For years, we've been terrified of animatronics. But have you ever once considered that maybe,
just maybe, the animatronics are the ones who should be afraid of us? Hello Internet! Welcome to Food Theory. The show that knows that you can't spell animatronic
without P-I-Z-Z-A…Hold on. In case you're new here, let me catch you
up. I like pizza, I like animatronics, and I like
murder. All right. Probably should have phrased that last one
better. But you know what? We're just going to roll with it. Anyway there's a natural order to the universe
that says whenever robotic animals are inside a dining establishment, horrible tragedy shall
follow. Enter Chuck E Cheese. Since opening back in 1977, Chuck E Cheese
has been the fever dream of kids everywhere. The place is basically a six year old's equivalent
of having a birthday in Vegas. Another round of sodas over here because somebody
just set a new high score in whack-a-frog. And I am rolling in those tickets, baby. Here's a token for your troubles, Sweetums. Also, while you're at it, hit me up with some
of those balls. I got a date with Big Bertha tonight. That's the arcade game where you throw balls
into a woman's mouth until she reaches the point of obesity. Candy, games, pizza. I mean, what's not to love? Oh, yeah. Them. You see, Chuck E Cheese was the creation of
Nolan Bushnell, co-founder of the video game company Atari. The idea was to create a restaurant that doubled
as a carnival, a place where families could play together while also experiencing the
new fangled entertainment medium of video games for the first time. The reason for it being a pizza place was
threefold. Pizza was easy to make and required few ingredients. It took a while to cook, which allowed families
to spend time playing games. And three, can’t really screw up pizza. Well, until of course your restaurant produces
some misshapen pies and is suddenly suspected of recycling old slices from other tables,
something that we've talked about in a previous episode. If you go check it out, make sure you say
hi to Amy down in the comments. She'll appreciate it. She was a trooper for testing out way too
many pizzas in that episode. Anyway, the animatronic performers that became
synonymous with Chuckie Cheese were more of a byproduct of Nolan's fascination with Disney,
specifically the Country Bear Jamboree Show. Clearly, the strategy was working for Walt
over at his Disneyland Park, so why not bring those same robots to budget conscious families
that wanted entertainment but couldn't make it all the way out to Southern California? And the rest, as they say, is history. Living on in the collective nightmares of
80s era children and Gen Z indie horror games. Eventually home video game consoles as well
as the lackluster, potentially recycled pizza got the better of the franchise and it went
bankrupt in 2020, nearly $1,000,000,000 in debt. I think most of us are aware of at least some
part of that story right? But what I think you may not know is the lore
of these characters, because there is lore. And let me tell you, it is dark. For years we've been talking about how scary
Chuck E Cheese is. But in reality, Chuck E isn't the one on stage
that you should be most afraid of. In fact, once you know the real story, it's
clear that Chuck E is the actual victim here, a literal hostage that's being forced to stand
up on stage and perform. And when he stops, he dies. So grab a napkin and start dabbing up the
excess grease off your misshapen pizza as I tell you the tragic tale of Chuck E and
the man who’s murdering his co-stars. Our story begins with a coyote. You see, Nolan Bushnell's Family Carnival
Restaurant wasn't always meant to have a rodent as their mascot. As the story goes, the main mascot was originally
meant to be a coyote. But when Bushnell learned that the costume
that he had bought for his main character was actually that of a rat, well, he had to
do some quick thinking. He decided to rebrand the entire thing from
Coyote Pizza to Rick Rat's pizza. Now, obviously, that's going to cause you
a couple of problems, since I don't know about you, but most restaurants don't really want
to associate with rats. So his marketing team suggested doing something
that they thought might be a bit more appealing to hungry customers. Chuck E Cheese. Sure, he's still a rat, but now at least they're
not throwing the fact that he's a disease ridden rodent in your face. Apparently, they went with Chuck E Cheese
as the name because it forced people to smile when they said it. And let's be honest, forcing a smile is about
as much happiness as you're going to find in this place anyway. So good call. It's also worth noting that Chucky didn't
start off as the hip skateboarding mouse that he is today. Instead, he was a rat from New Jersey smoking
a cigar and roasting the other members of the animatronic cast, a collection of characters
that feels so random. It was like they were playing a drunken game
of Mad Libs. You have yourself a chef, a dog, a pig. All right, all that makes sense. But also a purple alien. The moon, a lineup of singing mops, a literal
building, a hippo with jiggle physics and an old man known simply as Mr. Kootch. Part of the reason so many feel out of place
here is that they were obtained from a rival animatronic pizza place and then retrofitted
into the style of Chuck E Cheese. And let me tell you, the videos online of
how to restyle these characters is scarier than anything FNAF has produced in the last
seven years. So that's the origins of Charles Entertainment
Cheese and his gang of mascots. But what about the actual lore here? Well, back in June of 2017, the news blog
Insider reached out to CEC Entertainment, Chuck E Cheese's parent company, to see if
Charles Entertainment Cheese was indeed the character's official name. Crystal DuPont's public relations manager
for CEC Entertainment informed them that since there was never a birth certificate, the company
couldn't actually be sure. Which I mean, I guess. But also, I don't think that's the way it
works here. Show me Ronald McDonald's birth certificate. Is the Burger King truly royalty or is he
merely a usurper to the throne? Anyway, while she couldn't officially answer
the name question, she did point everyone to an online book detailing Chuck E Cheese’s
backstory. And this is a treasure trove of information
that will blow your mind. As the story goes, Chuck E was an orphan mouse
at the Saint Marinara Orphanage. He loved to sing Happy Birthday to all the
other orphans in a cruel twist because he was an orphan. No one actually knew his birthday, so they
just gave up. No one even bothered to try and find it or
give him an honorary birthday or anything because that's what happens when you're an
orphan, hard knock life and all that. TL;DR No one ever sang or celebrated for the
mouse. Well, This is going to be my personality for
the rest of my life Outside of singing and orphan Chuck had two
other defining character traits. He loved pizza and playing pong. Thank you, daddy Atari. That skill set is totally going to age well. But of course, because he was an orphan, he
was constantly struck by the feeling that something in his life was missing, like parents. So one day, after winning $50 from a pong
tournament, I kid you I am not making this stuff up. Chuck bought himself a bus ticket to New York
and ran away. Having no place to stay. He found shelter above a pizza restaurant
owned by Chef Pasqually P. Pieplates. One night, when Chuck E thought that Pasqually
had already left, he went down to explore the restaurant, only to be immediately discovered
by the chef. Pasqually flies into a rage. Chases Chuck around the kitchen and then corners
him and raises a rolling pin ready to strike down the death blow. FINISH HIM! Chuck E. Cowering in fear, knees shaking,
facing his final seconds of life does the one and only thing that has ever brought him
joy over the years, he sings. Upon hearing that the mouse could sing, Pasqually
lowers his rolling pin. And then decides to pull a capitalism and
exploit the mouse's talent for his own personal gain. As the story goes, quote, Pasqually was so
shocked, he dropped the rolling pin. “a mouse that can sing? My restaurant is saved! I'm going to make you a star!” He renames his restaurant, Chuck E Cheese's,
home of the world famous singing mouse and literally forces Chuck E to perform there. The story then ends with this line. “And Chuck E hasn't stopped singing (or
smiling) since.” Well, yeah, because his name forces you to
smile. We've already covered that. But in all seriousness, the parentheses around
the words smiling here is giving me a real serious cry for help vibe. So that's the story of Chuck E Cheese, an
orphan rat rebranded into a mouse who's basically being held hostage and forced to sing to stay
alive. Notice that Pasqually specifically calls out
that his restaurant is saved after hearing Chuck E Cheese sing, meaning that it was already
on its way out. Chuck E was Pasqually’s meal ticket. After all, notice how he didn't take any appropriate
measures when he found Chuck E was a runaway orphan. He didn't do anything like, you know, alert
officials that he'd found a runaway kid or make any attempt at contacting the original
orphanage in Pasqually’s eyes, Chuck E was a means to an end, a way of getting famous. He's an animal with a talent for music, and
if he ever stops attracting customers, would it really be that hard to believe that Pasqually
might just decide to finish the job? It's also made clear that Pasqually isn't
paying the members of his band anything beyond keeping your own life. In the direct to video movie Chuck E Cheese
in the Galaxy 5000, we see a kid who needs some serious cash for his family's tractor. Notice how little the performers are able
to cough up to help him. Also notice who doesn't lay any money on the
table? Pasqually. They even make mention that the performers
could get jobs to help them earn money, meaning that standing up on stage performing under
Pasqually rule doesn't pay. It's here that we get this gem of information. You can pay them a fair wage. That's an idea. They can participate in a dangerous intergalactic
space race. Didn't see that one coming did ya? And despite it being dangerous, Pasqually
is more than eager to sign him up for it. Now, talking about just this movie alone would
merit its own video. Let's just say that everyone is very...excited
to be hanging out with each other. Chickens with mice. Mice with humans. Humans with multiple humans. Chickens with multiple humans. The adult time relations between characters
is a bigger plot point than you'd expect for a badly CGI film extension to a children's
restaurant mascot. Side note, just wanted to take a minute to
point out that Jasper, the dog here, is reading Steinbeck's of Mice and Men. What even is this movie? Anyway back to the point. Pasquali is holding these innocent animals
hostage and is more than willing to sacrifice their safety if it means money for him. And that's not all. He's always wiping away any evidence of his
misdeeds. Remember, he's in control of the company. This is his restaurant and his business. So is it weird that two months after Chuck
E Cheese's orphan story came out, one that was written by Chuck E himself, the restaurant's
official YouTube channel releases a video showcasing the exact same story, except with
one huge difference; This one paints Pasqually in a positive light. Oh, yeah? He offered to help you out? Was that before or after you threatened to
bludgeon him with a rolling pin? And don't you for a minute think that this
is some sort of corporate rebrand or anything. This is Pasqually actively gaslighting us
and Chuck E. In another video on the YouTube channel, the cast is looking at a photo album
of past memories. In it, we get this. It's all lies. The photo album is filled with lies. Pasqually is feeding them false memories. For now at least. You see, I think Chuck E's days are numbered. Pasqually now knows that his star mouse is
becoming a liability, not only telling the dirty secrets of his backstory, but also drawing
in fewer customers by the year with his singing. That's why in mid 2020, Pasqually decided
to relaunch his own self-named brand Pasqually’s Pizza & Wings. It's the same food Chuck E Cheese, but delivered. A ghost kitchen that is owned and operated
and starring him. Pasqually saw that Chuck E’s side of the
story had the potential of bringing bad press. He knew that having his name linked to the
attempted murder of everyone's favorite mouse wouldn't be so good. So Pasqually did the one thing that he could
do. He used the company's platforms to release
a version of the story which painted him in a better light, all while building his own
personal brand on the side. And the true motive for all of it? Well, as we see on the website for Chuck E
Cheese in Jordan; the country of JordanPasqually is a man who dreams of being the best pizza
maker and entertainer the world has ever seen. But for years he's played second fiddle to
the rat. No more! Chuck E served his purpose. In the beginning, he was a way for Pasqually
to get famous. But now that Chuck E Cheese's brand is known
the world over, it's time for Pasqually to make his move. He knows that he can't achieve his dreams
if Chuck E stays in the picture, but he also just can't get rid of them either without
people noticing. He needs a way to get out of Chuck E's shadow
without drawing too much attention. Relaunching Pasqually’s Pizza would be his
only chance at branching out, a way that he could finally shake the Chuck E Cheese moniker
and make a name for himself before finally closing the curtain on the rat. I mean, let's be honest. Over the years, the Chucky Cheese brand has
had a total of 32 different members go missing from the lineup where they all go? Pasqually sure seemed in a hurry to get rid
of them. And isn't it weird that Helen, Jasper and
Mr. Munch didn't call out the fake memories when they were looking at that album earlier? It's because they know better. They know that they have to play along. That's how they've lasted so long. But Chuck? He’s the one calling out the mistruths. He's the one out of the loop. And pretty soon he's going to be cut out of
a lot more than that. But, hey, do you like getting free stuff just
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