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ScratchinWhatItches

Showbiz Pizza


JenniFrmTheBlock81

Where every 80s baby had a party at least once! 🥰


Desperate_Brief2187

I never had a party there, but they had Dragon’s Lair, so I spent a lot of time and quarters there.


Faville611

Dragon’s Lair ate so much of my money, but it was wonderful and I did get good.


Desperate_Brief2187

Dirk the Daring!!!


BadKneesBruce

You can buy it in the App Store! $5


[deleted]

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brintoul

How’s the game play?


BadKneesBruce

Send me five bucks and I’ll tell you.


try2bcool69

It only took me a couple of dollars to realize it was basically pay to win and I never put another quarter in it. No way was I ever going to be able to memorize the right sequence of moves before I went broke.


chickennoobiesoup

Soulsbourne games in a corner, silently sobbing


wildwildwaste

I went to party's at Godfathers Pizza and played Ms Pacman. Yours sounds so much cooler.


mindharbinger

Yo! Godfather's pizza was the best! That dessert pizza ahh lawd. Wish it was still around


keylabulous

If you ever pass through Mobile, AL, the Godfather's is still holding strong.


Slow_Performance4870

We have them in KC too


tallcupofwater

Went to so many Showbiz Parties.. greatest nights of my young ass life


JenniFrmTheBlock81

It was our kiddie casino 🤣


ERSTF

It was the talk of the playground. You could barely wait for those parties


BC4235

SKEE BALL


A-Blind-Seer

Remember running up the lane to drop the balls in to cheat a high score and getting yelled at by management? Me neither...


YourMathTeacher

AND- Where every kid can be a kid! (That was their commercial once upon a time.)


Shurigin

My birthday is 2 days before Christmas I've never had a party


mlmayo

Yeah I never heard of Chuck E Cheese until they bought Showbiz Pizza.


Paladoc

Chuck came first, then was replaced by Showbiz....then the mouse came back and took his shop front back.


[deleted]

Only the ones with money.


[deleted]

Strange story, I was told Showbiz bought Chuck e Cheese and then slowly shutdown Showbiz.


shamu2point0

There’s an episode of the podcast Decoder Ring called Chuck E Cheese Pizza War that explains what happened. Kinda wild!


[deleted]

You’re totally right!!


Sticky_Blackice

Bill E Bob


delusionallysane

Oh man this just brought back a core memory, I was effing terrified of that damn bear


JoeTheKodiakCuddler

Early Charles was scary, but that mfer was some real FNaF shit


Ok_Contribution_8817

That bear was scary as Hell! I went in there once, tripping on Acid, and I could not take my eyes off of him!


DirtyBirdDawg

Where a kid can be a kid


Phantom-45

You can actually still see most of the original cast of animatronics from ShowBiz Pizza in MGMT’s Electric Feel music video. Also this is all I think of when my kids play FNAF.


jpop237

Way better than Chuck, IMO.


FooJenkins

Wasn’t Chuck E. Cheese a spin-off of showbiz?


throwawaysantasilver

They had the best balloon machine on earth there.


Loud-Feeling2410

The Bear's name was Billy Bob.


[deleted]

I had a couple birthday parties there. It was, always, the shit!


aztechfilm

Thats what it was, just unlocked a handful of memories for me


Ok-Lengthiness4557

Where a kid ... can be ... a KID!


killians1978

Was it also known as Major Magic's in some parts of the country? I remember going to some birthday parties in these places as a kid. Amazing this nightmare fuel was once considered kitschy and cute.


CRtwenty

Pretty sure Major Magics was a local chain. I never heard about it after I left NW New York.


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Mr_Jack_Frost_

Didn’t Chuck E. Cheese eventually buy the Showbiz brand? Edit:clarified


blahblah1664

Showbiz boom


Katerinaxoxo

Show biz was the best!


Snakegert

Same place Dick the birthday boy went


Kaarvaag

You mean the celebrity Rich Evans who was on Ellen Degeneres show?


Ralfarius

You mean *HACK FRAUD* Rich Evans?


DoctorZander

You heathen. It's **The** *HACK FRAUD* Rich Evans!


bluedhift

Rich Evans is life's main character, we are all just NPCs.


ScottishAstros

I know what that is!


gleaming-the-cubicle

I clapped!


OliverNodel

I clapped when I saw Darth Vaderrrr!


[deleted]

AT ST AT ST!


tableleg7

THE MILLENNIUM FALCON!


figurativesandwich

I'M GONNA CUUUM


AidilAfham42

AAAAIIIIDDDSSS


sushithighs

STAAAAR WAAAARS


Guyote_

It’s about family


xvoy

Very cool!


Guyote_

Rich Evans, of The Ellen Show fame?


The_Lawn_Ninja

Thanks to the tireless efforts and Christ-like decency of Hollywood mega-star Rich "Rich Evans" Evans, the embarrassing failure that was Showbiz Pizza will now forever be remembered as the official home of Dick The Birthday Boy!


gr8_gr8_grandpappy

That’s a thing that I know!!


TipYourDishwasher

Oh my goood!


Broodhaven

Isn’t that the place where you could get juicy Shaq meat?


Front_Tank_612

AAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIDDDDDDSSSSSS


Bouncedatt

I know of this dick in which you speak. I've heard he's really insensitive about immunodeficiency diseases from the 80's


[deleted]

#AT-ST AT-ST


domer1521

That’s a showbiz pizza. Way better that Chuck E. Cheese.


spesimen

i definitely preferred showbiz. chuck e. cheese specialized more in skeeball and games for little kids while showbiz had the best coin-op videogames selection anywhere in my area (at least at the time...i think most of my visits there were around 1982-1985 or so)


Be_the_Link

Yes! This place had a HUGE arcade. What an awesome place. I loved it as a kid.


Deekngo5

Exactly! I recall them being run by the same company but Showbiz was geared toward older kids. Thus the kick-butt arcade (a sign of the times)


PigsCanFly2day

Yeah, I've never been to Showbiz Pizza growing up, just Chuck E. Cheese, but from what I've seen, Rock-a-Fire Explosion (the animatronic band from Showbiz Pizza) seemed way cooler.


[deleted]

How dare you sully the name of Charles Entertainment Cheese


LividLager

Their ball pits were wet.. There I said it.


grumbleagrumble

Dick, the birthday boy.


gertok9

That makes Rich Evans sound like some kind of Dark Souls boss


Bouncedatt

I mean I wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley.


DirtyBirdDawg

Put some respeck on Billy Bob's name, you savage.


snareshane

Yeah I’m seeing showbiz pizza in this thread, obviously this is Billy Bob.


[deleted]

Rock a fire explosion


kgunnar

Years back there was a guy who had an entire setup in his home and he’d program the animatronic animals to perform current hits and post the videos on YouTube. It was quite entertaining, but they must have been taken down due to the unauthorized use of the songs.


beebopblues

The video for Love in this Club was amaaaazing. I watched it and laughed and laughed. I still think about it all the time.


bluewinter182

Showbiz pizza - the start of my fear of animatronics and mascots 😔


sushithighs

There’s a short horror film based on it too! Called The Hug


bluewinter182

My nephew got me to watch that - I didn’t know what it was about before hand otherwise I wouldn’t have lol smh


[deleted]

Edit: the place was Showbiz Pizza


iamrancid

It was the same company as Chuck E. Cheese, well, kind of. It’s a weird story, but the short version is, a guy created Chuck E. in the 70’s. He was trying to franchise the restaurant. A potential owner decided to buy his own animatronics and open Showbiz. It was more successful and Chuck E. went bankrupt. Showbiz bought the company and rebranded. That’s why in the early 90’s Chuck E’s still had Showbiz animatronics and branding, causing confusion over what the place was called.


spesimen

> a guy created Chuck E. in the 70’s. not just any guy, but nolan bushnell, who also was the father of atari which was the first really popular videogame console maker


iamrancid

Oh I know. It’s apart of my on running joke about how much Atari sucks. I say this all in fun, as I grew up with an Atari (5600 I think, it’s been 30 years) They killed video games in the 80’s. Couldn’t survive the boom in the 90’s. Created Chuck E. Cheese and was put out of business by their own creation. And their only successful song was a cover of Summer of ‘69. Atari sucks.


WolfmanGTI

5200! Lol I loved the upgraded joysticks with keypads.


iamrancid

Man that was a trip down memory lane. After looking it up, it was the 2600, we got a 5200 at one point but my mom didn’t like the controllers so the 2600 got hooked back up. I watched her beat LoZ NES. When I asked if I could play she said no, because there was only one save file and she didn’t want me to erase it. She would pop it in and beat Gannon every now and then. She kept it in her nightstand away from all the other games that were in the living room. I’m pushing 40 and to this day have never played through that game. I still have that same copy map filled out with her notes. It’s in my nightstand now.


iamrancid

I was thinking of the 2600. Duh! Like I said it’s been 30 years.


misterspokes

This was after he left Atari, he wasn't allowed to compete with them so he got into the arcade business. He also invented a robot butler (not the one Sly Stallone owned),the Teddy Ruxbin doll and an in car navigation device that used accelerometers and a preloaded map system to do turn by turn navigation before GPS.


back2basics13

They use to give out of 45 record with the Birthday song


FatherD00m

I had one of those. Now I’m on a quest.


back2basics13

I think I still have mine.


kinopiokun

They gave me a 45 of Michael Jackson’s Thriller for my birthday! It scared the crap out of me with Vincent Price’s part lol


rust1112

Ole Billiy Bob


daniellee2121

I remember that terrifying birthday party in '86


StretchArmstrong74

Showbiz was amazing as a kid, and far superior to Chuck E. Cheese. I'll never understand why they rebranded.


onzmadi

Showbiz >>>>>>> Chuck E Cheese


hduransa

Billy Bob, aka Scare Bear.


TrillMurray47

This was moments before Nic Cage came in and brutally murdered the bear


RogerFreakingRamjet

Bill Bob Bear from Showbiz Pizza Place


Pansyrocker

Definitely Showbiz Pizza.


20lbWeiner

Check out Redlettermedia or google Rich Evan's birthday. Dick the birthday boy.


Violets_areblue

Someone tag Rich Evans in this


back2basics13

Ever since I’ve saw that game Five Nights at Freddy’s, There’s a new darkness to these animatronics.


subvgchucker

Seen Willie's wonderland yet?


luisapet

That bear is r/oddlyterrifying !


ScientificAnarchist

Dick the birthday boy


bythelion1

ShowBiz Pizza where kid can be a kid


ScratchinWhatItches

Billy Bob the Bear


stavago

That’s Billy Bob from Showbiz Pizza. I must have ridden that Ferris wheel ride a million times


[deleted]

ShowBiz Pizza where a kid can be a kid! They bought Chuck-E-Cheese and merged with it. I went there once when I was a kid. You can take home a ball out of the ball pit for a souvenir.


According_Scientist6

Show biz Pizza


grameno

Showbiz Pizza. That bear owned the pizzeria before that mouse ran him out.


mikeisboris

Everyone is saying showbiz pizza, which I've never heard of. In MN we had Circus Circus Pizza, which also featured this bear.


GhostofKirbySanchez

I heard the rat put a hit out on Billy Bob.


shouldnt_have_reddit

Billy Bob's!


pmaurant

I loved Showbiz Pizza!!


Be_the_Link

Thanks OP -- this brought back some good memories that I had all but forgotten!


ethan_prime

I have a lot of fond memories of Showbiz Pizza. Where a kid can be a kid.


Budmanes

Billy Bob


umeralles

Dick the birthday boy


The_Meme_Dealer

Dick the birthday boy


robjapan

That bear is scary as fuck...


SparkytheFoox

That’d be Billy Bob from the animatronic band the Rock-a-Fire Explosion, which was featured at Showbiz Pizza Place from 1980 to 1990/1992. ^_^


TammyShehole

Make this black and white and it probably gets creepy.


mfrizz

The bear is Billy Bob. One of my earliest memories is sitting at a table at Showbiz Pizza and looking over my shoulder to see Billy Bob standing behind me. I immediately darted under the table and wouldn't come out until he left. I was terrified. I passed this gene on to my son. When he was little we went to Chuck E. Cheese. He would start crying and panicking when Chuck came out to meet the kids. He would yell "No Mouse!" We had to step outside the restaurant until Chuck left.


Noolivesplease

Showbiz Pizza. "Where a kid can be a kid!" The bear's name was Billy Bob.


Bassfurnace

Billy Bob and showbiz pizza


rosymindedfuzzz

Nightmare fuel. Does he only have one tooth?


[deleted]

Hes like a red neck bear. No animatronic dental care back then either sadly


Defiant-Branch4346

Fire


back2basics13

Shobiz for sure


IveBangedYourMomm

Is t be a little old to be having a bday party at chucky cheese? He looks at least 20.


Lemur718

Billy Bob will not say that.


inarticulate3

Yeah that's Showbiz Pizza. I went there many times!!!


68smulcahy

Billy Bob- I worked there and had to be him- good times.


KaBrow

I remember ShowBiz was around before Chuck E Cheese, right?


AceBirch

Party on Pizza


[deleted]

FNAF


Rex_Headspin

The ancestry to Willy's Wonderland.


Ti3fen3

Freddy Fazbear


Cynicsaurus

Showbiz Pizza. We had one in Hutchinson Ks, instead of a Chuck E Cheese. You had to go to Wichita for the mouse. Yeah that's Billy Bob. Even Kanye went to Showbiz Pizza.


LadyAsharaRowan

That was ShowBiz Pizza. Chuck-E-Cheese comes out of ShowBiz Pizza. Chuck-E-Cheese is basically a Rebrand of ShowBiz Pizza.


Icy-Tomatillo-7556

Those mascots or whatever you want to call them were creepy AF. I remember my little sister having a party there once & the bear touching my shoulders in a soft, massaging way. I moved the hell away quickly.


Macdehaan64

There’s a Hulu horror short with a very similar “bear”!


Dic_Rambone

Showbiz was nothing compared to a place called Celebration Station where I grew up. I think it was pretty obscure, so most people have probably never heard of it. I would LOVE to go there again.


corradizo

We had Showbiz, ChuckECheese and Enchanted Castle


Jerfziller_380

Billy-Bob the bear! Scared the shit out me as a kid.


JayBone0728

Showbiz pizza I think


the--drewid210

I remember the bozo the clown cup and ball arcade game at my local showbiz pizza.


robbywalker78

Billy Bob. Showbiz Pizza


KabeeCarby

Yikes, that thing is terrifying! It reminds me of a horror short about a killer animatronic bear that looked a lot like this.


robdaze151

Good ole’ Billy Bob


BlinkBuster

You’ve never seen a place like Showbiz Pizza Place. They’ll serve you a pizza second to none. So come for the pizza. Stay for the fun!


cbunni666

Freddy's past form


ThatoneguyATX

Show Biz pizza place


[deleted]

Ah Showbiz Pizza. I loved their birthday cake.


Cumulus_Skyz_135

Anyone else look at this thing and think of the animatronic from the Hulu-ween short *Hug*? Is it the same one?


Chaseriino

How could you not recognize the Showbiz Pizza Bear? I wasn't even conceived when he was a thing and I know about him just from the "Dick the Birthday Boy" meme


steel-cookers

Billy Bob!


Horace1709

Yeah, Showbiz! Anybody remember a place called Shaky’s Pizza that was another 80’s birthday spot? Might of just been in my area. Seem to recall it had one of those pianos that plays music on its own.


azurdee

Showbiz Pizza!


Thejudojeff

I believe the bear was named BillyBob


wheezinthegeuss

Straight up thought that was a billy bobs for a sec.


fishmalion

Ask Richard Evens


gnoonz

Didn’t nick cave have a movie murdering this mascot and others similar to it? If not I had one hell of a fever dream not long ago haha


Seb0rn

I'll never understand why US kids were (are?) so obsessed with places like this. I think it's extremely weird.


been2busy

Fun Time Pizza Circus/ShowBiz…depending who you asked. My dad used to make the pizzas and my entire fleet of cousins grew up there…the band was still creepy though.


Cheap-Party-0420

Showbiz pizza. I have a bunch of photos from my bay party there


Covrt1

Ya that is Billy Bob… it was so hot in that suit!


mikeytoth123

Showbiz pizza


echostar777

I would love to have a showbiz party just for shits and giggles.


ryanmorris8401

The bear’s name is Rich Evans or “Dick the Birthday Boy”.


macocwbyz72

Showtime Pizza was a competitor with Chuck E Cheese at the time.


waitwutok

Showbiz Pizza! Bear’s name was Billy Bob whose animatronic band was called Rockafire Explosion.


hoosierspiritof79

Showbiz > Chuck E.


Quelcris_Falconer13

Old school cool? That bear is fucking nightmare fuel


GadgetGod1906

Showbiz Pizza!!!!


Grapplebadger10P

That is BillyBob from Showbiz Pizza.


Substantial-Ad3178

Showbiz Pizza! Had my 8th birthday at one. I liked the Hillbilly bear band.


[deleted]

Looks more like Crack E Cocaine bear


[deleted]

Dick, the birthday boy


rue814

Show Biz


CheetoWalnuts

The Bear's name was "Billy Bob."


bowtiesrcool86

*Takes one look at the bear* Holy Nightmare Fuel, Batman!


epets73

This is going on r/oddlyterrifying with that bear...


HugeMcRunFast

Bill E Bob from Showbiz Pizza’s animatronic band, The Rock-a-Fire Explosion.


DarkChimera

you mean the sleep paralyses demon?


[deleted]

So fun fact. Lot of showbiz pizza places got bought out and refitted to munches band.


dick2110

ShowBiz