Concept Unification

Concept Unification was the process used by Showbiz Pizza Time, Inc. to replace the Rock-Afire Explosion with the Chuck E. Cheese characters. It lasted from 1989 until 1992 (some sources say 1993), and introduced Munch's Make Believe Band, which is still in use by the company in the present day.

History
In 1985 Showbiz Pizza acquired Pizza Time Theatre to save themselves from going bankrupt. When Showbiz had ownership of Pizza Time Theatre they approached Aaron Fetcher, Creative Engineering's founder, if his company would like to also maintain Pizza Time Theatre Shows Fetcher declined their asking's feeling that it was disingenuous of them to ask for maintaining their former competitors animatronics after Creative Engineering has proven that they have the superior show. This and the other things CEI and SPP continued to never see eye to eye on things caused Showbiz to question CEI's reliability. The CEI 1986 Liberty Tape Party was another possible reason but as much as we know about it very well could be false.

As early as 1987, Showbiz came up with concepts to replace the Rock-Afire explosion. One of them was installing a Rocker Stage in Showbiz Pizza's with a Rock-Afire, replacing it (Which actually happened at the White Settlement, TX, Citrus Heights, CA, & Milwaukee, WI (7401 Good Hope Rd) locations). Second was the idea of a brand new show that can easily be retrofitted over the Rock-Afire Explosion. The concepts ranged from many different types of animals and concepts, like one being about the jungle or about the circus. Between then and 1989, Showbiz now knew that they needed to use Chuck E. Cheese characters.

This got the final retrofit concept to materialize, the Concept Unification Prototype; although It wasn't to the liking Showbiz so the design was changed to what is seen as the standard Concept Unification show. The retrofit had a swift rollout, starting in November 1989 and finishing in Early 1993. As of January 2023 only 10 of these retrofits remain in operation in CEC stores.