Chuck E. Cheese is all grown-up. Type of.
Brea Mall is now dwelling to a Chuck’s Arcade, the primary location in California and tenth within the U.S. When the corporate unveiled the idea earlier this yr, headlines branded it as an “adult” Chuck E. Cheese. There’s some reality in that, however it’s not the complete story.
Mix the phrase “adult” and “arcade” and recognizable areas — say, Dave & Buster’s — immediately come to thoughts. Right here in SoCal, we even have Two Bit Circus in Santa Monica, which marries retro and trendy video games with beer and cocktails. Chuck’s Arcade isn’t all that just like both.
Chuck’s Arcade has a merchandise sales space with classic appears.
(Gabriella Angotti-Jones / For The Instances)
However we had been intrigued by its promise of retro gaming and its makes an attempt to enchantment to a much less kid-focused viewers. You received’t, for example, encounter a pizza celebration stuffed with 7-year-olds right here.
So what’s going to you discover? And can it possess the classic arcade vibes many people are craving? With the corporate and its mouse mascot now a cool 48 years outdated, we weren’t certain what to anticipate. So we took a go to to Chuck’s Arcade looking for solutions.
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The place an grownup could be a ‘kidult’
It’s not stunning to come across a grown-up with fond reminiscences of Chuck E. Cheese. For me, I used to be hooked by the stilted-yet-charming robotic performances from their as soon as ubiquitous animatronic bands, wherein tunes had been delivered amid the clickety-clack of equipment. But a Chuck E. Cheese immediately is a fully-realized kid-focused video-game-inspired rec room, one the place digital flooring encourage a extra energetic type of play. David McKillips, president and chief govt of the corporate, says the agency’s core places closely goal these between the ages of three and eight.
And thus, Chuck’s Aracade, says McKillips, will fill a void. He’s hoping it faucets into the advertising section referred to as the “kidult” — grown-ups, maybe, who had been raised on video games and nonetheless cherish the considered crowding round a “Ms. Pac-Man” console. The kidult sector is booming, encompassing everybody from the so-called “Disney adult” to those that carry a Labubu doll as a trend accent. Assume anybody who believes {that a} childlike openness to play and silliness doesn’t should be eradicated by maturity.
David McKillips, president and chief govt of Chuck E. Cheese, poses for a portrait with a retired Mr. Munch determine.
(Gabriella Angotti-Jones / For The Instances)
So how does Chuck’s Arcade plan to succeed in the kidult? Its 3,600-square-foot area boasts 70 video games, together with a small — emphasis on small — retro part the place one will discover coin-op cupboards of “Tron,” “Centipede,” “Mortal Kombat” and a “Ms. Pac-Man” head-to-head arcade desk. And whereas a contemporary Chuck E. Cheese is school-cafeteria brilliant, Chuck’s Arcade is darkish, its black partitions and low lighting recalling the arcades of the ’80s and ’90s.
McKillips says Chuck’s Arcade “is appealing to the collectible market,” betting giant on grown-ups being drawn to its plethora of claw machines. There are additionally prize apparatuses devoted largely to Funko’s plastic collectible figurines.
It’s close to the mall meals court docket — which is a part of the enterprise technique
The Chuck E. Cheese firm has lengthy had it eye on the Brea Mall.
In an period when malls are being refocused to cater to a extra experience-based financial system — see, for example, the escape rooms of Westfield Century Metropolis, or Meow Wolf ultimately taking up a portion of what’s at the moment the Cinemark complicated at Howard Hughes L.A. — Chuck E. Cheese noticed a chance in Orange County.
One sport at Chuck’s Arcade could drop Chuck E. Cheese plushies.
(Gabriella Angotti-Jones / For The Instances)
“We’ve been trying to get in here for a year and a half,” says McKillips. “The foot traffic is phenomenal. The anchors are strong. They have a really solid food court.”
The meals court docket was a large promoting level.
“That’s where teens are congregating,” he says. “That’s where parents and kids are together. They’ll have a bite to eat and come over and play some games.”
There’s no booze … and even pizza
Right here’s a technique to consider Chuck’s Arcade: Think about a Chuck E. Cheese, however subtract the pizza and detract the drinks. In a single nook of Chuck’s Arcade rests an enormous Skittles machine, and there may be extra sweet accessible on the entrance counter. However the firm determined to go with no correct meals and beverage program for Chuck’s Arcade, that means these grown-up kidults received’t be sipping on booze or mocktails.
I informed McKillips I used to be stunned. At dwelling, I’m greater than 40 hours into “Donkey Kong Bananza,” however I wind down by taking part in the sport and having fun with a beer — one of many core advantages, I imagine, of being an authorized kidult.
McKillips argues that is truly a bonus for Chuck’s Arcade, permitting it to succeed in a grown-up viewers however nonetheless really feel family-friendly. Only one Chuck’s Arcade, he says, is supplied to serve beer, wings and pizza, and it’s in Kansas Metropolis, Mo.
“This is an arcade destination,” he provides. “We’re not hosting birthday parties. We don’t do [food & beverage] here. You’re going to come here and play games.”
The place’s the nostalgia? 
Chuck’s Arcade staffer Sabrina Hernadez checks out video games on the new Brea location hours earlier than it opens it doorways.
(Gabriella Angotti-Jones / For The Instances)
I needs to be the viewers for Chuck’s Arcade. I’ve fond reminiscences of the model.
Chuck E. Cheese, the character and the pizza chain, was the brainchild of Nolan Bushnell, finest referred to as the founding father of Atari. The franchise launched in 1977 in San José, first branded as Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time Theatre. As Chuck E. Cheese flourished all through the early ’80s, the unique animatronic figures had been a bit extra bawdy (Chuck was a smoker). Bushnell envisioned the preliminary Chuck E. Cheese robotic characters as leisure that appealed to the grown-ups whereas the youngsters performed video games within the neighboring room.
After I first heard of Chuck’s Arcade, I hoped the corporate was getting again a bit to its roots. And there’s a nostalgic contact right here and there. Other than the aforementioned number of classic video games, there’s additionally a Mr. Munch figurine, who’s displayed in a transparent case and doesn’t activate. Munch, a pleasant, purple-ish hairball of a creature, was as soon as the anchor of Chuck E. Cheese’s Make Consider Band.
Seeing that one determine handled as a museum piece felt like a half-hearted wave to followers who grew up with Chuck. And whereas claw gizmos and plastic collectible figurines aren’t my factor, I perceive their recognition and wouldn’t thoughts their presence if there was a better provide of old-school video games, and maybe some pinball machines.
With a digital key card for Chuck’s Arcade beginning at $10, the buy-in to check out the area isn’t giant, however this felt like a tentative step into maturity. In spite of everything, Chuck is nicely past consuming age. The mouse deserves a cocktail.
