Pizza Time Theatre Games Division
- Founder: Pete Mirrione
The Pizza Time Theatre Games Division, originally known as Pete’s Woodworking, Inc. was an early manufacturer of stages and fixtures for Pizza Time Theatre which was merged into Pizza Time Theatre in April 1982 to become its main games distributor. The division would close in August of 1984 due to financial trouble with its parent company.
History
The original company was a small business ran out of Pete Mirrione’s garage selling cabinets and skee-ball machines. Pete would host a booth at a trade show sometime between 1977-1979 that Gene Landrum was also at. Gene would ask if Pete’s skee-ball machines could be rebranded with Chuck E. Cheese markings, as Gene noted the larger skee-ball manufacturers were unwilling to do. Pete would agree and Gene would place a “sizable” order of machines.[10]
The earliest noted thing the company worked on was the railings for the two Helen Henny (Lounge) stages from October to December of 1979, followed by making the Balcony Stage for the San Jose, CA (1371 Kooser Rd) in April of 1980. Pizza Time Theatre would continue collaborations with Pete’s Woodworking for various signage and fixtures.[1]
The company would be officially files as a California Stock Corporation on January 12th, 1981. It would be credited as a contributor to the A Star is Born (Event) in September of 1981.[2]
The company would later be purchased in April of 1982 by Pizza Time Theatre and incorperated into its Games Division at a new site in Hollister, CA (1802 Shelton Drive).[1] The original business would cease to be registered on February 11th, 1983.[8]
Contributions
Contributions made before the company became the Games Division.
- Chuck E. Cheese Roll
- The first Balcony stage for San Jose, CA (1371 Kooser Rd) in April of 1980.[1]
- Bars for Dolli Dimples (unclear which, noted after the Kooser stage was built.)[1]
- The railing for the two Helen Henny (Lounge).
- The railing for The King / King Kat (Lounge). [1]
- Jasper's General Store [1]
- Sundae Bars (noted specifically one at San Jose, CA (1371 Kooser Rd)) [1][6]
- Salad Bars [1]
- Cheese Crawl (likely later iterations, noted as “…after the original one caught fire.”) [1][4]
- “…most fixtures within the restaurant…” [1]
- Whac-A-Munch[10]
References
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/sanjosevalleyorchards/posts/7887943434666564/
- https://www.showbizpizza.com/info/documents/ptt/ptt_pizzatimes1-2.pdf
- https://www.facebook.com/pizzatimetheatre/photos/-a-great-shot-of-dolli-dimples-performing-in-the-caberet-at-the-brandon-fl-pizza/1069023349805221/
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/674161626107787/posts/2957463611110899/
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/sanjosevalleyorchards/posts/4515081871952754/
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/sanjosevalleyorchards/posts/3681926585268291/
- https://www.facebook.com/pizzatimetheatre/photos/first-cyberamic-balcony-stage-in-1980-at-the-koosher-ptt-featuring-foxy-colleent/190497697657795/?_rdr
- https://www.bizapedia.com/ca/petes-woodworking-inc.html
- https://sanbenito.com/letter-to-the-editor-many-thanks-to-chuck-e-cheese-crew/
- https://web.archive.org/web/20150705140821/http://www.atari.io/chuck-e-cheese-skee-ball-gene-landrum/
- https://showbizpizza.com/info/documents/ptt/ptt_gamesexaminer1-2.pdf
- https://archive.org/details/the-pizza-times-newsletters/1982%20The%20Pizza%20Times%202-2/
- https://showbizpizza.com/info/documents/ptt/ptt_gamesexaminer-sente.pdf