Pizza Time Theatre

Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre (Also known as just Pizza Time Theatre) was a pizza chain created by Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell in 1977, lasting up until 1984 where it filed for bankruptcy and was merged into the competing ShowBiz Pizza Place, where it would later be named just Chuck E. Cheese's.

Detailed History & Events

Unknown Time / In Dispute

• At some point within 1975 Nolan Bushnell of Atari would begin his ideas for making an Atari arcade, as to have greater vertical integration into the video game market. He planned the location to serve pizza as it was an easy food to produce that couldn't be screwed up as long as the ingredients were good.
• Sometime between Nolan settling on serving pizza and just before the November IAAPA convention, he would set the codename for his restaurant project to be "Coyote Pizza".
• Nolan would visit Pizza and Pipes and discover there was desire for entertainment alongside food, as seen by their organist playing throughout the day
• After this Nolan would make a trip to Disney Land and be inspired by the animatronics in the Tiki Room. Deeming this a simple task for his engineers, he would settle on the restaurant's entertainment to be animatronic shows.
• Sometime between the conclusion of IAPPA 1974 and the first construction ground breaking of the Atari Consumer Division Sunnyvale, CA Manufacturing Office, the "coyote" costume would arrive at Atari. Upon realizing the character was a rat, Nolan would decide to name the character "Rick Rat". The project's codename would thus now be "Rick Rat's Pizza".
• Atari opens the Restaurant Operating Division of the company to pursue the restaurant concept, Gene Landrum is appointed as General Manager of the division and President of the Atari Consumer Division.
• In early 1976 Atari would start its Consumer Division for development of the Atari VCS, moving its employees to the newly constructed Sunnyvale, CA Corporate Office and Sunnyvale, CA Manufacturing Office.
• Just before the November IAAPA show, it would be stated Nolan's Coyote Pizza idea would be close to being greenlit for development at Atari.
• Two previous Atari Game Centers open in the Oakridge Mall and Orange Mall.

1974

May

• On the 31st, the first Atari Family Game Center would open at the BayFair Center Mall (E. 14th St. at 155th Ave., San Leandro CA)

November

• Nolan attends the 56th Annual IAAPA Convention. At the event he would purchase a rat costume from a costuming company to be shipped to the Atari offices later. Nolan would mistakenly believe this costume to be of a coyote.

1975

April

• Atari would begin shopping itself to investors to raise capital for its planned future growth and projects.

1976

May

• In May, Gene Landrum of National Semiconductor would do a market study of home video games for the Consumer Division. This would be Gene's first interaction with Nolan Bushnell.

Late Spring

• Sometime in late Spring, Manny Gerard would meet with Nolan Bushnell to discuss the selling of Atari to Warner Communications. Nolan would bring up in the discussions his idea for a family entertainment center, using his rat costume he'd shown off around Atari as the central idea and mascot for the brand. Manny would not take interest in this concept, being more interested in the purchase for Atari's high tech productions.

August

• On the 2nd, a set of building plans for the first restaurant would be written. This would be the first known instance of the restaurant being called "The Big Cheese". The restaurant would be labeled as a "Pizza Cabaret".

September

• On the 7th Nolan Bushnell sells Atari to Warner Communications for $28,000,000. Nolan stays as head of the company, but signs a 5 year non-compete agreement. Warner also signs to invest $120,000,000 into Atari, which Nolan is permitted to use for his restaurant concept.

October

• On the 4th Warner Communications finishes the purchasing of all Atari stock.
• On the 7th the The Big Cheese Birthday Show Dialogue Recording Session would take place. The audio would be produced at Wally Heider Studio (245 Hyde St., San Francisco, CA, 94102). The script for the session was written by Robert “Bob” Allan Black under the direction of Atari, Gene Landrum, and Nolan Bushnell. The producer for the show would be Ed Bogus Productions (680 Beach St. Suite 495, San Francisco, CA 94109).

1977

February

• Sometime within the month an internal announcement at Atari would be made regarding the future San Jose, CA (370 S Winchester Blvd) store. It is unclear what form this announcement was made, but likely could have been a prior unseen issue of the Gospel of St. Pong. The announcement is described as being made by Chuck E. Cheese himself, stating to "hang on a bit longer until the new restaurant is opened", citing delays with the city of San Jose- likely related to permits.

Mid-Late 1977

• Sometime after the opening of the first store while Nolan Bushnell was on a trip, Gene Landrum would put up a sign stating nobody under 18 was permitted in without a parent. This was due to sentiments around the time that arcade and pinball hangouts would attract drug users and "bad people", which Gene wanted the location to be perceived as a restaurant. Once Nolan had came back to California, he ordered Gene to take down the sign for being a silly rule, which Gene declined. Nolan would later come back a week later realizing it was a good idea, but forced the sign to be changed to anyone under 14.