Chuck E. Cheese Restaurants = hotbeds of violent crime

[Maister]

http://sec.online.wsj.com/article/SB...364889613.html

Anyone else catch the Wall Street Journal article on how Chuck E. Cheese (I prefer Charles Emerson Cheese) restaurants are on many police departments’ radars due tothe frequent assault and drunk & disorderly calls they seem to generate. Biker bars are evidently much safer by comparison.

Guess there are some interesting dynamics going on with this. The first time I heard about Chuck E Cheese was during a plan review when I learned they were applying for a liquor license to serve beer – I thought at the time how strange beer in a kiddie pizza joint? until a fellow planner who had children explained ‘believe me the idea of offering the parents beer is nothing short of GENIUS’. I didn’t fully appreciate this sentiment until I had a child of my own!

Do you think CEC restaurants attract so much violence because of exes meeting there on neutral ground with the kids and they proceed to get into fights about things like custody and support payments while they’re getting sauced?

Why do you think Chuck E. Cheese restaurants are hotbeds of violence?

[boiker]

It sounds like Vegas but the machines never really pay out?

[mendelman]

Parental instinct.

Your kid gets "bullied" by some other kid. You're likkered up and decide to administer your own discipline on the bully, but unfortunately that kid's parent is also likkered up and ready to take you to town.

Fighting ensues.

Also, since many parents/kids frequent Mr. Cheese's establishment in groups, there is also the wondrous potential of gang warfare.

[Duke Of Dystopia]

Parental instinct.

Your kid gets "bullied" by some other kid. You're likkered up and decide to administer your own discipline on the bully, but unfortunately that kid's parent is also likkered up and ready to take you to town.

Fighting ensues.

I concur wholehartedly!

Great entertainment though!

[southsideamy]

I'm in the CEC portion of my lifespan right now - twin four year olds think that it's the greatest place on Earth. We actually got my son potty trained with a combination of sticker charts and CEC rewards.

Between the horrible service by pimple faced teenagers, the completely unedible pizza, warm beer, hundreds of screaming kids (also crying because they can't have a turn in the monster truck), loud mechanical singing bears/monkeys, and the always constant exposure to e coli in the ball pit.......I have no idea what would bring anyone to violence in that place.

I feel slightly violent after leaving there. Like I want to kick the cat or my husband when I get home.

It's just a horrible combination of the worst elements of modern commerce and other people's kids. Ugh. I think Hell is a gigantic Chunk E. Cheese.

[zman]

About 10-15 years ago, there was a violent double murder at a CEC in the Denver area. I could see the theory about fights though.

God, I hope that if I have kids, I have the wearwithall to say "NO!" when/if they ask about going there...

[hilldweller]

http://sec.online.wsj.com/article/SB...364889613.html
Why do you think Chuck E. Cheese restaurants are hotbeds of violence?

Free-flowing beer. Parents go there to get hammered under the auspices of kiddie fun and domestic disputes occur.

CEC slogan:
"Where a kid can be a kid and a parent can be a drunken lout."

[Planit]

God, I hope that if I have kids, I have the wearwithall to say "NO!" when/if they ask about going there...

Don't worry Z, one of your future kids friends will have a birthday party there and you'll have to attend. It's part of the deal

[Raf]

God, I hope that if I have kids, I have the wearwithall to say "NO!" when/if they ask about going there...

Sorry dude there is no way around it...but the good news is you can be a pro at the mole wack and skiball to win your kid a crapticular prize.

[otterpop]

I wouldn't want to eat at any restaurant whose mascot is a rat. I feel rats have no place in restaurants. It is not hygenic. And apparently this one has stayed so long that the managers decided to give him a sweatshirt.

"Hey, Mike, send Chuck-e-cheese out front. Some of the kids want to meet him?"

"Can't. He's dead. I told you guys not to set out the traps last night."

[zman]

Don't worry Z, one of your future kids friends will have a birthday party there and you'll have to attend. It's part of the deal

Sorry dude there is no way around it...but the good news is you can be a pro at the mole wack and skiball to win your kid a crapticular prize.

Hmmm... me thinks it is time to buy that ranch/vineyard in the backwaters of Uruguay or better yet, begin my co-housing hippie commune off the grid. Raise my kids that way (and have a better setting for generating my crackpot schemes and crazy theories... )

[Chet]

The local CEC's had to surrender thier liquor license in order to remain in business. I didn't realize the overall company has this reputation..

[The One]

Free-flowing beer. Parents go there to get hammered under the auspices of kiddie fun and domestic disputes occur.

CEC slogan:
"Where a kid can be a kid and a parent can be a drunken lout."

Zman is right, there was a nasty double or triple homicide at a CEC over a decade ago in the Denver/Aurora area

Both my wife and I have witnessed nasty domestic disputes at CEC's in Florida We aren't fans anymore....not that we really were in the first place Our recent visits took place during other kids birthday parties and we always know where the nearest exit is..... Lucky for us, Arizona isn't a hotbed of CEC construction

[Veloise]

If it becomes known to you that your step-parent auditioner has a child who shares your b-day, run like hell.

You do not want to spend your birthday at the subject franchise, even on an every-other-year decree.

[btrage]

I'm well versed in CEC having two daughters under 6. We probably go 3 times a year. They aren't that bad, although it depends on which one you go too. The problems start when there's just to many people in there with all the kids running around. I've never seen any instances of conflict, but I'm sure it happens. We tend to go on weeknights, when there's hardly anyone there.

And I've never had an adult beverage there. I think I would feed too weird.

[wahday]

I don't think they serve beer at CECs around here. At least, I've never noticed it (and its not the kind of thing I would miss...).

What I HAVE noticed at these places are nothing more than Gamblers Training Headquarters. Comparing my experiences visiting Atlantic City and CEC, I'd have to say the only major differences are the age of the clientele and the lack of an all-you-can-eat shrimp bar. Seriously, I frickin' HATE Chuck E. Cheeses! There, I said it

Add to the gambling angle the atrociously horrifying and CHEAP plastic crapola the kids get to "buy" with all of their "winnings" and I leave every birthday party full of lots and lots of pent of frustration for the less desirable facets of our society.

Now that I know alcohol is in the mix, I'm even more excited about CEC! If there is anything better than driving home drunk in the middle of the day, its doing it with your kids in the car...

Sorry if I have offended any fans, but I feel better now...

[Chet]

Ironically, one of cyburbia's banner ads is a CEC coupon.

[btrage]

I don't think they serve beer at CECs around here. At least, I've never noticed it (and its not the kind of thing I would miss...).

What I HAVE noticed at these places are nothing more than Gamblers Training Headquarters. Comparing my experiences visiting Atlantic City and CEC, I'd have to say the only major differences are the age of the clientele and the lack of an all-you-can-eat shrimp bar. Seriously, I frickin' HATE Chuck E. Cheeses! There, I said it

Add to the gambling angle the atrociously horrifying and CHEAP plastic crapola the kids get to "buy" with all of their "winnings" and I leave every birthday party full of lots and lots of pent of frustration for the less desirable facets of our society.

Now that I know alcohol is in the mix, I'm even more excited about CEC! If there is anything better than driving home drunk in the middle of the day, its doing it with your kids in the car...

Sorry if I have offended any fans, but I feel better now...

Not that I'm a huge fan of CEC, but I dont' see the connection to gambling. I don't see it as any different than the video arcades of the 1980s where all the pre-teen/teenage kids hung out.

However, if you can convince me it leads to gambling, I will therefore have an excuse to no longer take my kids there.

[Raf]

Ironically, one of cyburbia's banner ads is a CEC coupon.

I am no cyber slueth but i think google chooses it because we are talking about "chuckyecheesy" (as my daughter calls it). Set up a FAC about Best buy and sure enough it will pop up.

[wahday]

Not that I'm a huge fan of CEC, but I dont' see the connection to gambling. I don't see it as any different than the video arcades of the 1980s where all the pre-teen/teenage kids hung out.

However, if you can convince me it leads to gambling, I will therefore have an excuse to no longer take my kids there.

Well, I have no hard proof. But the whole dynamic of putting money (or, rather, tokens) into the machines and then getting "winnings" back in the form of tickets which are then cashed in for goods seems an awful lot like casino action (cashing in your chips, as it were). At a video arcade, you put money in and play the game and that's it. I guess you could argue one gets "winnings" in the form of being able to play longer if you are doing well at the game, but it seems/feels different to me.

Don't get me wrong, my sarcastic rant aside, I have never banned my children from going to a birthday party there, but I do usually walk away feeling disturbed. Fortunately, my kids don't seem too interested in it anyway.

I think maybe the creepiest part is when the guy (or gal) comes out in the Chuck suit and leads the kids in song and dance. Totally weird. I know its like Mickey Mouse, but at least he isn't ENTIRELY a character made up for a commercial purpose (just turned into a corporate shill). I mean he DID appear in a few cartoons. I'd have to look into Chuck's filmography, but I don't think there is much of note beyond the B movie circuit...

Or maybe the animatronic Chuck and friends playing in their "band" is weirder. Its really hard to decide...

[WSU MUP Student]

Between the horrible service by pimple faced teenagers, the completely unedible pizza, warm beer, hundreds of screaming kids (also crying because they can't have a turn in the monster truck), loud mechanical singing bears/monkeys, and the always constant exposure to e coli in the ball pit...

I went to McDonald's for lunch today and as I was walking out, I saw a few kids playing in the playscape and because of your post, the first thing I thought of was, "What horrible mothers... letting their kids play in the e coli pit!"

Thanks.

[southsideamy]

I went to McDonald's for lunch today and as I was walking out, I saw a few kids playing in the playscape and because of your post, the first thing I thought of was, "What horrible mothers... letting their kids play in the e coli pit!"

Thanks.

Glad I could help. It's the same motherly instinct that makes me yell "not safe" when I see a kid riding a bike without a helmet.

[Zoning Goddess]

I took my kid once, to a birthday party for another kid. We didn't stay long. It was chaos. Six, at least, birthday parties, all ages. Makes McDonald's look like paradise. I told him, I don't care who it is, what it is, we are never, ever going back. And we didn't.

[Maister]

New twist on the usual Chuck e cheese assaults. Seems that folks are now smacking the mouse around!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29493309/

I don't think they serve beer at CECs around here. At least, I've never noticed it (and its not the kind of thing I would miss...).

What? You don't stop off at the local CEC after a hard day at work and meet with coworkers for beers?

[Gedunker]

Glad I could help. It's the same motherly instinct that makes me yell "not safe" when I see a kid riding a bike without a helmet.

Perhaps you've bought into the negative tactics anti-bicyclists and helmet manufacturers have been selling. Take a look at this .pdf for an authoritative counterpoint.