Mr. Chuck E. Cheese

History lesson for all.... I never got to go to Chuck E. Cheese as a kid. The folks thought it was crappy and always shot down my suggestion to go to the nice family eatery. Years go by and I would sometimes see a Chuck E. Cheese at the side of the highway or something, but never at the right time or anywhere close to where I lived. It was really upsetting.

So imagine my surprise when I saw a Chuck E. Cheese close to me... at long last a sore point from my childhood would be addressed, I was even hungry for pizza!! Amazing... the stars were aligning, this was really going to happen.

To get there was a long walk, but I was brave... I was also getting more and more hungry.... and the weather was starting to look bad, the wind was picking up and things were starting to look sketchy. Because of where the place was I decided not to change and drop off my computer bag, this was a bit of a bummer cause I REALLY wanted to go there wearing my Atari logo t-shirt... You see Nolan Bushnell, who started Atari, sold all his shares at some point and opened Chuck E. Cheese, I thought it would be a fitting tribute.

The good news is that I got there! I have to say I was a little surprised at the set up. I thought this was a restaurant that had games, it's actually an arcade and kids play land that has pizza... AND if you go there on your own as a man over the age of 12, you feel kind of weird.

So, I got over being totally out of place and looked around, not a bad selection of games actually, I was surprised in particular at these ones:
Metal Slug 6!! The Sega Firefighter game!! So cool.....











At this point I decided I needed some tokens... and I was still starving so I ordered some pizza too. As soon as I got my tokens......

...this happens. Black out, HUGE rain and lightening storm started up, little kids were screaming and it was dark in there. I later found out that there were many reports of multiple tornados, 1 person died, power lines were pulled from the ground and roofs were ripped off houses!! I just wanted my pizza...

Fortunately the worst of the storm was not right above Chuck E. Cheese but man... there was a lot of lightening and the rain came down in buckets. Once the power came back on all was good (other than 20 minutes of the fire alarm going off right after a huge and close lightening strike)

So, I ate my pizza, which was like a cross between Pizza Pizza and Pizza Hut, and played some games.... all in all a good time. Not sure if I'll be eager to go back soon, but it was a crazy experience.

Below are some more pics, the oddest of them was the Namco "Flamin' Finger" game. I was very confused by the choice to add a game with this name to a kids arcade.... =)