Chuck E. Cheese (character)
Charles Entertainment "Chuck E." Cheese[1] is the anthropomorphic rat mascot of the Chuck E. Cheese chain of family entertainment centers.[2][3][4][5] In 2012, the rat mascot was rebranded into a mouse.[6]
Pizza Time Theatre era
The character was first created as the mascot for a restaurant made by Nolan Bushnell (founder of Atari) in 1977.[7] Bushnell went to the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) conference in Orlando and saw walk-around character costumes being sold. In them, Bushnell found one that looked like a coyote, so he bought it for his planned Coyote Pizza restaurant. When the costume arrived at Atari, the costume was actually a rat, with a long pink rat tail. Bushnell decided to change the restaurant's name to Rick Rat's Pizza. However, Bushnell's planning group thought that a rat for the name of a restaurant would not be appropriate. Finally, Bushnell's group decided on the name Chuck E. Cheese for the mascot and changed the restaurant's name to Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre.[8][9] The first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre opened in San Jose, California, in the same year Chuck E. Cheese was made, 1977.
Chuck E. Cheese's era: 1995-present
In 1995, the mascot was given a more child-friendly makeover, with wider cheeks, a less pointy, shorter snout, longer eyes and smaller ears. This one was added to the restaurants in 2001.
In July 2012, the mascot was changed into a much smaller kind of the character, who played electric guitar. Voice actor Duncan Brannan, who for 19 years had made Chuck E. Cheese a wise-cracking mouse from New Jersey, was replaced with Jaret Reddick, the frontman and guitarist for the pop punk band Bowling for Soup.[6]
Chuck E. Cheese (character) Media
Chuck E Cheese Walkaround Character
Animatronic figure of Chuck E. Cheese in operation at the Laguna Hills, California Chuck E. Cheese location, September 14, 2017
References
- ↑ Bouchard, Jean-Luc. You'll Never Guess What The "E" In Chuck E. Cheese Stands For. Buzzfeed (2015-10-15). Retrieved 2017-11-28.
- ↑ Mace, Scott (December 21, 1981). "Rat dishes up pizza, computerized entertainment". Infoworld: 8. https://books.google.com/books?id=ej0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA8.
- ↑ Sheff, David. Game Over: How Nintendo Conquered the World (1999)GamePress. p. 115. ISBN 9780966961706.
- ↑ Taub, Stephen (November 30, 1983). "A Noisy Decline". Financial World 152: 40–43. https://archive.org/details/sim_financial-world_1983-11-30_152_21/page/40. "The star of the show is a feisty-looking rat named Chuck E. Cheese, who Bushnell hopes will become as big a celebrity as Mickey Mouse.".
- ↑ Kent, Steven L.. The First Quarter: A 25-Year History of Video Games (2000)BWD Press. p. 97. ISBN 9780970475503.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Candice Choi (July 3, 2012). Chuck E. Cheese being replaced with hipper image. https://news.yahoo.com/chuck-e-cheese-being-replaced-hipper-image-165852270--finance.html. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
- ↑ Chuck E. Cheese - Chuck E. Cheese's Characters. Retrieved 2019-09-07.
- ↑ Madrigal, Alexis C.. Chuck E. Cheese's, Silicon Valley Startup: The Origins of the Best Pizza Chain Ever (in en-US). The Atlantic (2013-07-17). Retrieved 2019-12-15.
- ↑ Evolution of Chuck E Cheese! | Chuck E Cheese Character History (in en). Retrieved 2019-12-15.
