1986 Chuck E. Cheese photos, never seen before!

I dug these out of an old photo album. Check them out, and get a glimpse into my childhood. There's a Rock-afire Explosion photo, as well.

https://www.the80sneverdied.com/home/1986-chuck-e-cheese-visit

I hadn't thought about the tunnel in years. Its quite a vague memory, but as a kid I went to a few birthday parties at the one in San Diego which had a similar type padded tunnel you could crawl though as well that went to a hidden room with strobes. I don't recall it being under the stage though (might have been).


that was my childhood too...

Yeah, pretty much.
I was looking at the photos and thinking to myself these could be pretty much any town in America.
 
I hadn't thought about the tunnel in years. Its quite a vague memory, but as a kid I went to a few birthday parties at the one in San Diego which had a similar type padded tunnel you could crawl though as well that went to a hidden room with strobes. I don't recall it being under the stage though (might have been).




Yeah, pretty much.
I was looking at the photos and thinking to myself these could be pretty much any town in America.

the chuck e cheese that I went to by my house got turned into a tower records then eventually /currently a rite aid :(. it was/is next to Andrew Jackson post office
 
I hadn't thought about the tunnel in years. Its quite a vague memory, but as a kid I went to a few birthday parties at the one in San Diego which had a similar type padded tunnel you could crawl though as well that went to a hidden room with strobes. I don't recall it being under the stage though (might have been).




Yeah, pretty much.
I was looking at the photos and thinking to myself these could be pretty much any town in America.

mine had a tunnel under the stage there was one light in the tunnel around the middle if i recall. they boarded that up sadly

I remember the arcade being upstairs and the first game being a full sized super hang on and a game called junkyard in the back (crane game)
going to try to get some photo's up
 
Although due to my illness I can't eat Pizza anymore, back when I could it truly was amazing and this was in the early 2000's. I have two elderly relatives (who were still very elderly back then) who would make the trip to Chuck E. Cheese alone often just for the pizza.

I remember as a very little kid my dad trying to explain that over casual conversation with one of the workers at MY local Chuck E. Cheese and all I can remember was how she failed to get the point of why, and why he was telling her that.

I don't think they allow adults in alone anymore due to child molestation/abduction, but it's a funny (harmless, obviously) glimpse into the past. Picture this very old couple at a table chowing away at the pizza with no kid in sight. It's like waiting on your grandkid there and stealing all the pizza. Must have been a funny sight no matter how you looked at it.
 
Last edited:
def got a few specific arcade memories of Chuck E Cheese in Fairfax, VA (closest one to me growing up):

Star War cockpit
Dragon's Lair (fuck you, DL, i died after 5 seconds and now i'm out TWO tokens)
Goonies (man, i need a Red Tent)
Jr Pacman

awesome post mah man
 
I dug these out of an old photo album. Check them out, and get a glimpse into my childhood. There's a Rock-afire Explosion photo, as well.

https://www.the80sneverdied.com/home/1986-chuck-e-cheese-visit

Awesome post!

Chuck E Cheese was in a town about 2hrs from us, we all knew about it but only ever talked the parents into taking us there once. It looked about like your pics show, so it must have been close to the same era.

Cool pics. Thank you
 
Ahh, memories of the urine, I mean ball pits !

JD
 
All that remains of the CEC in East Brunswick, NJ.

You can picture the logo in the sign with the rat's head/derby in the
top bubble.

CEC.jpg
 
Ive been to 4 different CEC back then and I remember at least 2 of them having the tunnels under the stage. One was already boarded up and the other one was eventually boarded up.

I remember the tunnels being small and claustrophobic but then again I was a tall kid. It was made of plywood with round holes cut in it as it zigzaged under the stage. Kids would always enter on the wrong end and it was hard to squeeze by each other. I would guess they were only 3' deep. Just deep enough that an adult reaching through a hole couldn't grab you. I agree, it was probably boarded up because of kids refusing to come out.
 
A woman on my street when I was growing up was some sort of corporate big wig for CeC. I remember she would give out tokens for Halloween. At some point, she asked my parents if I could appear in training videos for the company. I played the 8 year old son; they filmed them at the Kooser CeC in San Jose. I remember walking in with my "family", ordering pizza and then playing games. It was weird to be in CeC alone and all the games on, the band playing, etc...

I wonder if the video exists somewhere on the Internets.
 
I grew up in San Fernando valley California and Chuck E. Cheese trips were always for my birthday, the folks would take me and my sister and there was one big room that hand the Band and all these flags that would start waving back and fourth on the walls. I remember the ball pit and the tunnel , Star Wars cockpit was one of my favorites in the arcade.
Good times :)
 
I wonder if the video exists somewhere on the Internets.


Check klov HQ as that would have been part of your application package proving your multimedia excellence even before the existence of multimedia.
 
A woman on my street when I was growing up was some sort of corporate big wig for CeC. I remember she would give out tokens for Halloween. At some point, she asked my parents if I could appear in training videos for the company. I played the 8 year old son; they filmed them at the Kooser CeC in San Jose. I remember walking in with my "family", ordering pizza and then playing games. It was weird to be in CeC alone and all the games on, the band playing, etc...

I wonder if the video exists somewhere on the Internets.

Someone please find this hiding somewhere in a dark corner of the interwebs and post it here. :D
 
Back
Top Bottom