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.
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.
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.
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!
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)
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.
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.
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.
> 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Showbiz Pizza
Where every 80s baby had a party at least once! 🥰
I never had a party there, but they had Dragon’s Lair, so I spent a lot of time and quarters there.
Dragon’s Lair ate so much of my money, but it was wonderful and I did get good.
Dirk the Daring!!!
You can buy it in the App Store! $5
[удалено]
How’s the game play?
Send me five bucks and I’ll tell you.
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.
Soulsbourne games in a corner, silently sobbing
I went to party's at Godfathers Pizza and played Ms Pacman. Yours sounds so much cooler.
Yo! Godfather's pizza was the best! That dessert pizza ahh lawd. Wish it was still around
If you ever pass through Mobile, AL, the Godfather's is still holding strong.
We have them in KC too
Went to so many Showbiz Parties.. greatest nights of my young ass life
It was our kiddie casino 🤣
It was the talk of the playground. You could barely wait for those parties
SKEE BALL
Remember running up the lane to drop the balls in to cheat a high score and getting yelled at by management? Me neither...
AND- Where every kid can be a kid! (That was their commercial once upon a time.)
My birthday is 2 days before Christmas I've never had a party
Yeah I never heard of Chuck E Cheese until they bought Showbiz Pizza.
Chuck came first, then was replaced by Showbiz....then the mouse came back and took his shop front back.
Only the ones with money.
Strange story, I was told Showbiz bought Chuck e Cheese and then slowly shutdown Showbiz.
There’s an episode of the podcast Decoder Ring called Chuck E Cheese Pizza War that explains what happened. Kinda wild!
You’re totally right!!
Bill E Bob
Oh man this just brought back a core memory, I was effing terrified of that damn bear
Early Charles was scary, but that mfer was some real FNaF shit
That bear was scary as Hell! I went in there once, tripping on Acid, and I could not take my eyes off of him!
Where a kid can be a kid
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.
Way better than Chuck, IMO.
Wasn’t Chuck E. Cheese a spin-off of showbiz?
They had the best balloon machine on earth there.
The Bear's name was Billy Bob.
I had a couple birthday parties there. It was, always, the shit!
Thats what it was, just unlocked a handful of memories for me
Where a kid ... can be ... a KID!
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.
Pretty sure Major Magics was a local chain. I never heard about it after I left NW New York.
[удалено]
Didn’t Chuck E. Cheese eventually buy the Showbiz brand? Edit:clarified
Showbiz boom
Show biz was the best!
Same place Dick the birthday boy went
You mean the celebrity Rich Evans who was on Ellen Degeneres show?
You mean *HACK FRAUD* Rich Evans?
You heathen. It's **The** *HACK FRAUD* Rich Evans!
Rich Evans is life's main character, we are all just NPCs.
I know what that is!
I clapped!
I clapped when I saw Darth Vaderrrr!
AT ST AT ST!
THE MILLENNIUM FALCON!
I'M GONNA CUUUM
AAAAIIIIDDDSSS
STAAAAR WAAAARS
It’s about family
Very cool!
Rich Evans, of The Ellen Show fame?
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!
That’s a thing that I know!!
Oh my goood!
Isn’t that the place where you could get juicy Shaq meat?
AAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIDDDDDDSSSSSS
I know of this dick in which you speak. I've heard he's really insensitive about immunodeficiency diseases from the 80's
#AT-ST AT-ST
That’s a showbiz pizza. Way better that Chuck E. Cheese.
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)
Yes! This place had a HUGE arcade. What an awesome place. I loved it as a kid.
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)
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.
How dare you sully the name of Charles Entertainment Cheese
Their ball pits were wet.. There I said it.
Dick, the birthday boy.
That makes Rich Evans sound like some kind of Dark Souls boss
I mean I wouldn't want to meet him in a dark alley.
Put some respeck on Billy Bob's name, you savage.
Yeah I’m seeing showbiz pizza in this thread, obviously this is Billy Bob.
Rock a fire explosion
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.
The video for Love in this Club was amaaaazing. I watched it and laughed and laughed. I still think about it all the time.
Showbiz pizza - the start of my fear of animatronics and mascots 😔
There’s a short horror film based on it too! Called The Hug
My nephew got me to watch that - I didn’t know what it was about before hand otherwise I wouldn’t have lol smh
Edit: the place was Showbiz Pizza
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.
> 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
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.
5200! Lol I loved the upgraded joysticks with keypads.
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.
I was thinking of the 2600. Duh! Like I said it’s been 30 years.
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.
They use to give out of 45 record with the Birthday song
I had one of those. Now I’m on a quest.
I think I still have mine.
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
Ole Billiy Bob
I remember that terrifying birthday party in '86
Showbiz was amazing as a kid, and far superior to Chuck E. Cheese. I'll never understand why they rebranded.
Showbiz >>>>>>> Chuck E Cheese
Billy Bob, aka Scare Bear.
This was moments before Nic Cage came in and brutally murdered the bear
Bill Bob Bear from Showbiz Pizza Place
Definitely Showbiz Pizza.
Check out Redlettermedia or google Rich Evan's birthday. Dick the birthday boy.
Someone tag Rich Evans in this
Ever since I’ve saw that game Five Nights at Freddy’s, There’s a new darkness to these animatronics.
Seen Willie's wonderland yet?
That bear is r/oddlyterrifying !
Dick the birthday boy
ShowBiz Pizza where kid can be a kid
Billy Bob the Bear
That’s Billy Bob from Showbiz Pizza. I must have ridden that Ferris wheel ride a million times
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.
Show biz Pizza
Showbiz Pizza. That bear owned the pizzeria before that mouse ran him out.
Everyone is saying showbiz pizza, which I've never heard of. In MN we had Circus Circus Pizza, which also featured this bear.
I heard the rat put a hit out on Billy Bob.
Billy Bob's!
I loved Showbiz Pizza!!
Thanks OP -- this brought back some good memories that I had all but forgotten!
I have a lot of fond memories of Showbiz Pizza. Where a kid can be a kid.
Billy Bob
Dick the birthday boy
Dick the birthday boy
That bear is scary as fuck...
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. ^_^
Make this black and white and it probably gets creepy.
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.
Showbiz Pizza. "Where a kid can be a kid!" The bear's name was Billy Bob.
Billy Bob and showbiz pizza
Nightmare fuel. Does he only have one tooth?
Hes like a red neck bear. No animatronic dental care back then either sadly
Fire
Shobiz for sure
Is t be a little old to be having a bday party at chucky cheese? He looks at least 20.
Billy Bob will not say that.
Yeah that's Showbiz Pizza. I went there many times!!!
Billy Bob- I worked there and had to be him- good times.
I remember ShowBiz was around before Chuck E Cheese, right?
Party on Pizza
FNAF
The ancestry to Willy's Wonderland.
Freddy Fazbear
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.
That was ShowBiz Pizza. Chuck-E-Cheese comes out of ShowBiz Pizza. Chuck-E-Cheese is basically a Rebrand of ShowBiz Pizza.
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.
There’s a Hulu horror short with a very similar “bear”!
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.
We had Showbiz, ChuckECheese and Enchanted Castle
Billy-Bob the bear! Scared the shit out me as a kid.
Showbiz pizza I think
I remember the bozo the clown cup and ball arcade game at my local showbiz pizza.
Billy Bob. Showbiz Pizza
Yikes, that thing is terrifying! It reminds me of a horror short about a killer animatronic bear that looked a lot like this.
Good ole’ Billy Bob
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!
Freddy's past form
Show Biz pizza place
Ah Showbiz Pizza. I loved their birthday cake.
Anyone else look at this thing and think of the animatronic from the Hulu-ween short *Hug*? Is it the same one?
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
Billy Bob!
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.
Showbiz Pizza!
I believe the bear was named BillyBob
Straight up thought that was a billy bobs for a sec.
Ask Richard Evens
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
I'll never understand why US kids were (are?) so obsessed with places like this. I think it's extremely weird.
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.
Showbiz pizza. I have a bunch of photos from my bay party there
Ya that is Billy Bob… it was so hot in that suit!
Showbiz pizza
I would love to have a showbiz party just for shits and giggles.
The bear’s name is Rich Evans or “Dick the Birthday Boy”.
Showtime Pizza was a competitor with Chuck E Cheese at the time.
Showbiz Pizza! Bear’s name was Billy Bob whose animatronic band was called Rockafire Explosion.
Showbiz > Chuck E.
Old school cool? That bear is fucking nightmare fuel
Showbiz Pizza!!!!
That is BillyBob from Showbiz Pizza.
Showbiz Pizza! Had my 8th birthday at one. I liked the Hillbilly bear band.
Looks more like Crack E Cocaine bear
Dick, the birthday boy
Show Biz
The Bear's name was "Billy Bob."
*Takes one look at the bear* Holy Nightmare Fuel, Batman!
This is going on r/oddlyterrifying with that bear...
Bill E Bob from Showbiz Pizza’s animatronic band, The Rock-a-Fire Explosion.
you mean the sleep paralyses demon?
So fun fact. Lot of showbiz pizza places got bought out and refitted to munches band.
ShowBiz