ShowBiz Pizza Place or Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre?

[Paul]

Okay folks, it's time to settle it once and for all. Which was the better pizza place with video games and animatronics in the 1980's?

ShowBiz PIzza Place?



Or Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre?



Or did you like a different place when you were growing up?

I went to Chuck E. Cheese's more, but The Rock-Afire Explosion at ShowBiz was clearly a much better animatronic show and the music was a lot better so I voted for ShowBiz.

[James Fabiano]

And for you Jerseyites, how about Razz-Ma-Tazz?

[Citizen Snips Has Left]

Around my way, we had Celebration Station which apparently still exists in a few places without the moose and company...and Circus Town, which seems to have been exclusive to my area.

[Milkman Norm]

Our closest bad pizza arcade place as a Showbiz.

[Deleted]

Celebration Station for those of us in NW Indiana.

[Deleted]

First experience going to a Chuck E. Cheese was when I was 5. Dressed up as the Black Ranger and I remember throwing up at the place.

Also the last experience.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

It's impressive how Chuck finally evolved into a cute mouse after years of looking like a giant rat alien mutant.

My Showbiz Pizza eventually became a Chuck E Cheese location. But the skating rink right next to it was the cooler place with better music, so kids in St. Louis would "graduate" from Chuck to The Palace.

[Duke Cameron]

We had Discovery Zone.

[Malcolm]

I remember a place called Peter Piper's Pizza here in Vegas. It was gone for a while but recently came back. Never been there, though.

[Mozenrath]

[brody]

Mar 24, 2018 17:00:31 GMT -5 Clash, Never a Meter Maid said:

It's impressive how Chuck finally evolved into a cute mouse after years of looking like a giant rat alien mutant.

My Showbiz Pizza eventually became a Chuck E Cheese location. But the staking rink right next to it was the cooler place with better music, so kids in St. Louis would "graduate" from Chuck to The Palace.

Same thing in Green Bay. I assumed they were re-branded. 

I only went to Showbiz once as a kid. My Dad wasn't big on family fun in any regard.  

[turkeysandwich]

Showbiz, it was both my favorite place in the world as an 80s kid and yet it also terrified me. I used to have the character's dolls and would "play" Showbiz at home, but being in the theater with robots was scary to a 5 Year old. I did have my birthday at Showbiz when I was 8, and they let us in before they opened the doors, and I got to have the whole arcade to myself, it was awesome.

[Paul]

Mar 25, 2018 1:52:55 GMT -5 brody said:

Mar 24, 2018 17:00:31 GMT -5 Clash, Never a Meter Maid said:

It's impressive how Chuck finally evolved into a cute mouse after years of looking like a giant rat alien mutant.

My Showbiz Pizza eventually became a Chuck E Cheese location. But the staking rink right next to it was the cooler place with better music, so kids in St. Louis would "graduate" from Chuck to The Palace.

Same thing in Green Bay. I assumed they were re-branded. 

I only went to Showbiz once as a kid. My Dad wasn't big on family fun in any regard.  
'

Yup, all the ShowBiz locations were re-branded Chuck E. Cheese.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

Mar 24, 2018 17:49:56 GMT -5 Duke Cameron said:

We had Discovery Zone.

DZ was my jam when I was little. Icees, ball pits, slides...you were good for hours.

[ERON]

My family used to go to both. I can't remember which one it was, but one time I noticed one of the animatronic characters still moving slowly for a few seconds after it was supposed to have stopped, and it creeped me the hell out.

[Deleted]

Somewhat off topic, I was born in 1999, but for some odd reason I was so obsessed with both the old school Chuck E. Cheese’s and ShowBiz Pizza. I genuinely don’t remember why.

[Lupin the Third]

Mar 25, 2018 10:29:06 GMT -5 ERON said:

My family used to go to both. I can't remember which one it was, but one time I noticed one of the animatronic characters still moving slowly for a few seconds after it was supposed to have stopped, and it creeped me the hell out.

You sure that wasn't Freddy Fazbear's?

[abjordans]

We had a place that was all the ShowBiz characters, but for some reason it was called Billy Bob’s Wonderland. There used to be a couple of them, and one is still operating I am pretty sure.

[Deleted]

Mar 25, 2018 12:07:03 GMT -5 @jessem52 said:

Somewhat off topic, I was born in 1999, but for some odd reason I was so obsessed with both the old school Chuck E. Cheese’s and ShowBiz Pizza. I genuinely don’t remember why.

I think that's due to every interpretation of these types of places with bad animatronics & terrible pizza stem from people growing up in the 70s & 80s who would go on to influence pop culture. And this isn't Five Nights; I think The Simpsons did one of the first parodies of these back in 1992.

Like, it doesn't matter if they actually got better (which I doubt), because there was this time period that existed which makes them the more fascinating.

[The Unconquered Sun]

The place I had growing up was Major Magic’s. And back then, greatest arcade ever!
The pizza good but never liked the show.