what is this ☆ rock-afire ☆ chuck e cheese ☆ lesser known bots

Pizza Time Theatre and Showbiz Pizza




Nolan Bushnell invents pong, then along with Ted Dabney, created Atari. In 1976, Atari is sold to Warner communications for 28 million. Noah wanted a place for kids to play games in public. Most arcades at the time were in bowling alleys and bars. So, he created Pizza Time Theatre. The first one opened in 1977 in San Jose, California. The restaurant is similar to how Chuck E Cheese is today, with pizza, an arcade, and animatronics. The animatronics were much different than they are today. The characters being Chuck E, who has a cigar, the Warblettes, who were backup singers, Jasper T Jowls, the dog, Pasqually, the Italian, and a cat named Crusty.


First PTT design.

At the International Association of Amusement Parks And Attractions convention (IAAPA), in 1977, Bushell met Aaron Fechter, a man in the animatronics business, and asked Fechter to create some animatronics for him. Fechter declined.

Bushnell leaves Atari because of a management disagreements but later buys out Pizza Time Theatre, as Atari didn’t have many plans for it.

At the 1978 IAAPA convention, Aaron Fechter shows off his newest creation, the Wolf Pack 5, an animatronic band of animals. Bushnell asks Fechter again if he would sell his company to him. Fechter declines again but is told he could work for him anytime he wanted to.


Wolf Pack 5. Notice the similarities between it and Rock-afire.

Bushnell hired Robert L. Brock, the President of Topeka Inn Management, to help spread PTT across the states. With plans being made, Brock decides to update everything in PTT to shift it into it’s best possible state. While researching, he learns about Fechter and pays him a visit. He learns that Fechters robots at his company Creative Engineering were far superior to what PTT had currently. Brock then leaves his agreement with Bushnell to work with Fechter. He would create new restaurants called Showbiz Pizza Inc which would feature Fechter’s work. They use an altered Wolf Pack 5, which changed Queenie, a fox, to Mitzi Mozzarella, a mouse.

This first location opened in March of 1980 in Kansas City, Missouri. Billy Bob was also introduced here but as a walkaround character instead of an animatronic. The same year, Bushnell sues Brock for breach of contract. In the first court round, Brock wins. The second Showbiz was opened in July of 1980. This is the first restaurant to showcase Rock Afire Explosion.

PTT was changing too. They removed Crusty the Cat and replaced him with Mr. Munch. Warblettes are switched out for the Mopsey Sisters, who are just mops. They also start to feature female guest stars as well as new animatronics separate from the main atraction which featured one character. These were called Cabernet shows. They later start to ditch the portrait style and showcase half-bodied animatronics. Contrasting from Showbiz, PTT had a wider range of characters and each location might of had different ones.


The King. He was a Cabernet show character.

In 1982, Fechter creates Uncle Klunk, a new character who was just an old guy but his animatronic was more advanced than Rock-afire’s current characters but he does not debut at this time.

The court case is settled and Showbiz agrees to pay PTT a portion of its profits for the next 14 years.

In 1983, the video game crash hits. PTT loses 15 Million. Between this and expenses for other robot projects, Bushnell files for bankruptcy. Showbiz buys them out and creates Showbiz Pizza Time Inc. Now Billy Bob and Chuck E Cheese live together in the same restaurant. Uncle Klunk finally debuts. He is also retrofitted to become Santa Claus but Klunk’s appearance doesn’t increase profits and he is quickly discontinued.

Showbiz begins to take control of the show from Fechter. They start to create their own shows inhouse and create a new feature called Billy Bob Interactive Animator, where an employee could control Billy Bob and do his voice. Fechter is displeased with this. In 1986, Creative Engineering stops creating shows for Showbiz and starts selling the band to other restaurants. Ties with Rock afire begin to break and in 1990, they are removed completely. In 1992, all locations had Munch’s Make Believe band and became Chuck E Cheese’s Pizza and in 1995, just Chuck E Cheese’s.


Concept Unification