Chuck E. Cheese (Cyberamic)
New York Times Promotional Photo (May 2024)<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20240511095235/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/11/business/chuck-e-cheese-animatronic-band.html</ref>
Manufacturer: Pizza Time Theatre, SPT Inc., Kinetix Group Inc., Animation World
History
Production
The animatronics were first developed by PTT Inc. as a replacement for the Original Fantasy Forest Bots, due to the FF bots being hand made & not cost effective.Pizza Time Theatre
in the Late 1980's.]] In 1979, The first Cyberamic Chuck E. Cheese was installed at the Pizza Time Theatre in Concord, CA (1975 Diamond Blvd) on a Cyberamics Portrait Stage, with several more bots following. Early Chuck Cyberamics, such as the one at Florin Mall, had cosmetics more reminiscent of prototype iterations of the character seen at Winchester and Kooser. In 1979, Fantasy Forest would produce a Cyberamic Chuck Costume. In early to mid 1980, due to Nolan Bushnell's commitment to The Great American Smoke-Out, all existing & future Cyberamic Chuck bots would have their Cigars removed. In May 1980, A Cyberamic Chuck bot was placed on the Balcony Stage of the Pizza Time Theatre on San Jose, CA (1371 Kooser Rd)(1). In 1983, a King-styled Cyberamic Chuck E. Cheese, Known as the Half-A-Chuck bot, was built as a prototype. It was later given to the Foothill College Electronics Museum in San Jose, California. In November of that same year, PTT would cease it's manufacturing of bots and operate its Cyberamics division as a maintenance facility only. At an unknown time Pre-Merger, A PTT location replaced their Chuck costume's head with a Cyber Chuck head.Chuck E. Cheese's
In 1987, The first public version of the full body Chuck bot was used for the Chuck E.'s House stage from the Pizza Time Theater at Arlington, TX (2216 S Fielder Rd). The bot was Arlington's Chuck bot with newly installed legs. Showbiz Pizza Time would continue to install legs to existing bots along with creating new parts to bots like a Tux outfit. It is important to note that Showbiz Pizza Time did not add any movements to Cyberamics when they were given legs for the newer stages. The Last Bot to be put on a Pizza Time Players stage was at the CEC on Warwick, RI (1245 Bald Hill Rd) in Late 1990. In 1991, Showbiz Pizza Time Inc. would commission Kinetix Group Inc. to develop new Cyberamics for their stores. In 1992, 2-Stages & 1-Stages would be installed at several new & old CEC stores, this included installing more legs for existing Chuck bots & the production of new bots by Kinetix Group. In 1993, Kinetix Group Inc. would stop production of new bots & SPT would instead hire Animation World for future bots. In 1997, Animation World would stop production of new bots due to the creation of the Studio C Alpha stage type. Showbiz would continue to produce new cosmetics & parts for existing stores. In 2002, the Cool Chuck outfit was released to replace the tuxedoes. In 2008, the Avenger outfit for animatronics was released. Sometime around 2013/2014, CEC Entertainment Inc. would develop the last change to Cyber Chucks cosmetics, being a new Rockstar outfit for Cyber Chucks. In 2017, with the new 2.0 Remodel, several Cyber Chucks would be removed from locations.Design
Base
The Cyberamic Chuck's have grey fur with a pink Mussel. They have Bucked Teeth, a black nose, & blue and yellow eyes. Early bots had a larger smile & more outward dimples. Later bots changed this for less outward dimples and changed the type of fabric used on the snouts and jaws from terry cloth to a t-shirt like material. Early bots had cigars, though in 1980, they were removed.Suit
Most of the Cyberamic Chuck's suits were just the suit design of the mascot Chuck E. Cheese, though, a Bandstand outfit would be created in the 1980's for the Bandstand I & II Showtapes.Movements
The bot features 8 movements in total.Movement | Notes |
---|---|
Mouth | |
Head Up | |
Head Turn Right + Left Arm Twist | Bots later removed the left arm twist being connected to the head turn. |
Head Turn Left | |
Eye Turn Right | |
Eye Turn Left | |
Eyelids | |
Right Arm Up | |
Left Arm Twist | Added later in the 1990's. |
Stages Used In
Name | First Installed | Last Removed | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Cyberamics Portrait / Shelf Stage | 1979, Concord, CA (1975 Diamond Blvd) | 2001, Lake Forest, CA (24416 Muirlands Blvd) | Also installed in the Winchester PTT Show In 1981. |
Cyberamics Balcony Stage | 1980, San Jose, CA (1371 Kooser Rd) | 1993, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (9271 34th Ave) | |
Chuck E.'s House | 1987, Arlington, TX (2216 S Fielder Rd) | 2022, Rockford, IL (3600 E State St) | Only Showbiz Stage to use the Cyberamic Chuck bots. First Stage to use a Legged Chuck Bot. |
Chuck E.'s House Facade | 1989, Anchorage, AK (308 E Northern Lights Blvd) | 2003, Tacoma, WA (4911 Tacoma Mall Blvd) | Last Half bodied Chuck Cyber |
Cyberamics Road Stage | 1990, Jonesboro, GA (335 Upper Riverdale Rd) | Still Used | |
2-Stage | 1992, White Settlement, TX (7750 Scott St) | Still Used | |
1-Stage | 1992, Waldorf, MD (2928 Festival Way) | Still Used | |
Cyberamic 3-Stage | 2000, Lynnwood, WA (3717 196th St Suite 100) | 2023, Lynnwood, WA (3717 196th St Suite 100) | Installed over a 3-Stage Rolfe/Chuck Bot. |