Chuck-E-Cheese

Today I took the whole family out for a big Friday night treat - Chuck-E-Cheeses! When I was a kid we used to go to C-E-C all the time. They had all kinds of games to play - they even had a robot band who would play "Beat-It" on request. God I loved Beat It!

I probably haven't been there in 20 years and this was Hunter's first trip of his lifetime. I made many interesting observations tonight. I will attempt to illustrate:

When we were walking in we looked through the windows and saw millions of little kids running around. Jennifer gets nervous with lots of kids because they can play rough and hurt or knock Hunter over since he is just a toddler.

Once inside, we went straight for the toddler section. Thre were a few things for him to play with and everything requires tokens which you buy for a quarter each. While he was playing with a few things, I noticed one of the employees (a young goon highschooler) feeding the basketball game and firing away about 100 shots per minute. This might not seem funny, but I imagine he was getting paid to play hoops. Later in the night I saw the same goon delivering pizzas to tables.

Next we decided to order some pizza. One pizza is $20. I can get a Jet's pizza for $8 and it is twice as good, so immediately I could tell this place makes all of their money on food. The games are just a way to get the kids in the door, and the poor parents have no choice at that point. So I ordered a pizza for $20 and the cashier looked at me like I was retarded. "that's all your gonna order?" she says. Yes. "really, that's it?" So I said "what would you like me to order." She tried to talk me into buying a package with tokens, which was a "way better deal" It was a deal for $24 with a pop and $3 worth of tokens. I told her I have a 1-year old and I already bought some tokens and don't need anymore. At this point all I can think about is Officer Farva at Dippis Burger. Would you like to Dippis-Size your meal? It's just a quarter, and look how much more you get! I needed a friend behind me to tell her, "hey, he doesn't want it!"

A buddy told me their pizza tasted like cardboard, so at first I was angry they were charging $20 for cardboard. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the pizza. The pepperoni was like Pizza Hut's, you know, the really crispy kind. Hunter even liked the pizza....

When you order the food, they give you a number to put on your table. We were #19. Then when your food is ready, some goon walks around the joint looking for your number. You know the drill. However, this place is huge. And with all the games everywhere, you can't easily see other tables even if they are close-by. The result is several goons trying to deliver pizza's and never being able to find the right table. Fortunately for us we were close to the kitchen but I observed this time after time. Why don't they just give you a buzzer like at Applebees?

Finally, Jen and I played Skee-ball. This game is sweet. I set the all-time record and Jen did well also. We won 60 tickets in no time. We used the tickets to buy Hunter the spider-ring he was pointing at. But then we realized it was a choke hazard, so we switched to a plastic comb instead. You should see all the ridiculous prizes they have. All junk. If I were in charge, I would figure out a way to have good prizes, to lure in the kids more often and get my hooks into the parents for Chuck-E-Cheese food combos which include tokens......