Wink

Wink is an animatronic figure created by Diversified Designs⁽¹⁾ for Showbiz Pizza and Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza locations from 1990 to 1998 as a part of Concept Unification, which turned the Rock-Afire Explosion into the Chuck E. Cheese characters. The Wink is an emblem of Chuck E. colored gold and winks at the end of segments or songs. It is on the valence of center stage. The Wink mechanism used the airline from Antioch from the Rock-afire Explosion⁽²⁾ and was eventually incorporated into the design of multiple Cyberamic stages.⁽³⁾

History

The Wink debuted with the Concept Unification retrofit in 1990.⁽⁴⁾ The ribbons next to the Chuck E. head originally read 'In Pizza We Trust' but complaints were given about the phrase regarding religion and the actual phrase 'In God We Trust' so existing winks with this phrase were retrofitted just to have red and white ribbons covering up the offending phrase starting in 1992. ⁽⁵⁾ Some stores did not cover 'In Pizza We Trust' with the red and white ribbons. Starting in 1992 CEC would produce a smaller variant of the wink which would most commonly be installed on 2-Stages and 1-Stages. Winks reused on the Concept Unification Stage In 2023 the wink would appear on the promotional poster for Northridge, CA Legacy Grand Re-Opening featuring the red and white stripes.⁽⁶⁾ Then in 2024, the wink would again appear on the promotional poster for Charlotte, North Carolina (Pineville) featuring the 'In Pizza We Trust' text instead of the red and white ribbon design. ⁽⁷⁾ This would be the first time CEC would ever reference the 'In Pizza We Trust' text since 1992.

Design

1990 Wink

The first version of the Wink features Chuck E. Cheese’s head in the center (who winks his left eye), the words “In Pizza We Trust” across the top, and two stars on each side. Below his head reads “Chuck E. Cheese”. There is also a TM symbol under the “We” portion. This version was manufactured from 1990 to 1992. Afterward, many locations would cover the “In Pizza We Trust” text with white and red striped covers. ⁽⁸⁾

1992 Wink

The second version of the Wink has white and red stripes in place of the “In Pizza We Trust” text, only one star on each side, and no “Chuck E. Cheese” text. This version was manufactured from 1992 to 1998. ⁽⁹⁾

Colored Wink

This version was identical to the 3-Stage Wink, except the entire Wink is painted in unique colors. The store's techs did these, meaning CEC Entertainment did not officially produce them. The stores that had painted winks were in Mobile, AL (710 Downtowner Loop) ,⁽¹⁰⁾ Birmingham, AL (9325 Parkway East) , ⁽¹¹⁾ and Huntsville, AL (1220 Jordan Lane) ⁽¹²⁾ . After the closure of Birmingham (Roebuck) in November 2007, their Wink was sent to the Madison, TN (2070 Gallatin Pike) location. On March 26, 2023, Huntsville, AL would remove its 3-Stage which included its Colored Wink, making them now extinct. Some stores also did minor paint jobs to the wink. That being painting the derby red. The known stores are {< wiki-link "Chesapeake, VA (1528 Sam's Circle) >}},⁽¹³⁾ and {< wiki-link "Tallahassee, FL (2810 Sharer Rd)⁽¹⁴⁾ . Tallahassee, FL would remove its 3-Stage which included the 1992 wink with a colored hat this would be the last. It was removed during their 2.0 remodel on May 5, 2024.

Movements

The figure features 1 movement in total.

Movement	Bit #
Wink (Concept Unification Stage)	49
Wink (CEC Stages)	10

Stages Used In (Including stage relocation)

• 3-Stage: Installed from 1990-1992; 1996.
• Road Stage: Installed from 1990-1992; 1994.
• 2-Stage: Installed from 1992-1997; 2006; 2008; 2009; 2011; 2013.
• 1-Stage: Installed from 1992-1998; 2006; 2009; 2011; 2012.
• Cyberamic 3-Stage: Installed in 2000.

  Current Wink Animatronics

  Location	Address	Stage Type	Wink Type	Debuted	Condition / Notes
  Mississauga, Ontario, Canada	4141 Dixie Rd	Road Stage	1990 Wink (In Pizza We Trust)	March 11, 1991	Functional. Last 1990 Wink in Canada.
  Charlotte, North Carolina, United States	7701 Pineville-Matthews Rd	3-Stage	1990 Wink (In Pizza We Trust)	Q3 1991	Functional. One of two remaining uncovered 1990 Winks. Legacy Store.
  Willowdale, Ontario, Canada	2452 Sheppard Ave	2-Stage	Last 1992 Wink in Canada	1992-1993	Functional
  Annapolis, Maryland, United States	2333-A Forest Dr	2-Stage	1990 Wink (Red and white ribbons)	April 10, 1993	Doesn't function. Last 1990 Wink to have ribbon over text
  Northridge, California, United States	8425 Reseda Blvd	2-Stage	1992 Wink	1992-1993	Functional. Legacy Store
  La Mesa, United States	5500 Grossmont Center Dr	1-Stage	1992 Wink	August 2, 1993	Doesn't function.
  Toledo, OH, United States	5455 Airport Hwy	1-Stage	1992 Wink	September 6, 1993	Functional.
  Hicksville, New York, United States	Delco Plaza 11-15 Hanover Place	1-Stage	1992 Wink	January 24, 1994	Functional. Legacy Store
  Amarillo, Texas, United States	2500 S Coulter St	1-Stage	1992 Wink	July 4, 1994	Doesn't function.
  Huntington Beach, California, United States	15511 Edwards St	2-Stage	1992 Wink	1993-1996	Doesn't function.
  CEC Entertainment Irving, Texas, United States	1707 Market Place Blvd., Suite 200	CU 1-Stage	1992 Wink	Fall 2015	Functional.

  References

  1. https://archive.org/details/concept-unification-installation-manual/page/1/mode/2up
  2. https://youtu.be/-pp3KZZ0P10?si=vyWEekXyKZ93Vccy&t=917
  3. https://www.showbizpizza.com/info/documents/spt/spt_2stage-install.pdf | Page 3
  4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3RwnSxGcnE
  5. The 1992 Wink only featured the red and white ribbons. Suggesting the change over was being done by 1992
  6. https://cheeseepedia.org/photos/northridgepromoposter-avif/
  7. http://youtube.com/post/UgkxA4ty1YSQRnFYEyGSwq8fqiQyjyznrl9L?si=rgKoS0OA1CBZMrZw
  8. https://cheeseepedia.org/photos/90wink-avif/
  9. https://cheeseepedia.org/photos/lansingwink-avif/
  10. https://archive.org/details/holiday-set-mobile-al-017/Vegas%20Set%20Mobile%20AL-002.jpg
  11. https://www.flickr.com/photos/146664847@N05/51245117466/
  12. https://youtu.be/FICERktkHr0?si=1Ip21I2owxzAOoyz&t=168
  13. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanrules/51103910659/
  14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkPYlGyBLpw
  15. Includes data sourced from the Every Location Ever List https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-hyawyZq2UymJD00WwAm1Grw-o2jbDmvtPZXabfBaB4/edit?gid=0#gid=0