Winchester Chuck E. Cheese V1 (Animatronic)

Winchester Chuck E. Cheese (V1) was an animatronic created by Harold Goldbrandsen of Fantasy Forest in 1977 for the Pizza Time Theatre on San Jose, CA (370 S Winchester Blvd) as an animatronic version of Chuck E. Cheese. The bot was controlled & programmed through the Winchester Control System & Winchester Hardware Setup.

The bot was used until Summer 1978, when the bot replaced with Winchester Chuck E. Cheese V2 (Animatronic). The bot was sent to The Pizza Time Theatre Sunnyvale, CA Corporate Office, where it remained until 1984.

History

Prototype Bot / Proof Of Concept Bot

Before the V1 bot was made, Harold Goldbrandsen made a Proof of Concept animatronic. The bot was based mostly around the Ricky Rat Walkaround. The bot was very different to the V1 bot, having a pinker mussel, a pink belly, no suit/vest, no hat, different eyes, & different ears.

Finalized Bot

San Jose, California (370 South, Winchester Boulevard)

The animatronic was finalized by May 1977 & placed in the store. The animatronic was located in the dining area on the right main entrance wall corner (Left of Crusty & Right of Jasper). The Bot was programmed to the Pizza Time Theatre Showtape. The bot could be seen in several promotional pictures of the store from May 17th 1977 to August 1977. The bot was later programmed to the Helen Henny Showtape. The bot's last Showtape to be programmed to was the Madame Oink I Showtape in February 1978.

Replacment & V2 Bot

In Summer 1978, A second Chuck bot was created to replace the former. The V2 Bot had more movements & was higher quality.

Sunnyvale, California (PTT Corporate Office)

In Summer 1978, after the V2 Bot was installed, the V1 bot was sent to the Corporate Office in Sunnyvale, CA. The bot was put in a picture display area at an Unknown location. The bot was given a microphone as seen in the color photo & Sunnyvale Display photo. The bot would remain at Sunnyvale for around 6 six years & would be removed in 1984.

Current Whereabouts

Nothing has been seen of the animatronic after its last seen appearance at the Sunnyvale, CA office. It is suspected the bot was destroyed during the corporate move to the Showbiz Pizza Time Corporate Office on Irving, TX in 1984, though since there is no confirmed reason for the bot's disappearance, it is unclear if the bot currently still exists in private hands or not.

Design

Base

The bot had a tan latex mask, & a tan ear mold. The bot had a larger white buck tooth piece made of either latex or another material. The bot had a black latex nose placed on the snout of the mussel. The bot had a pink "tongue" in its mouth.

The bot had 2 white eyes with Black pupils on them. The bot sported light gray fur around his face, ears, & arms. The bot's right hand had darker fur. The bot had grayish eyelids with small black eyelashes.

Suit

The bot had a yellow Undershirt, a Blue, Red, & Yellow Vest, a pink bow-tie, & a red derby hat with a yellow piece of fabric on it.

Microphone

From Summer 1978 to Early 1983 at Sunnyvale, the bot was given a gray & black microphone with a cord on it. this was most likely to make it consistent with the other bots.

Movements

Due to the lack of internal pictures or videos of it moving, it is very uncertain what movements the bot had access to. Only what's been confirmed by the creator has been stated. Despite the eyes being in different directions in multiple pics, this is likely the use of eyes that moved on a nylon-string, that swivelled left to right. Due to the adjacent photos available, there is no detection of the head being able to turn left or right in any sort of way. However, it seems that the bot had access to an eyelid raise. Another thing to clarify is when the bot was moved to Sunnyvale, CA, the ears were tilted down, so it's safe to assume that the ears could wiggle or tilt in a way.