[HN Gopher] Chuck E. Cheese's animatronics band bows out
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       Chuck E. Cheese's animatronics band bows out
        
       Author : pseudolus
       Score  : 55 points
       Date   : 2024-12-03 11:18 UTC (5 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (spectrum.ieee.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (spectrum.ieee.org)
        
       | tracerbulletx wrote:
       | Anybody vaguely interested in this story would probably enjoy
       | this documentary about the the direct ancestor of this band.
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTmhS6hcY-A
        
         | sitkack wrote:
         | Let this be a warning in what your children get exposed to,
         | they could be making a documentary in their 30s or 40s. /s
         | 
         | These kids had an existential experience triggered by
         | animatronic band. It was sweet to see how honest they were.
        
       | prettyStandard wrote:
       | I'm getting some real country bear jamboree vibes from that bear.
        
         | Jgrubb wrote:
         | ...which, my wife tells me, has also seen an overhaul lately.
        
       | Isamu wrote:
       | Easily the worst pizza I've ever eaten anywhere, the poorest
       | quality control ever. But the kids had fun.
        
         | notyourwork wrote:
         | Not sure why there would be any surprise. They aren't in the
         | pizza business. They are in the waste children's time business.
        
         | sokoloff wrote:
         | Nate Bargatze has a pretty good bit on Chuck E Cheese:
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHrcGFKgWGY
        
           | seism wrote:
           | As did John Oliver
           | https://youtu.be/3v6y2pY1pZ0?si=0SBXDOD025rM55dB
        
         | dannyphantom wrote:
         | I was probably around ~5(ish) years old when I went to Chuck E.
         | Cheese for a birthday party; distinctly remember disliking the
         | pizza (and cheese, by extension) so much that I thought I
         | *hated* pizza altogether until I was ~16(ish) and started
         | working at a local pizza place in town called Valeos where we'd
         | get a free 16in to take home after every shift. I still use
         | their sauce recipe to this day it's literally so good!
         | 
         | At the time, I think a friends mom [jokingly] said the pizza
         | was 'cardboard' and I began crying as I genuinely believed it
         | was actual cardboard
        
           | irrational wrote:
           | Are you able or willing to share the sauce recipe?
        
             | dannyphantom wrote:
             | absolutely :)
             | 
             | [we were a thin-crust only type of place; we also used a
             | little handful of cornmeal as it was placed in the brick
             | oven to prevent the crust from sticking - it adds a little
             | extra flavor and texture to the pizza :)]
             | 
             | In a pot, placed on medium-heat on the stove top, add:
             | 
             | - 2tbsp EVOO
             | 
             | - two twigs of fresh oregano, crushed or finely chopped (to
             | express the oils in the plant)
             | 
             | - 1/4 white onion, minced very finely
             | 
             | - 1/4 yellow onion, minced very finely
             | 
             | - 2-3 squished cloves of roasted garlic (cut the top part
             | from a bulb of garlic, add some EVOO and bake @ 400 for
             | ~30(ish) minutes; be sure to do it in foil or the ceramic
             | baking dishes for roasting garlic!)
             | 
             | - 1tbsp of salt mixed with black pepper and crushed red
             | pepper flakes
             | 
             | Until onions are translucent and aromatic
             | 
             | Then add:
             | 
             | - 1 large can of Cento-brand peeled San Marzano tomatoes
             | 
             | Stir intermittently until sauce develops a deep red color
             | and you can use it right away or keep it in the fridge!
             | 
             | - As it cools, add in a handful (1/4 cup) of freshly
             | crumbled Parmesan cheese (you could see the cheese chunks
             | as we applied the sauce to the dough so they weren't large
             | pieces but little(ish) crumbles)
             | 
             | Hope you enjoy it!! :)
        
         | hinkley wrote:
         | I was so excited to be invited to my first party there. The
         | pizza was a huge letdown, and Pizza Hut was the best thing I
         | experienced for many, many years, followed by Godfather's.
         | Chuck E. Cheese wasn't even on the list. But I sure had fun on
         | the video games and ski ball.
        
         | Fwirt wrote:
         | Oddly enough, Chuck E Cheese has been trying to "rebrand"
         | itself since COVID. During the pandemic they actually operated
         | as a shadow kitchen pizza chain and possibly as a result, the
         | quality of their pizza (at least at our local restaurant) has
         | substantially improved, to the point that I would rank it above
         | a couple other nationwide chains. The atmosphere is very
         | different from the dark, grody, funky 1980s rat pizza
         | restaurant, and is now a loud party atmosphere with TV screens
         | constantly blasting kiddie music videos. They've shifted their
         | age demographic from "family" to "kids", and their locations
         | have become much cleaner.
        
           | Dwedit wrote:
           | The name of the shadow kitchen is "Pasqually's Pizza &
           | Wings". If you read the "Our Story" page on their website, it
           | says that they "leverage the operational infrastructure of
           | Chuck E. Cheese kitchens across the country".
           | 
           | Pasqually is one of the animatronic characters, he is a chef.
        
       | nvahalik wrote:
       | TIL that Nolan Bushnell, of Atari, started Chuck E. Cheese!
        
         | shagie wrote:
         | Chuck E. Cheese's, Silicon Valley Startup (2013) 122 points by
         | duck on Jan 22, 2017 - 14 comments
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13453427
         | 
         | https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/07/chuck...
         | 
         | http://web.archive.org/web/20170125082102/https://www.theatl...
         | 
         | There's a lot of neat stuff back in
         | https://hn.algolia.com/?q=Chuck+E
        
       | pjot wrote:
       | For weeks after my grandmother brought me to a Chuck E. Cheese
       | for the first (only) time, I had recurring nightmares fueled by
       | this band.
        
       | bisby wrote:
       | https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/local/2024/05/28/illinois-ch...
       | 
       | Apparently 5 stores nationwide are being allowed to keep the
       | animatronics.
        
         | cgriswald wrote:
         | For the curious, they are: Los Angeles, CA; Nanuet, NY;
         | Springfield, IL; Pineville, NC; and Hicksville, NY.
        
       | debugnik wrote:
       | I would have expected animatronics to become more popular after
       | Five Nights at Freddy's, not less. But I've never seen a store
       | with animatronics in my country, so I don't really know how kids
       | feel about them.
        
         | Uehreka wrote:
         | Idk, parents took kids to Chuck E. Cheese for the (at the time
         | seemingly) wholesome appeal. Having an extremely popular and
         | visible IP point out how creepy animatronic animals are is not
         | gonna make parents want to take their kids to Chuck E. Cheese
         | more. Nobody wants to take their kids to an "edgy food and
         | entertainment place", that's not a thing. I think this is a
         | great textbook example of "There is such a thing as bad
         | publicity."
        
       | fullshark wrote:
       | I'll take this opportunity to plug the YouTube videos of
       | animatronics super fan Jenny Nicholson. Her videos on the Star
       | Wars hotel: https://youtu.be/T0CpOYZZZW4?si=8bzPpb_9kPaTsTto and
       | the theme park Evermore:
       | https://youtu.be/L9OhTB5eBqQ?si=utwaOeBFRpOQMStx are peak YouTube
       | content.
        
       | wileydragonfly wrote:
       | Today you learned his name is "Charles Entertainment Cheese."
        
         | bozhark wrote:
         | "Sharl" needs to focus on his driving
        
         | Uehreka wrote:
         | I'd heard this fact before, it was honestly kind of obnoxious
         | how the writer kept wanting to remind us how much they also
         | know this fact.
        
       | knowsuchagency wrote:
       | They're now working on Optimus
        
       | api wrote:
       | The unfortunately defunct podcast The Nonsense Bazaar has a
       | hilarious and wonderful episode on the Chuck E Cheese saga:
       | 
       | https://thenonsensebazaar.com/listen/131-chuck-e-cheese/
        
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       (page generated 2024-12-08 23:00 UTC)