Pizza Time Theatre

Logo (1979)

Release:May 17, 1977 - May 31, 1985

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 on May 17, 1977, lasting up until it filed for bankruptcy on March 28, 1984 and was merged into the competing ShowBiz Pizza Place on May 31, 1985, where it would later be named just Chuck E. Cheese's.

Detailed History & Events

1966

• Nolan Bushnell, sophomore at the University of Utah going for an electrical engineering degree, is employed at the Lagoon amusement park sometime in 1966. With him stationed at various game booths, his job allows him to earn commission if he exceeds the quota of guests playing.^[28]

1967

• In 1967 Nolan is promoted to a manager at the Lagoon, now handling the sales of the park’s arcade. He would maximize the section’s profit through rearrangement and adjustment of the cabinet settings. He would begin taking economics and accounting courses to improve his work.^[9]

1969

• In 1969 Nolan would be hired by Ampex Corp as an Associate Engineer of the Videofile Information Systems Division. He would move from Utah to Redwood City, CA.^[4]

1970-1971

• Nolan would begin dreaming of owning an establishment featuring games and food.^[29] He would plan for the entertainment center to serve pizza as it was an easy food to produce that couldn’t be screwed up as long as the ingredients were good.^[1]
• Nolan would visit the Redwood City Pizza and Pipes and discover there was desire for entertainment alongside food, as seen by their organist playing throughout the day.^(1)(30)
• He would make a trip to Disney Land and would be inspired by the animatronics of the Enchanted Tiki Room. He would settle on the restaurant’s entertainment to be animatronic shows. Nolan would plan to build these computerized characters in his garage- and have the business franchised out to various locations.^(6)(1)(8)

1974

Early 74

• At some point within late ‘73 to early ‘74, Nolan would begin his ideas for making an Atari arcade, as to have greater vertical integration into the video game market.^[31]

April

• In April, Lloyd Warman would become Vice President of Operations, and set on creating Atari Family Game Center. Sometime after this two centers would open in the Oakridge Mall San Jose, CA (925 Blossom Hill Rd)|(925 Blossom Hill Rd) and Orange Mall Orange, CA (1500 East Village Way)|(1500 East Village Way).^(32)(1)(33)

May

• On the 31st, the third Atari Family Game Center would open at the BayFair Center Mall San Leandro, CA (E. 14th St. at 155th Ave.)|(E. 14th St. at 155th Ave.)^[2]

Mid-Late 1974

• Sometime before the November 1974 IAAPA convention, he would set the codename for his arcade restaurant project to be ‘Coyote Pizza’.⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾

November

• 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.^[1]
• Nolan attends the 56th Annual IAAPA Convention. At the event he would purchase a Rick Rat Walkaround from a costuming company to be shipped to the Atari offices later. Nolan would believe this costume to be of a coyote.^(34)(3) It is unconfirmed if Nolan had seen a different costume to the one he was eventually shipped, as other variants of the costume didn’t have the rat tail or buck teeth- also being referred to by their owners as a coyote.^[4]

Winter

• Sometime after IAAPA ‘74, whether in December or early ‘75, the Rick Rat Walkaround would arrive at Atari. Upon realizing the character was a rat, Nolan would decide to name the character ‘Rick Rat’.^[5] The project’s codename would thus now be ‘Rick Rat’s Pizza’.^[1]

1975

April

• Atari would begin shopping itself to investors to raise capital for its planned future growth and projects.^[6]

Spring

• Atari would abandon the Atari Family Game Center concept and Lloyd Warman would leave the company.^[4]

1976

January

• In January, Atari would start its Consumer Division for development of the Atari VCS, moving its employees to the newly constructed Sunnyvale, CA (155 Moffett Park Drive) and Sunnyvale, CA (1195 Borregas Avenue).^[7][4]

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.^[8]
• Sometime in May before Gene Landrum’s hiring, 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.^[9]
• On May 26th, Gene Landrum would join Atari as assistant to the chairman of the board, still also employed at National Semiconductor.^[35]
• Around this time, Gene was told to set up a business plan. Gene says “For four months I hung at Disney, because I figured I had to do a- Disney Thing…” “…I sat in the Bear Country Jamboree- with a bunch of kids and grandparents- and parents…”. Gene is also told by bushnell the issues with laws surrounding deployment of arcade machines, claiming “…we can’t put them into more than two or four in any place in the United States…”. Gene also begins taking his daughter around for research, and notices that while restaurants are for adults and places like McDonalds are for kids, there is a void in the market for places to go on a Friday night with 3 generations of family that’s an acceptible venue. ^[45]

June

• On June 19th, Atari would announce moving its corporate headquarters to the same complex as the Atari Consumer Division offices in Sunnyvale, CA (155 Moffett Park Drive) and Sunnyvale, CA (1195 Borregas Avenue), with the move planned to be done by September.
• Around the week of the move announcement, the first public image of the Rick Rat Walkaround would be seen in a promotional photo for the event. This would be the first known instance of the character being called ‘Big Cheese’, and it was labeled as an Atari mascot.^[10]

Summer

• Sometime in Summer, the first planned document of the animatronic entertainment would be written. The animatronics would consist of four characters, Big Cheese as the good guy & star- described as a large mouse and not a rat, a ‘Small Cat’ noted as the antagonist of the group, a ‘Smaller Bulldog’ described as a ‘real loser’ and a ‘bad bad guy’, and a ‘Large Bird’ noted as an alter ego and a neutral-good party. The characters would have a ‘Mood Box’ for guests to pick various shows from with a token, and it is said showtapes would be changed out quarterly. When characters wouldn’t be performing, a projected TV screen would display ‘Mood Video Art’ related to the previous selection and various related instrumental music would play.^[36]
• At some point after this, plans for the constructed arrangement of animation hardware would note 5 tape decks in the parts list, possibly meaning plans changed to have 10 skits available.^[7]
• After the “4 months” of Gene Landrum creating his business plan, he submits it to the board of directors at Atari. He notes as saying “Build a prototype, if it works- roll it”. Gene notes as Nolan being “blown away” and sets to fund the prototype at a million dollars with Gene leading it. Gene would respond back along the lines of “I can’t even spell restaurant”, “I’ve never turned on a stove”, and “I wouldn’t give me the money”. Nolan would remark that he trusted Gene to pull it off. ^[45]
• At one point Nolan suggests to Gene the idea of the store’s food being cheeseburgers and fries. Gene notes pizza is good as a “sharing food” between family.^[45]

Mid-Late 76 (or 77-78)

• (Dated as “Once the decision was made to open pizza parlors…”) Nolan would survey over 500 people to learn their taste in pizza. He would use the results to determine he needed to offer “food only made with prime ingredients” and “the best cheese money can buy”.^[43] Possibly the same survey is instead described Gene Landrum running a survey spending “…six months sampling every pizza available and suffered incredible indigestion before concluding:” “…When you’re having a good time, any pizza tastes best” “The secret is fun- not pizza, per se.“^[44]
• (Dated “Another market survey” said after the first is described) Another vaguely described survey stated that “Parents decide when to eat out but the kids decide where- and we win, hands down.“^[44]

August

• On the 2nd, a set of building plans for the first restaurant would be written. The restaurant would be labeled as ‘The Big Cheese’, and as a ‘Pizza Cabaret’.^[11]
• Sometime in August, Gene Landrum would quit his job at National Semiconductor to work fully at Atari.^[3] 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.^(12)(2) By this point Gene begins searching for a 6,000 square foot building to house the first location.^[39]

Late 1976 (or early 1977)

• Gene goes to the city of San Jose with a Big Cheese mascot. The mascot kisses the hand of the mayor, and hands out popsicles and lollipops to the city council members.^[45]
• Gene called the CEO of Round Table Pizza for guidance on running the upcoming chain. He would then meet with the CEO and explain the plans for the restaurant, to which the CEO was baffled and couldn’t understand Gene’s plans for putting fantasy characters in his restaurant and to have them walking around. Gene was then directed to the CFO, which laid out Round Table Pizza’s costs for food, labor, and more- “…he gave me every number I ever wanted…".^[45]

September

• On the 7th Nolan Bushnell sells Atari to Warner Communications for $28,000,000.^[14] 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.^(15)(0)

October

• On the 4th Warner Communications finishes the purchasing of all Atari stock.^[16]
• On the 7th The Big Cheese Birthday Show Dialogue Recording Session would take place, later turning into the Pizza Time Theatre Showtape. 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). This would also be the first mention of the name ‘Crusty’ for the cat character.

December

• Sometime in December, Atari would settle for the 5000sqft former bank building at San Jose, CA (370 S Winchester Blvd) as their first location, after not being able to find a suitable 6000sqft building.^[17]
• On December 22, the first known instance of the name ‘Pizza Time Theatre’ is used.^[17] The first remodeling plans for the building are written. Gene Landrum notes he never hired an architect as they “know too much” and will do things the safe way. Gene would draw all the floorplans himself. ^[45]

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.^[18] The announcement is described as being made by the Big 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.^[19]

March

• Sometime “3 or 4 weeks before opening” lawyers would report that “The Big Cheese” was trademarked by Marriott Hotels. After a few beers Gene and Nolan would brainstorm names, and after a discussion about Disney being a competitor, and realizing Mickey’s name was said like “Mick-E-Mouse”, they came up with “Chuck E. Cheese” as the new name. “The Big C.” would become his nickname.^[45]
• On the 7th, the last permit is filed under the original owners of the Winchester location. ^[41]
• On the 17th, a filing for a permit at the Winchester location is done by ‘Atari (Chuckies Cheese)’, the only permit specifically under Atari. ^[42]

April

• In April, ‘The Gospel of St. Pong Revisited - Vol 4, April’ newsletter would release to Atari employees, noting several pre-opening events ^[38]
• On the 15th, the first permit at the Winchester location done by Pizza Time Theater is filed. ^[40]

Early 1977

• Gene Landrum would hire a “restaurant guy with a master’s degree in biology” as the fist manager of the San Jose, CA (370 S Winchester Blvd) store.^[45]

May

• On the 3rd, the Atari Coin-Op Division would attend the first Grand Opening Review at Winchester from 5:00pm to 8:30pm.^[38]
• On the 4th, the Atari Corporate Building & Pinball Division would attend the second pre-opening from 5:30pm to 8:30pm.^[38]
• On the 5th, the Atari Consumer Division would attend the third pre-opening from 5:30pm to 8:30pm.^[38]
• On the 16th, the grand opening of San Jose, CA (370 S Winchester Blvd) would happen, which brought the press, influential figures, and the Mayor of San Jose- Janet Gray Hayes to the location. The copyright for Jasper T. Jowls would also be filed.^[20] The dated first use of the Pizza Time Theatre trademark would also be marked.^[37]
• On the 17th, the first public opening of San Jose, CA (370 S Winchester Blvd) would take place.

Mid-Late 1977

• Sometime after the opening of the first store while Nolan Bushnell was on a trip to Europe, Gene Landrum would put up a sign stating nobody under (claimed either as 16 or 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 (claimed as either a week or 2 weeks) later realizing it was a good idea and that Gene was a genious, but forced the sign to be changed to anyone under 14.^[21][45]
• Gene Landrum noted as meeting with a Warner executive that had a Harvard MBA at the location, and on the topic of the walkaround he mentioned it cost $5,000 for Fantasy Forest to produce, to which the executive exclaims Gene is nuts and that isn’t economically viable. ^[45]
• Before the first manager’s firing, Gene Landrum would arrive one day and ask a customer from Menlo Park what they thought of the location. The customer would note the games were great and his daughter loved it, but that the menus noted the Winchester Chuck Walkaround would come out every 20 minutes to greet guests- and they had already been there an hour and a half, and his daughter wanted to shake Chuck’s hand. Gene would confront the manager and threaten him to go put on the costume himself, to which he “…almost fainted and threw up on me…”. The manager would state “…two kids (employees) didn’t show up tonight, do you want to get the pizza out or that stupid costume?”. Gene would say the customer “…passed 60 pizza stores to get here. He didn’t drive 40 miles for your pizza.”

June

• On June 2nd the floor plans for the second location, San Jose, CA (1371 Kooser Rd), would be drawn be Gene Landrum. The store would be called ‘Pizza Time Theatre II’ and would feature the Kooser Dolli Dimples (Animatronic) alongside an additional lounge for dining- away from the main show.^[22]

July

• The first manager of the San Jose, CA (370 S Winchester Blvd) location would be fired. Gene Landrum would note the manager as thinking PTT was in “the pizza business” and not family entertainment.^[45]

October

• In October, the first dated use of the Pizza Time Theatre trademark ‘in commerce’ would be marked.^[5]

1978

February

• On the 17th, the copyright for Foxy Colleen would be filed.^[23]

October

• On the 13th, the copyright for Foxy Colleen would be filed.^[24]

November

• On the 17th, 13 different copyright filings would be submitted. These would be ‘Chuck E. Cheese’s theme’, ‘How will I know?’, ‘Roots in the country’, ‘Endlessly awake, part 1’, ‘Chuck E. Cheese (token)’, ‘Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre (long sign)’, ‘Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre (regular sign)’, ‘Chuck E. Cheese (in frame)’, ‘Chuck E. Cheese (standing)’, ‘Crusty the cat (three full views)’, ‘Crusty the cat (two head views)’, ‘Billy Banjo Boggs’, ‘Pasqually’, ‘Singing magpies’.^[25]
• On the 29th, the copyright for ‘Mister Munch’ and The Mopsy Sisters would be filed.^(26)(27)

1979

November

• On the 19th, the application for the Pizza Time Theatre trademark would be filed.^[5]

1982

August

• On the 3rd, the Pizza Time Theatre trademark would be registered in the US.^[5]