 1: of band together these aren't rich people. They band together 375 00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:18,560 Speaker 1: and buy the Rock of Fire Explosion animatronics from Fetcher 376 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:20,720 Speaker 1: or I think that's right, because they buy it from 377 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:22,159 Speaker 1: and then they say they build it and then like 378 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:25,359 Speaker 1: a trailer, didn't make it all the way to the end. 379 00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:26,720 Speaker 1: So I'm not quite sure what the but this is 380 00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:28,520 Speaker 1: good that way. I'm not spoiling it for anyone. There's 381 00:24:28,520 --> 00:24:31,720 Speaker 1: definitely some intrigue and it shows you Ben. You we've 382 00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:35,720 Speaker 1: talked about this off air, the kind of nightmarish hellscape 383 00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:41,160 Speaker 1: that is fifteen of these things skinless and pantomiming there 384 00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:44,159 Speaker 1: whatever lip sync things at the same time, like a 385 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:48,040 Speaker 1: row of lucky cats that like a Chinese novelty store. 386 00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:53,040 Speaker 1: You know, it's really really pretty scary stuff. And clearly 387 00:24:53,119 --> 00:24:56,480 Speaker 1: the impetus for games like Five Nights at Freddy's, which 388 00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:59,239 Speaker 1: is like the jump scares with these like creepy you know, 389 00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:03,439 Speaker 1: rock a Fire animatronic robot things. Absolutely yeah, and the 390 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:08,800 Speaker 1: documentary is well worth a watch. Spoiler the Rock Afire 391 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:14,399 Speaker 1: Explosion show, those characters are. They end up being sold 392 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:18,119 Speaker 1: to other restaurants and entertainment centers, which further amplifies the 393 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:20,720 Speaker 1: possible Mandela effect because you could have seen them at 394 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:25,480 Speaker 1: someplace completely different like Pistol, Pizza Pizza, Billy Bob's Wonderland 395 00:25:25,520 --> 00:25:33,960 Speaker 1: and so odd. All right, so Showbiz has unified its concept, right, 396 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:40,320 Speaker 1: and they're still facing outside competition. One of their biggest 397 00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:44,920 Speaker 1: competitors becomes something called Discovery Zone. This is an entertainment 398 00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:48,600 Speaker 1: center targeted toward kids, but it's a different vibe. They've 399 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:50,840 Speaker 1: got an indoor jungle gym, they've got a lot of 400 00:25:50,840 --> 00:25:56,280 Speaker 1: hands on activities, interior playgrounds, education driven. I don't know 401 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:58,520 Speaker 1: why when I hear Discovery I think maybe it's like 402 00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:02,480 Speaker 1: there's you know, optical illusions or something like that, or 403 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:05,240 Speaker 1: there's something. Maybe I'm totally wrong. It's because I worked 404 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:08,240 Speaker 1: in a place called Fort Discovery that was actually run 405 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:11,720 Speaker 1: by the US military and it was like a science 406 00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:15,119 Speaker 1: e type museum. So Discovery Zone probably not that. But 407 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:17,800 Speaker 1: then hands on activities, I do have to assume there 408 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:20,560 Speaker 1: may have been some sort of educational component when I 409 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:25,160 Speaker 1: hear hands on activities, mostly mma cool hand to hands right, 410 00:26:26,160 --> 00:26:30,760 Speaker 1: yea with pizza death in a steel cage. Right. So 411 00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:35,280 Speaker 1: the sales at Showbiz start to slow down and there 412 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:39,919 Speaker 1: are more disappointing sales in the early nineties, so Showbiz 413 00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:44,160 Speaker 1: Pizza Time drops the word pizza from the restaurant name, 414 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:46,920 Speaker 1: and this is where they start just calling it chuck 415 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,199 Speaker 1: E Cheese. They get a new kid friendly logo of 416 00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:55,719 Speaker 1: Charles Zinte mid Cheese and he has like a thumbs up, like, hey, 417 00:26:56,240 --> 00:27:01,480 Speaker 1: we passed our health inspection. And in night five they 418 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:06,440 Speaker 1: begin a series of massive remodelings. They called this Phase one, 419 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:12,080 Speaker 1: and they added kid check Kiosk, which like, let's parents 420 00:27:12,160 --> 00:27:14,920 Speaker 1: have a little more security with their children. They also 421 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:18,960 Speaker 1: added free attractions so that it didn't feel like it 422 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:22,520 Speaker 1: was a continual money sink when you took your family 423 00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:27,800 Speaker 1: to visit. Chuck E himself officially goes from kind of 424 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:32,080 Speaker 1: ratlike to definitely a mouse. They said enough time has passed, 425 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:37,040 Speaker 1: and then they tried something. They tried something weird. They 426 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:42,040 Speaker 1: got really experimental. They made something called the Awesome Adventure 427 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:46,960 Speaker 1: Machine in nineteen ninety seven. Okay, okay, tell me more. 428 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:50,720 Speaker 1: By the way, Discoveries own not educational at all, and 429 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:53,280 Speaker 1: to this day there now there are only two locations 430 00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:56,639 Speaker 1: at malls, one in Kentucky and one in Ohio. So 431 00:27:56,680 --> 00:28:00,400 Speaker 1: they clearly didn't win the war either. And just in here, 432 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,040 Speaker 1: that's actually a remake. I was researching the same thing 433 00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:04,719 Speaker 1: as you know. It turns out those two are just 434 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:07,919 Speaker 1: paying homage to the original Discovery Zone, so the original 435 00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:10,080 Speaker 1: is not even around at all. Right, they went, they 436 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:13,800 Speaker 1: liquidated in two thousand and one. Got it? Do the 437 00:28:13,880 --> 00:28:32,320 Speaker 1: sound cute back right now? Great? All right? Awesome? Uh 438 00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:34,919 Speaker 1: we love it when we can fit that one in organically. 439 00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:40,520 Speaker 1: So yeah, this awesome adventure machine. It's a little mad 440 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:45,760 Speaker 1: science pictures. Someone say it's too complex, it's unstable at 441 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:48,880 Speaker 1: this stage, and then the corporate type going, I don't care, 442 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:52,240 Speaker 1: I put it in. The restaurants said it. The children 443 00:28:52,320 --> 00:28:56,680 Speaker 1: send it to the cheating demain. So this thing, though 444 00:28:56,680 --> 00:28:59,200 Speaker 1: it didn't work out in nineteen ninety seven, it was 445 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:01,360 Speaker 1: a new kind of a test stage and it gave 446 00:29:01,480 --> 00:29:05,200 Speaker 1: rise to the Chuck E Cheese stage show concept called 447 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:09,880 Speaker 1: Studio C. Studio C only has one animated figure that's 448 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:13,000 Speaker 1: child's in a tabit cheese. Yep. I've seen this version too, 449 00:29:13,320 --> 00:29:16,600 Speaker 1: and as an adult with going to kids' birthday parties, 450 00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:19,560 Speaker 1: and it was definitely not what I remembered and contributed 451 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:23,280 Speaker 1: to my confusion. And this is this is important because 452 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:26,680 Speaker 1: it's a huge cost saving measure. The other characters are present, 453 00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:29,640 Speaker 1: but they're on TV monitors, so you only really need 454 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:36,280 Speaker 1: one one cyborg. They're not cyborgs. Honestly. It reminds me 455 00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:39,520 Speaker 1: of the way a lot of roller coasters now or 456 00:29:39,560 --> 00:29:43,400 Speaker 1: at certain amusement parks are doing more the like motion 457 00:29:43,600 --> 00:29:47,600 Speaker 1: video stuff rather than actually having to build tracks, you 458 00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:49,560 Speaker 1: know what I mean. And then obviously the really high 459 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:53,520 Speaker 1: quality ones like Disney and Universal, they'll use both sometimes, 460 00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:55,920 Speaker 1: you know, but it's a real cost saver if you 461 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:58,440 Speaker 1: don't have to actually move around or have the real 462 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:01,720 Speaker 1: estate required to have a big old track. Same with 463 00:30:01,960 --> 00:30:06,080 Speaker 1: all of these seriously expensive moving part you know, animatronic 464 00:30:06,120 --> 00:30:08,440 Speaker 1: figures that break down and have to be maintained and 465 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:11,719 Speaker 1: all of that kind of stuff, so um smart on them. 466 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:14,240 Speaker 1: You know. It's sad that the kids of this era 467 00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:18,960 Speaker 1: won't remember the terrifying joy that was the Rock of 468 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:23,280 Speaker 1: Fire explosion bando. Yeah. And to the point about roller coasters, 469 00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:29,320 Speaker 1: it's also way less expensive insurance wise. You know, I 470 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:33,400 Speaker 1: can't get decapitated by a video. Uh yeah. And many 471 00:30:33,480 --> 00:30:36,760 Speaker 1: years ago at the local amusement park of note here 472 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:43,240 Speaker 1: six Flags Over Georgia, someone did die. They get decapitated. 473 00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:48,000 Speaker 1: Yea true story. So there are business reasons behind a 474 00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:53,640 Speaker 1: lot of these entertainment choices. Now in the story, all 475 00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:58,240 Speaker 1: of the units have been completely turned over, remodeled, and 476 00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:01,760 Speaker 1: themed to Chuck E Cheese Luke Patians. So Shobiz Pizza 477 00:31:01,800 --> 00:31:06,200 Speaker 1: Time Incorporated changes its company name to Chuck E. Cheese 478 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:10,880 Speaker 1: Entertainment Incorporated in nineteen ninety eight. Which, yes, I know 479 00:31:11,040 --> 00:31:14,040 Speaker 1: that's a little bit like saying VIN number or ATM 480 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:19,200 Speaker 1: Machine Charles Entertainment Cheese Entertainment Incorporated. But they're they're making 481 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:23,120 Speaker 1: it work. And then they move on to phase two remodeling. Ah. 482 00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:27,480 Speaker 1: Phase two, that's when they really start leaning into what 483 00:31:27,640 --> 00:31:32,440 Speaker 1: you aptly described as a casino for children kind of environment. 484 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:35,440 Speaker 1: And again, you know, as an adult who has you know, 485 00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:38,640 Speaker 1: been to a few casinos, not my thing. It's not 486 00:31:38,680 --> 00:31:40,560 Speaker 1: something I would have clocked at all when I was 487 00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:42,640 Speaker 1: a kid, because you just get thrown into these places 488 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:45,520 Speaker 1: and you're like, wow, this is amazing. But they all 489 00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:49,680 Speaker 1: lean much more heavily on gaming rather than like actual 490 00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:52,360 Speaker 1: console video game cabinets, you know where you're like playing 491 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:55,760 Speaker 1: you know, a preexisting property. These are more like roulette 492 00:31:55,760 --> 00:31:59,320 Speaker 1: type games. To earn tickets that you can then exchange for, 493 00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:02,400 Speaker 1: you know, thing like stuff that are as we know 494 00:32:02,440 --> 00:32:05,160 Speaker 1: even in like David Buster's similar model, but they at 495 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:06,960 Speaker 1: least have like cool video games. And I'm sure some 496 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:09,840 Speaker 1: Chucky cheeses have video games, but I seem to recall 497 00:32:09,840 --> 00:32:13,520 Speaker 1: when I went very light on the actual branded video 498 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:15,760 Speaker 1: games that we know and love, like the you know 499 00:32:16,080 --> 00:32:19,440 Speaker 1: whatever Tetrises of the World and things like that. Much more. 500 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:23,400 Speaker 1: These either either dinky little rides, you know, like the 501 00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:25,360 Speaker 1: little airplane it just goes like back and forth, like 502 00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:28,800 Speaker 1: at the grocery store, or these kind of games of chance, 503 00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:32,680 Speaker 1: and we know that that stuff really can get under 504 00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:36,160 Speaker 1: your skin and kind of feed this like addiction of 505 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:38,680 Speaker 1: I've got to win the thing, I gotta get the stuff. 506 00:32:38,720 --> 00:32:47,360 Speaker 1: You know, I've got an itch, yeah yeah, and doctrinate 507 00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:52,200 Speaker 1: them young. Right. This this is weird, but it is successful. 508 00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:57,320 Speaker 1: In July of nineteen ninety nine, Discovery Zone files for 509 00:32:57,400 --> 00:33:04,360 Speaker 1: chapter eleven bankruptcy Child's Entertainment. Cheese Entertainment, Incorporated buys out 510 00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:08,520 Speaker 1: their remaining assets and intellectual property. This gets rid of 511 00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:13,600 Speaker 1: their only major competitor and they become the dominant family 512 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:18,280 Speaker 1: entertainment Center in the United States. Back to Shopiz Pizza's 513 00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:22,040 Speaker 1: official history, they say the early two thousands were boon 514 00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:26,800 Speaker 1: for the company, sales increase. They were constantly opening new locations. 515 00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:30,640 Speaker 1: They go to Phase three remodels where they say, we're 516 00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:34,920 Speaker 1: gonna have new enhanced games, We're gonna have a toddler zone, 517 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:38,280 Speaker 1: we're gonna disc with all that stuff was lifted from 518 00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:42,200 Speaker 1: Discovery Zone. That, yeah, one hundred percent, so they're like 519 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:46,760 Speaker 1: Discovery Zones. Main thing was these ball pits and you know, 520 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:50,200 Speaker 1: tumbly kid environments. You know that you could run around it. 521 00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:53,360 Speaker 1: We all probably had a place in our youth that 522 00:33:53,520 --> 00:33:55,880 Speaker 1: was maybe more local or regional. For me, it was 523 00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:59,040 Speaker 1: a place called put Putt Golf and Games. And they 524 00:33:59,240 --> 00:34:01,640 Speaker 1: kind of follow the same model. You could see it 525 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:03,760 Speaker 1: happening because you know, you have to keep up with 526 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:07,360 Speaker 1: the Joneses, right, and they have these giant play places 527 00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:09,320 Speaker 1: that would be up in the up of the sky, 528 00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:11,520 Speaker 1: kind of connected to the ceiling. We have one here 529 00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:14,520 Speaker 1: in Atlanta that I think is relatively regional called Andretti's 530 00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:17,399 Speaker 1: that's like a go kart kind of joint, and they 531 00:34:17,440 --> 00:34:20,640 Speaker 1: have one of these like sky tube kind of situations too. 532 00:34:20,800 --> 00:34:25,200 Speaker 1: So this copycatting because the stuff isn't exactly intellectual property, 533 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:27,880 Speaker 1: it always runs rampant when somebody kind of cracks the 534 00:34:27,920 --> 00:34:32,360 Speaker 1: code one hundred percent. Yeah, I mean, another great example 535 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:35,480 Speaker 1: would be the baseball cap. Right, no one can really 536 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:39,640 Speaker 1: nope own that. You just own what goes on. It's right, 537 00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:42,440 Speaker 1: you know what, we should check into the history of 538 00:34:42,440 --> 00:34:44,680 Speaker 1: the baseball cap. By may be incorrect, but that'll be 539 00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:46,719 Speaker 1: a way. That's a good idea. Let's just make a 540 00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:49,200 Speaker 1: note of that. Yeah, that's a really good idea, history 541 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:52,439 Speaker 1: of the baseball cap. We're cooking live, folks, Okay, So 542 00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:56,520 Speaker 1: Chuck e Cheese. They are so successful that they say 543 00:34:56,600 --> 00:34:59,680 Speaker 1: we're no longer going to sell franchises. They open the 544 00:34:59,719 --> 00:35:03,640 Speaker 1: three hundred company owned location in March of two thousand 545 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:08,400 Speaker 1: and then they start buying back the franchises from the 546 00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:12,000 Speaker 1: individual operators or owners, and a lot of yeah, a 547 00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:14,879 Speaker 1: lot of them. They wanted to expand they're like, my 548 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:17,680 Speaker 1: two Chuck E cheeses are doing really well. I want 549 00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:20,279 Speaker 1: to build a third one. And then corporate would say, 550 00:35:20,560 --> 00:35:23,880 Speaker 1: we don't do that anymore, but we will buy yours 551 00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:27,200 Speaker 1: back from you, and so they buy up all of 552 00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:30,440 Speaker 1: these different units, and they even try for a minute, 553 00:35:30,560 --> 00:35:33,960 Speaker 1: they had something that I never visited, a small town 554 00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:37,360 Speaker 1: chuck e Cheese that had an all Euthenet buffet, a 555 00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:41,400 Speaker 1: costume Chucky on the floor, and they charged submission to 556 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:46,560 Speaker 1: the door. But eventually these were all given that studio 557 00:35:46,680 --> 00:35:51,600 Speaker 1: see animatronic treatment because people still went for the animated 558 00:35:51,680 --> 00:35:54,480 Speaker 1: characters they did. That was the kind of selling point 559 00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:56,520 Speaker 1: because at this point you haven't, like I said, you know, 560 00:35:56,560 --> 00:35:59,239 Speaker 1: whether it be regional or like a massive national chain. 561 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:04,360 Speaker 1: Most people have a thing like this in their neighborhood, 562 00:36:04,400 --> 00:36:06,840 Speaker 1: you know, in their city. There was a place, you know, 563 00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:09,520 Speaker 1: another place where I grew up that was called Fundsville 564 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:12,680 Speaker 1: and it was all this kind of stuff they had, 565 00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:16,439 Speaker 1: like bumper boats and basically like an always on kind 566 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:20,400 Speaker 1: of carnival kind of atmosphere. So to have that extra 567 00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:24,160 Speaker 1: selling point, which was the show aspect of it, was 568 00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:26,520 Speaker 1: about the only thing that they could provide that was 569 00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:30,600 Speaker 1: any different than any of these other spots one hundred percent. 570 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:34,120 Speaker 1: You know, that's that's the main draw. You don't go 571 00:36:34,160 --> 00:36:38,560 Speaker 1: to McDonald's and not expect French fries, right, So this 572 00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:40,799 Speaker 1: because what makes it different from any other places then, 573 00:36:41,080 --> 00:36:46,400 Speaker 1: So anyway, the cool Chuck era could not last. A 574 00:36:46,520 --> 00:36:50,600 Speaker 1: cool Chuck era is the way our pal doctor Zach 575 00:36:50,719 --> 00:36:53,960 Speaker 1: decided to phrase this, and I agree with him. The 576 00:36:54,040 --> 00:36:57,680 Speaker 1: company is heading, like the rest of the United States 577 00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:01,399 Speaker 1: into the Great Recession, and it was able to keep 578 00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:05,239 Speaker 1: itself in the black during this time, but a lot 579 00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:08,200 Speaker 1: of the tricks that used to stay afloat we're starting 580 00:37:08,239 --> 00:37:11,800 Speaker 1: to run thin. This is a novelty concept, which means 581 00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:14,040 Speaker 1: that what it is no longer a novelty to people. 582 00:37:14,480 --> 00:37:17,040 Speaker 1: They're just gonna stay home or they're going to go 583 00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:22,040 Speaker 1: play in the park. These franchises that they have been 584 00:37:22,080 --> 00:37:27,440 Speaker 1: absorbing were increasingly scarce. The company had saturated the market. 585 00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:30,520 Speaker 1: They couldn't expand much further, and they said, okay, we 586 00:37:30,600 --> 00:37:35,520 Speaker 1: got to stop opening units as quickly and as widely 587 00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:40,440 Speaker 1: as we have. We need to offer we need to 588 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:46,480 Speaker 1: offer other paths right to ourselves. So they begin reoffering 589 00:37:46,640 --> 00:37:50,920 Speaker 1: franchise options in the United States to save the company money, 590 00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:53,239 Speaker 1: and they're going to use that money to invest in 591 00:37:53,280 --> 00:37:56,839 Speaker 1: their existing stores. And this is something that a lot 592 00:37:56,880 --> 00:37:59,560 Speaker 1: of companies should do more often. Instead of opening the 593 00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:01,680 Speaker 1: new stuff, you got to invest in what you already 594 00:38:01,719 --> 00:38:05,600 Speaker 1: know works. And you like how I say that with 595 00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:09,080 Speaker 1: companies as as though all industries are the same. It's 596 00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:15,239 Speaker 1: a little broadbrush there. But anyway, the company started to 597 00:38:15,280 --> 00:38:19,160 Speaker 1: remove their free entertainment options too in a lot of locations. 598 00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:22,920 Speaker 1: No more skytubes, no more toddlers, owe just more games 599 00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:25,719 Speaker 1: that you have to pay to play or in stores 600 00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:28,600 Speaker 1: that had the room the stuff you mentioned earlier, nol 601 00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:32,640 Speaker 1: bumper cars, other other premium attractions, like how when you 602 00:38:32,680 --> 00:38:34,960 Speaker 1: go to six Flags you still have to pay for 603 00:38:35,040 --> 00:38:37,960 Speaker 1: laser tag even though you already paid the price of 604 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:40,560 Speaker 1: admission to get into the park. Max you get it. 605 00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:44,920 Speaker 1: That's unfair, so lame, so lame. So in the summer 606 00:38:45,040 --> 00:38:49,880 Speaker 1: of two thousand and twelve, Chuck E. Cheese Entertainment, Incorporated 607 00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:53,439 Speaker 1: was trying to catch up with the times. They knew 608 00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:55,560 Speaker 1: all of the things that we're talking about, you know, 609 00:38:55,840 --> 00:38:58,080 Speaker 1: the these are this a company that's run by you know, 610 00:38:58,360 --> 00:39:01,600 Speaker 1: relatively smart people, and they know that you can't you 611 00:39:01,680 --> 00:39:05,680 Speaker 1: can't rest on your laurels or whatever, rest on your 612 00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:08,080 Speaker 1: cheese pizzas. That's horrible. But I'm saying it because I 613 00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:10,040 Speaker 1: said it, and I said what I said. A lot 614 00:39:10,120 --> 00:39:14,920 Speaker 1: of this was about kind of modernizing the character and 615 00:39:15,480 --> 00:39:20,440 Speaker 1: what was popular in the two thousands, Pixar, you know, cgi, 616 00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:23,040 Speaker 1: let's let's let's make it where people can like Really, 617 00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:25,440 Speaker 1: that's what Disney was really all about two a lot 618 00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:28,120 Speaker 1: of these like three D rides. You know, I'm focusing 619 00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:31,240 Speaker 1: more on like video and than the on actual movement. 620 00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:33,600 Speaker 1: So they wanted to catch up. And they're turning at 621 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:37,799 Speaker 1: this point Chuck E. Cheese Charles Entertainment into a rock star. 622 00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:40,959 Speaker 1: They were either rebranding the voice, making him a cool 623 00:39:41,239 --> 00:39:44,479 Speaker 1: skater guy kind of if I'm not mistaken, right, yeah, 624 00:39:44,719 --> 00:39:49,960 Speaker 1: yeah he is. He's getting too cool for school. Most 625 00:39:50,160 --> 00:40:00,640 Speaker 1: of the press did not like this. They said this 626 00:40:00,880 --> 00:40:04,520 Speaker 1: is disastrous. They said, this isn't popular. It's not going 627 00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:06,920 Speaker 1: to be popular. The general public was like, what have 628 00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:09,200 Speaker 1: you done to Charles? I love the idea of the 629 00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:12,600 Speaker 1: press having an opinion of it. Yeah, yeah, I mean, 630 00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:16,720 Speaker 1: we gotta weigh in on this. Chucky Cheese rebranding still happens. 631 00:40:16,880 --> 00:40:19,800 Speaker 1: That still happens now. You can find all kinds of well, actually, 632 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:22,160 Speaker 1: I bet we could find some think pieces about Chucky 633 00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:25,640 Speaker 1: Cheese in the modern day. Maybe. Anytime nostalgia is at play, 634 00:40:25,719 --> 00:40:27,799 Speaker 1: you are going to have stakeholders, people that are gonna 635 00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:30,760 Speaker 1: wear how dare you you know, like the super fans 636 00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:33,920 Speaker 1: of Rockefire Explosion featured in that documentary, or surely has 637 00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:36,640 Speaker 1: something to say about all of it, or literally any 638 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:41,359 Speaker 1: Marvel film or sci fi franchise shout out to star 639 00:40:41,440 --> 00:40:47,239 Speaker 1: trek Max. So look, the company knows that this is 640 00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:51,960 Speaker 1: not translated into profits or sales, and so they say, Okay, 641 00:40:52,080 --> 00:40:55,480 Speaker 1: we're going to release our annual report. It's plaintext. It's 642 00:40:55,520 --> 00:40:57,680 Speaker 1: the kind of thing you haven't seen since the early 643 00:40:57,880 --> 00:41:02,400 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties when Pizza Time Theater or bankruptcy. And in 644 00:41:02,600 --> 00:41:10,279 Speaker 1: twenty fourteen, Apollo Global Management acquires Charles Entertainment Cheese Entertainment, Incorporated, 645 00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:14,040 Speaker 1: and they buy the five hundred and seventy seven stores 646 00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:18,120 Speaker 1: across the world for about nine hundred and fifty million dollars, 647 00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:23,160 Speaker 1: making Chuck E. Cheese a privately held, wholly owned subsidiary. 648 00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:26,919 Speaker 1: Kids don't care about this, just cutting to the chase. 649 00:41:27,320 --> 00:41:31,120 Speaker 1: Kids don't care about any of this behind the scenes stuff. 650 00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:35,000 Speaker 1: What they care about is whether something is interesting and 651 00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:38,520 Speaker 1: entertaining to them. It looks like at least per folks 652 00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:42,239 Speaker 1: like Kitty j Over atmash Dot com that children are 653 00:41:42,320 --> 00:41:49,200 Speaker 1: increasingly less engaged with robotic musical characters. So twenty seventeen, 654 00:41:49,719 --> 00:41:53,719 Speaker 1: Chuck E Cheese announces they're gonna revamp their locations. They're 655 00:41:53,800 --> 00:41:59,480 Speaker 1: gonna remove some animatronic acts and stages. They want to 656 00:41:59,560 --> 00:42:03,480 Speaker 1: make a large dance floor where children can conga with 657 00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:06,680 Speaker 1: a live Chucky Cheese that comes from a back room. 658 00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:09,520 Speaker 1: And when he comes out, he makes it rain. He's 659 00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:14,919 Speaker 1: throwing tickets out everywhere, and then he's like, dance with me, Chee. 660 00:42:16,880 --> 00:42:20,040 Speaker 1: Dad's to the Beyesie the rats. Who is now pie 661 00:42:20,120 --> 00:42:25,239 Speaker 1: pipering the children? Yes, some reason that just conjured up 662 00:42:25,239 --> 00:42:28,040 Speaker 1: an image of like a Hunger Games like style, like 663 00:42:28,160 --> 00:42:32,480 Speaker 1: a movie like postystopian like world where we all dance 664 00:42:32,520 --> 00:42:35,759 Speaker 1: for Chuck E Cheese. Yeah. No, he's a god. He's 665 00:42:35,800 --> 00:42:39,600 Speaker 1: worshiped as a god in this version of reality that 666 00:42:39,640 --> 00:42:42,640 Speaker 1: you're describing back really quickly. Just just just that one 667 00:42:42,719 --> 00:42:44,400 Speaker 1: thing that always stood out to me. I don't think 668 00:42:44,440 --> 00:42:46,320 Speaker 1: I ever did it. I think you only got to 669 00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:49,440 Speaker 1: do it if you were the birthday of a person. 670 00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:52,239 Speaker 1: Do you remember the cage you'd go into where like 671 00:42:52,520 --> 00:42:55,759 Speaker 1: money and tickets and stuff would blow around and you 672 00:42:55,880 --> 00:42:58,600 Speaker 1: just had to grab your grab it with your little fists, 673 00:42:59,040 --> 00:43:02,600 Speaker 1: get as much as you can. Good. It's a weird one. 674 00:43:02,719 --> 00:43:05,200 Speaker 1: Max was nodding emphatically. Man, I'm not sure if you 675 00:43:05,840 --> 00:43:09,120 Speaker 1: remember that or not. Oh yeah, that's yeah. It was 676 00:43:09,160 --> 00:43:11,399 Speaker 1: like a wind tunnel kind of thing where I would 677 00:43:11,440 --> 00:43:16,280 Speaker 1: like blow all around really hard to actually actually grab. 678 00:43:16,960 --> 00:43:18,759 Speaker 1: I also have never been in one of those two, 679 00:43:18,840 --> 00:43:20,640 Speaker 1: but I know people who have been in them, and 680 00:43:20,680 --> 00:43:23,520 Speaker 1: I've always I don't know, might people signful towards them. 681 00:43:23,680 --> 00:43:27,399 Speaker 1: I've feared one with actual cash. Yeah, oh yeah, that's 682 00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:29,120 Speaker 1: a that's a thing too. Yeah, and that is the 683 00:43:29,200 --> 00:43:32,160 Speaker 1: earlier days, that is more difficult to catch. So if 684 00:43:32,239 --> 00:43:34,560 Speaker 1: you if you listen, if you were playing one of 685 00:43:34,600 --> 00:43:37,120 Speaker 1: those as a kid and you weren't able to get 686 00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:40,400 Speaker 1: as much as you hoped, don't feel bad. A lot 687 00:43:40,440 --> 00:43:42,800 Speaker 1: of adults have a hard time too well. And I 688 00:43:42,880 --> 00:43:46,720 Speaker 1: think to your point, Bend, it originally was mainly cash, 689 00:43:47,320 --> 00:43:49,799 Speaker 1: and then I think that probably got a bad rap 690 00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:53,719 Speaker 1: because a cash is filthy, uh, and it's probably just 691 00:43:53,920 --> 00:43:56,960 Speaker 1: rubbing all around on your little child body. And also 692 00:43:57,000 --> 00:43:59,600 Speaker 1: it just kind of feels a little ikey, not just 693 00:43:59,640 --> 00:44:01,640 Speaker 1: because the German bits, but just because of the like, 694 00:44:02,560 --> 00:44:06,880 Speaker 1: I don't know, capitalism kind of hipsters is like, come on, children, 695 00:44:07,000 --> 00:44:09,120 Speaker 1: just grabbed for the cash. It's sort of like that 696 00:44:09,239 --> 00:44:11,560 Speaker 1: scene in Batman, you know, where he's throwing the fake 697 00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:14,839 Speaker 1: Joker dollars and everyone's like rioting in the streets. That's 698 00:44:14,880 --> 00:44:18,400 Speaker 1: started the vibe that it imparts. And this is where 699 00:44:19,160 --> 00:44:23,160 Speaker 1: this is where we get closer and closer to the 700 00:44:23,320 --> 00:44:26,800 Speaker 1: modern day. Now, the live mascot thing does make sense 701 00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:31,160 Speaker 1: because kids like, that's a Disney formula again. Kids love 702 00:44:31,239 --> 00:44:36,800 Speaker 1: engaging with the live mascots, right, and now we have 703 00:44:36,920 --> 00:44:41,560 Speaker 1: to ask how far this can go? Unfortunately, do you? 704 00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:44,680 Speaker 1: According to a press release just a few years back, 705 00:44:44,719 --> 00:44:51,000 Speaker 1: in June twenty twenty, Charles Entertainment, Cheese In Entertainment Incorporated, 706 00:44:51,239 --> 00:44:55,240 Speaker 1: excuse me, Charles Entertainment, Cheese Entertainment, Incorporated, filed for Chapter 707 00:44:55,360 --> 00:45:00,640 Speaker 1: eleven bankruptcy and this was predicted. This it seemed almost 708 00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:04,840 Speaker 1: inevitable as the pandemic reared its head. They had a 709 00:45:06,120 --> 00:45:11,800 Speaker 1: pretty in depth financial reorganization and this came about entirely 710 00:45:11,960 --> 00:45:14,560 Speaker 1: due to the massive hit they took during the early 711 00:45:14,680 --> 00:45:18,040 Speaker 1: days of COVID nineteen when pretty much every restaurant in 712 00:45:18,160 --> 00:45:22,719 Speaker 1: Arcade was shut down. The same store sales fell by 713 00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:29,280 Speaker 1: more than twenty percent in the first quarter. Without getting 714 00:45:29,320 --> 00:45:31,800 Speaker 1: into the financial weeds, what you need to know is 715 00:45:31,960 --> 00:45:35,240 Speaker 1: that Chuck E Cheese needed a two hundred million dollar 716 00:45:35,400 --> 00:45:40,080 Speaker 1: loan just to get through bankruptcy, and this would allow 717 00:45:40,200 --> 00:45:44,320 Speaker 1: the chain to reopen their closed stores and continue operations 718 00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:48,040 Speaker 1: like carry out and delivery and stuff as well. And 719 00:45:48,200 --> 00:45:51,080 Speaker 1: it all looked lost, it all looked for not. However, 720 00:45:52,200 --> 00:45:54,520 Speaker 1: get this a little bit of good news for a second. 721 00:45:54,760 --> 00:46:01,200 Speaker 1: Six months later, CEC Entertainment announces they pulled themselves out 722 00:46:01,280 --> 00:46:05,840 Speaker 1: of bankruptcy. They were financially healthy. Their restructure did away 723 00:46:05,920 --> 00:46:09,080 Speaker 1: with seven hundred and five million dollars in debt. And 724 00:46:09,239 --> 00:46:13,000 Speaker 1: that's like, that's where you learn America, baby, am I right? 725 00:46:13,280 --> 00:46:17,680 Speaker 1: Like if you were a corporation, you know, bankruptcy is 726 00:46:17,719 --> 00:46:20,560 Speaker 1: just sort of like a situation you get into and 727 00:46:20,719 --> 00:46:23,680 Speaker 1: then you're gonna be fine if you restructure. It's very 728 00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:27,440 Speaker 1: very strange stuff. But before we get to like tangents 729 00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:29,839 Speaker 1: trivias in our last updates, we got to say something 730 00:46:30,320 --> 00:46:34,759 Speaker 1: about Bushnell. He's a pioneer man. He still has a 731 00:46:34,880 --> 00:46:38,160 Speaker 1: thing about restaurants. He has become a restaurant tour. He 732 00:46:38,280 --> 00:46:41,080 Speaker 1: has founded or taken over several restaurants over the past 733 00:46:41,200 --> 00:46:45,600 Speaker 1: forty years, and he even tried something similar to showbiz 734 00:46:46,200 --> 00:46:52,279 Speaker 1: with something called you Wink Letter, You Wink. Okay, it's 735 00:46:52,520 --> 00:46:55,840 Speaker 1: a restaurant where tables get touch screens in two thousand 736 00:46:55,840 --> 00:47:01,200 Speaker 1: and six. It's sort of like what Chili's. It's sort 737 00:47:01,200 --> 00:47:03,440 Speaker 1: of like so many places, do you know, Yeah, I 738 00:47:03,480 --> 00:47:05,320 Speaker 1: mean you will look to touch Look. I guess this 739 00:47:05,400 --> 00:47:07,719 Speaker 1: is two thousand and six, so this is I don't know, 740 00:47:08,120 --> 00:47:14,239 Speaker 1: pre iPad, pre robot sushi restaurant, right, So so you 741 00:47:14,320 --> 00:47:17,600 Speaker 1: know this would have been again timing, right, because then 742 00:47:17,880 --> 00:47:21,640 Speaker 1: you have this whole business model kind of upended by 743 00:47:22,080 --> 00:47:26,200 Speaker 1: you know, easily available technology that any restaurant can just 744 00:47:26,280 --> 00:47:28,360 Speaker 1: install an app on and have a thing plugged up 745 00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:30,360 Speaker 1: to a charger on the table where you can like 746 00:47:31,080 --> 00:47:34,120 Speaker 1: spend ninety nine cents on playing a word game while 747 00:47:34,160 --> 00:47:37,479 Speaker 1: you wait so you don't have to talk to your family, right, Yeah, 748 00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:41,719 Speaker 1: I mean this is the thing. He's still if this 749 00:47:41,880 --> 00:47:44,520 Speaker 1: is the thing, if you are pioneer in a concept 750 00:47:44,840 --> 00:47:48,719 Speaker 1: right in any shape, form or fashion, then you are 751 00:47:48,840 --> 00:47:52,440 Speaker 1: taking on a risk that other people simply do not 752 00:47:52,680 --> 00:47:55,600 Speaker 1: have to take on. This is why leap frog, this 753 00:47:55,719 --> 00:47:58,960 Speaker 1: is why the concept of leap frogging technology exists. And 754 00:47:58,960 --> 00:48:04,320 Speaker 1: a lot of those competitive in this character entertainment restaurant space, 755 00:48:04,520 --> 00:48:07,279 Speaker 1: a lot of them were benefiting from the risk that 756 00:48:07,360 --> 00:48:12,480 Speaker 1: Bushnell took in his career, which spans, as Fast Company 757 00:48:12,560 --> 00:48:16,799 Speaker 1: put it, spans well into a half century. Bushnell never 758 00:48:16,960 --> 00:48:22,120 Speaker 1: stopped chasing this idea of entertainment and socializing him food 759 00:48:22,200 --> 00:48:25,960 Speaker 1: and drink. He you know, Pong was the first game 760 00:48:26,080 --> 00:48:30,040 Speaker 1: that had required two players, and Pong ended up in 761 00:48:30,080 --> 00:48:33,760 Speaker 1: a lot of restaurants. The end of that article, honestly, 762 00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:39,000 Speaker 1: it kind of falls into like this shout out or 763 00:48:39,120 --> 00:48:44,120 Speaker 1: this tribute to Bushnell's work, And I'd like to just 764 00:48:45,080 --> 00:48:48,880 Speaker 1: hit this one thing that really stood out from the 765 00:48:48,920 --> 00:48:52,479 Speaker 1: Fast Company article. They say, maybe that's the secret behind 766 00:48:52,600 --> 00:48:56,120 Speaker 1: chuck E Cheese and during relevance. It's not about technology 767 00:48:56,280 --> 00:48:59,520 Speaker 1: or singing animals. The place is a cultural trojan horse 768 00:49:00,080 --> 00:49:03,919 Speaker 1: brought families together, helped arcade games become acceptable, and made 769 00:49:04,000 --> 00:49:09,279 Speaker 1: eating into family entertainment. I think that's very nice. It's 770 00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:11,120 Speaker 1: a very nice thing to say. I don't know if 771 00:49:11,200 --> 00:49:15,400 Speaker 1: it's the first to the post in eating as family entertainment. 772 00:49:15,800 --> 00:49:19,480 Speaker 1: We'd have to figure out when, Um, oh, what's like 773 00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:24,280 Speaker 1: medieval times? That was probably eighties. Doesn't that seem eighties? 774 00:49:24,320 --> 00:49:28,200 Speaker 1: It feels maybe nineties. It feels fifteenth century to me. Oh, 775 00:49:28,520 --> 00:49:32,040 Speaker 1: they got you, they got Max. No, this is true. 776 00:49:32,239 --> 00:49:36,200 Speaker 1: I mean, look, it's sort of the family restaurant, you know. 777 00:49:36,440 --> 00:49:38,520 Speaker 1: I mean the idea of even something as simple as 778 00:49:38,600 --> 00:49:41,080 Speaker 1: like a free coloring book for kids, you know what 779 00:49:41,120 --> 00:49:43,759 Speaker 1: I mean, Like just this idea of a place where 780 00:49:43,800 --> 00:49:46,080 Speaker 1: you could all come as a family, there's something on 781 00:49:46,160 --> 00:49:49,320 Speaker 1: the menu for everybody. Even the idea of a kid's menu, 782 00:49:49,640 --> 00:49:52,600 Speaker 1: you know, like that was kind of innovative at the time, 783 00:49:52,719 --> 00:49:54,960 Speaker 1: and so I think all of this kind of springs 784 00:49:55,080 --> 00:49:59,520 Speaker 1: from that. And and honestly, you know, Bushnell was, um, 785 00:49:59,719 --> 00:50:01,600 Speaker 1: you know, we talked about how he was sort of 786 00:50:01,680 --> 00:50:05,440 Speaker 1: like fascinated by these family restaurants and wanted to kind 787 00:50:05,480 --> 00:50:08,680 Speaker 1: of take them into the into the next generation or 788 00:50:08,680 --> 00:50:11,640 Speaker 1: whatever in the future. So I mean, these these concepts 789 00:50:11,680 --> 00:50:15,560 Speaker 1: were just sort of escalations of things that definitely already existed. 790 00:50:15,640 --> 00:50:21,080 Speaker 1: But times nineteen sixties, no joke, no joke. So there 791 00:50:21,160 --> 00:50:23,560 Speaker 1: we go. Okay, all right, just had to put that 792 00:50:23,640 --> 00:50:29,759 Speaker 1: out there. Get in frestory of the family restaurants. I 793 00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:33,640 Speaker 1: just want to know, like when like history of family restaurants. 794 00:50:33,760 --> 00:50:35,759 Speaker 1: It looks to be the rise of family restaurants started 795 00:50:35,760 --> 00:50:38,280 Speaker 1: after World War Two and has grown into an important 796 00:50:38,320 --> 00:50:40,640 Speaker 1: part of that makes sense. It was this idea of 797 00:50:40,800 --> 00:50:44,680 Speaker 1: kind of like this was something that was attainable for everybody, 798 00:50:45,080 --> 00:50:48,279 Speaker 1: you know, Like in the seventeen hundreds, this article on 799 00:50:48,880 --> 00:50:51,360 Speaker 1: gun through two ds dot com, which I think is 800 00:50:51,880 --> 00:50:54,120 Speaker 1: a family diner of some sort, but they point out 801 00:50:54,160 --> 00:50:56,440 Speaker 1: a gun through two D's and the seventeen hundreds, it 802 00:50:56,440 --> 00:50:59,520 Speaker 1: wasn't uncommon for wealthy families to send a servant to 803 00:50:59,680 --> 00:51:02,319 Speaker 1: pick up dinner, you know, which was then eating at home. 804 00:51:02,440 --> 00:51:06,080 Speaker 1: The idea of dining out in general as a family 805 00:51:06,239 --> 00:51:09,440 Speaker 1: was was not really attainable. It wasn't until you know, 806 00:51:09,520 --> 00:51:14,799 Speaker 1: the early nineteen hundreds that children were even allowed into restaurants. 807 00:51:15,560 --> 00:51:20,040 Speaker 1: You know, I'm not gonna say let's all be time travelers, 808 00:51:20,200 --> 00:51:23,120 Speaker 1: but I think there are certain restaurants that probably shouldn't 809 00:51:23,120 --> 00:51:26,440 Speaker 1: have They should have age restrictions, you know what I mean, 810 00:51:26,520 --> 00:51:28,719 Speaker 1: not just bars, but like like you know, you're out 811 00:51:28,760 --> 00:51:32,480 Speaker 1: on a really nice candlelit romantic dinner with your you know, 812 00:51:32,640 --> 00:51:35,760 Speaker 1: one and only of the month, and then you probably 813 00:51:35,800 --> 00:51:39,640 Speaker 1: don't want a screaming child, or maybe that's your ambiance. 814 00:51:39,760 --> 00:51:42,160 Speaker 1: I don't know, only if it's on theme, you know, 815 00:51:42,280 --> 00:51:47,439 Speaker 1: if that's like the theme that you've chosen for your baby. Really, well, 816 00:51:47,600 --> 00:51:51,560 Speaker 1: congratulations on your promotion. Let's go have a romantic celebration. 817 00:51:51,640 --> 00:51:56,000 Speaker 1: It's screaming child, bistro, screaming child. I did have a 818 00:51:56,080 --> 00:51:58,560 Speaker 1: couple of things that I discover when I was looking into, um, 819 00:51:59,200 --> 00:52:05,040 Speaker 1: how how COVID affected the Chucky Cheese, you know, Empire. 820 00:52:05,400 --> 00:52:07,080 Speaker 1: We talked a little bit about that. You know, they 821 00:52:07,120 --> 00:52:11,160 Speaker 1: did file for bankruptcy after you know, amassing more than 822 00:52:11,200 --> 00:52:14,600 Speaker 1: a billion dollars in debt. They were able to raise 823 00:52:14,719 --> 00:52:17,640 Speaker 1: some funds and now I believe they're in the process 824 00:52:17,680 --> 00:52:20,680 Speaker 1: of restructuring. But there were a couple of interesting stories 825 00:52:20,760 --> 00:52:24,479 Speaker 1: that really kind of hit home. For example, apparently they've 826 00:52:24,520 --> 00:52:27,880 Speaker 1: been doing that ghost kitchen thing that a lot of 827 00:52:27,960 --> 00:52:29,960 Speaker 1: restaurants do, where like, you know, they sort of came 828 00:52:30,040 --> 00:52:34,040 Speaker 1: up during COVID where you were using a kitchen in 829 00:52:34,080 --> 00:52:38,640 Speaker 1: a brick and mortar restaurant in order to serve food 830 00:52:38,800 --> 00:52:41,879 Speaker 1: for another restaurant brand. So you would essentially like lease 831 00:52:41,920 --> 00:52:43,840 Speaker 1: out part of your kitchen. But that's not exactly what 832 00:52:44,200 --> 00:52:48,000 Speaker 1: what Charles did. They actually created a kind of phony 833 00:52:48,160 --> 00:52:53,800 Speaker 1: Italian restaurant called Pasquali's Pizza and Wings and just served 834 00:52:53,920 --> 00:53:00,440 Speaker 1: their chucky cheese fair, you know, to unsuspecting online diners, 835 00:53:01,280 --> 00:53:03,239 Speaker 1: because I mean, let's be let's be honest, y'all. I mean, 836 00:53:03,719 --> 00:53:07,360 Speaker 1: chuck E Cheese pizza ain't ain't all that it's not 837 00:53:07,560 --> 00:53:10,440 Speaker 1: that good. Well, I bet you that somewhere there is 838 00:53:10,480 --> 00:53:13,400 Speaker 1: a person putting their heart and soul into what they're cooking, 839 00:53:13,560 --> 00:53:16,879 Speaker 1: and you can tell. But as a rule, generally, yeah, 840 00:53:17,120 --> 00:53:19,319 Speaker 1: chuck E Cheese is not going to be the same 841 00:53:19,400 --> 00:53:22,200 Speaker 1: pizza as your local mom and pop store. Yeah. I 842 00:53:22,360 --> 00:53:24,360 Speaker 1: know most of us have that bad experiences. I'm just 843 00:53:24,480 --> 00:53:28,799 Speaker 1: defending the one person out there whom I hope, who 844 00:53:28,880 --> 00:53:35,160 Speaker 1: I hope is breaking the stereotype or exceeding expectations. And 845 00:53:35,400 --> 00:53:39,680 Speaker 1: as of you know, the restructuring, This may not be 846 00:53:39,800 --> 00:53:42,600 Speaker 1: the most up to date information right now, but more 847 00:53:42,680 --> 00:53:47,600 Speaker 1: than thirty four locations that were open when coronavirus hit 848 00:53:48,280 --> 00:53:51,840 Speaker 1: have closed, and that's in you know, states across the country. 849 00:53:52,200 --> 00:53:56,360 Speaker 1: And piggyback on that research, Associate Extraordinarires, Zach Doctor z 850 00:53:56,920 --> 00:54:01,960 Speaker 1: Williams found a pretty interesting and slightly disturbing detail about 851 00:54:02,040 --> 00:54:06,480 Speaker 1: what happens when a Chuck E. Cheese location is closed. 852 00:54:06,840 --> 00:54:10,960 Speaker 1: The Chuck E Cheese costumes and I believe the animatronics 853 00:54:11,000 --> 00:54:13,560 Speaker 1: are the very least the light heads that go on 854 00:54:13,680 --> 00:54:19,120 Speaker 1: them are decommissioned in a pretty alarming and brutal way 855 00:54:19,560 --> 00:54:22,800 Speaker 1: that really fits in with Max's dystopian kind of like 856 00:54:23,480 --> 00:54:26,959 Speaker 1: god like scenario where Chuck E. Cheese is worship only 857 00:54:27,000 --> 00:54:32,440 Speaker 1: in this situation, he's actually sacrificed. There's video that surfaced 858 00:54:32,560 --> 00:54:37,759 Speaker 1: of employees at a location that was being closed smashing 859 00:54:38,360 --> 00:54:45,040 Speaker 1: the cartoon character head with a sledgehammer, like ripping the 860 00:54:45,560 --> 00:54:50,600 Speaker 1: covers off magazines. Yeah, yeah, and apparently this is a 861 00:54:50,719 --> 00:54:54,520 Speaker 1: corporate policy because it makes sense, right because you wouldn't 862 00:54:54,560 --> 00:54:57,480 Speaker 1: want that head to fall into the wrong hands and 863 00:54:57,600 --> 00:55:00,600 Speaker 1: then have the brand like be smirched. Who knows people 864 00:55:00,600 --> 00:55:03,440 Speaker 1: could wear them and like do crimes, you know, so 865 00:55:03,880 --> 00:55:05,759 Speaker 1: you just don't. They had to just get rid of him, 866 00:55:05,800 --> 00:55:08,120 Speaker 1: They had they had to smash it up. Yeah. And 867 00:55:08,239 --> 00:55:11,840 Speaker 1: there's that great Atlas Obscure article right by Paula Meggia 868 00:55:12,760 --> 00:55:16,520 Speaker 1: which talks about this in detail why Chucky Cheese has 869 00:55:16,560 --> 00:55:20,359 Speaker 1: a corporate policy about destroying his mascot's head. You might say, 870 00:55:20,640 --> 00:55:22,759 Speaker 1: I don't want to I don't want to go to 871 00:55:22,880 --> 00:55:26,759 Speaker 1: the new Chucky Cheese. I want the animatronics. I know 872 00:55:26,960 --> 00:55:30,759 Speaker 1: the company might be weirdly defensive. They still have where 873 00:55:30,800 --> 00:55:33,600 Speaker 1: they do have robots, they're still powered by a floppy disc. 874 00:55:33,880 --> 00:55:36,600 Speaker 1: That's a true story. Check out the bite for more 875 00:55:36,680 --> 00:55:39,879 Speaker 1: on that. Shout out to nor I'll sabay. But if 876 00:55:39,920 --> 00:55:43,080 Speaker 1: you yearn for that nostalgia, folks, and nostalgia is a 877 00:55:43,160 --> 00:55:46,480 Speaker 1: heck of a drug, then never fear. You can go 878 00:55:46,640 --> 00:55:49,400 Speaker 1: see a collection of memorabilia from the old days of 879 00:55:49,520 --> 00:55:55,200 Speaker 1: showbiz Pizza in Sandy Hook, Mississippi, thanks to Damon Brenlan, 880 00:55:55,360 --> 00:55:59,520 Speaker 1: the owner of Smitty's Super Service. No, no, I I 881 00:55:59,680 --> 00:56:01,960 Speaker 1: haven't been to this place. I've actually barely been to 882 00:56:02,440 --> 00:56:07,600 Speaker 1: many locations in Mississippi, just regular places. Not even think 883 00:56:07,640 --> 00:56:10,920 Speaker 1: I've ever been to Mississippi ever. Well, maybe the first 884 00:56:10,960 --> 00:56:16,440 Speaker 1: time we go, we go to this Smitty's Super Service. 885 00:56:16,640 --> 00:56:21,359 Speaker 1: This sounds fantastic. He's got fully functioning animatronics. It's set 886 00:56:21,440 --> 00:56:23,440 Speaker 1: up to look just like the restaurant and that's funny 887 00:56:23,440 --> 00:56:25,600 Speaker 1: because I wonder how he got around this, because I 888 00:56:25,640 --> 00:56:28,160 Speaker 1: mean with the rocket fire explosion stuff, they bought it 889 00:56:28,280 --> 00:56:30,960 Speaker 1: directly from the dude who created them, who would not 890 00:56:31,800 --> 00:56:35,480 Speaker 1: sell the IP. But this goes against the whole idea 891 00:56:35,600 --> 00:56:38,800 Speaker 1: of them destroying the stuff because a big part of 892 00:56:38,840 --> 00:56:41,040 Speaker 1: the Apples Obscure article, or the point that the writer 893 00:56:41,200 --> 00:56:45,480 Speaker 1: makes is that they're they're basically exerting control over their 894 00:56:45,560 --> 00:56:48,000 Speaker 1: trademark because they wouldn't want these things to be like 895 00:56:48,080 --> 00:56:51,320 Speaker 1: available on eBay and for someone to literally do what 896 00:56:51,480 --> 00:56:55,480 Speaker 1: this person, Damon Breland is doing at Smitty's Super Service. 897 00:56:55,800 --> 00:56:59,640 Speaker 1: So I'm confused as to how he's operating under the 898 00:56:59,719 --> 00:57:04,320 Speaker 1: radar like this without the power of Charles Entertainment Cheese 899 00:57:04,440 --> 00:57:09,040 Speaker 1: Corporate coming down on him like a sledgehammer of the gods. Yeah, 900 00:57:09,560 --> 00:57:12,440 Speaker 1: it's an interesting question, and if it's not love for 901 00:57:12,520 --> 00:57:14,320 Speaker 1: the world, then we'll have to get back on the 902 00:57:14,400 --> 00:57:18,840 Speaker 1: road and check it out. We hope that you enjoyed 903 00:57:19,720 --> 00:57:24,520 Speaker 1: this week's two part episode, folks. Obviously the nostalgia is 904 00:57:24,560 --> 00:57:27,800 Speaker 1: strong with us. We hope it's strong with you. This 905 00:57:28,280 --> 00:57:31,640 Speaker 1: story goes in so many directions. We want to thank 906 00:57:31,720 --> 00:57:36,000 Speaker 1: as always superproducer mister Max Williams for hurting the production 907 00:57:36,280 --> 00:57:39,800 Speaker 1: cats here. Who else should we think? Oh Giles's entertainment 908 00:57:39,920 --> 00:57:42,520 Speaker 1: cheese duh. I don't know, man, he gives me the creeps. 909 00:57:43,040 --> 00:57:46,480 Speaker 1: I kind of liked his youthful rock star rebranding to 910 00:57:46,600 --> 00:57:52,440 Speaker 1: be honest. Thanks to Mac Williams, of course, Zach doctor 911 00:57:52,600 --> 00:57:56,080 Speaker 1: Z what a guy and big big thanks to Eve's 912 00:57:56,120 --> 00:58:03,760 Speaker 1: Jeff Christopher Hasiodes, Casey, Pegram Casey and uh and reluctantly 913 00:58:04,200 --> 00:58:07,840 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland ak the Quister. You can actually see a 914 00:58:08,040 --> 00:58:12,080 Speaker 1: video of of of us in our other podcast iteration 915 00:58:12,160 --> 00:58:14,280 Speaker 1: Stuff They Don't want you to know, hanging out with 916 00:58:14,480 --> 00:58:18,240 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland in real life at a miniature golf course 917 00:58:18,360 --> 00:58:22,320 Speaker 1: historical miniature golf course in Austin, Texas called peter Pan Golf, 918 00:58:22,880 --> 00:58:26,440 Speaker 1: talking conspiracies and just joshing around on the links, the 919 00:58:26,560 --> 00:58:29,480 Speaker 1: mini the miniature links. Yeah. I don't think it's out yet, 920 00:58:29,520 --> 00:58:31,040 Speaker 1: but it will be soon. You can take a look 921 00:58:31,160 --> 00:58:34,600 Speaker 1: for that at our other shows social media stuff they 922 00:58:34,600 --> 00:58:37,920 Speaker 1: Don't want you to Conspiracy stuff show on Instagram. Keep 923 00:58:37,960 --> 00:58:39,960 Speaker 1: a lookout for that video. It's a fun one, yeah, 924 00:58:40,080 --> 00:58:43,960 Speaker 1: especially if you like nostalgia. Uh, I don't know. Man, 925 00:58:44,120 --> 00:58:48,000 Speaker 1: this has actually weirdly enough, it's made me kind of hungry. 926 00:58:48,480 --> 00:58:51,720 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, is this about lunchtime? It's close. I think 927 00:58:51,760 --> 00:58:54,360 Speaker 1: we can swing it. Yeah, let's mail the littles's orders 928 00:58:54,400 --> 00:59:05,480 Speaker 1: some middling pizza. We'll see you next time, folks. For 929 00:59:05,640 --> 00:59:09,240 Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 930 00:59:09,320 --> 00:59:11,440 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.