Retro History: Showbiz Pizza Place 🍕

[@therockafire]

This video was extremely accurate. Almost uncannily accurate considering how many mistakes I have read about this. The only area I think could have been more accurately portrayed is that I, Aaron Fechter, went on to experiment and invent and market dozens of new entertainment and communication devices and am continuing to work on solutions for our world's energy problems as I was doing before I built my first talking rabbit in 1975. Although I have experienced financial ups and downs, I have never declared bankruptcy, or lost my home, or my company building, or even been in debt, and I am now working to bring my Rock-afire Explosion back into mainstream consciousness through many avenues. I have a beautiful and loving lady in my life, 3 daughters and 5 grandchildren and can still do more push ups than most men half my age. I continue to believe Nolan Bushnell is mostly smoke and mirrors and takes credit for things he did not do.

[@smartyflix6898]

Awesome, thanks for stopping by to give some additional insight! Glad to hear you're still continuing to find ways to innovate and bring positivity to the world. Good luck with the new Rock-afire, it'd be neat to see what a new generation of technological innovations could bring to the space!

[@showbizgreensboro8956]

@@smartyflix6898 he's not making a new rockafire, he's just trying to put it out there more

[@corybonnichsen1913]

Aaron - have you considered making traveling rockafire bands that can pop up easily at a private home or park? Taking the show to the customer may be a worthy evolution to the original concept. Lots of middle aged money would pay for nostalgia.

[@Willow1984Tree]

Mr. Fechter, your creation of Rockafire Explosion made me a very happy kid. There's something so magical about the stage, lights, curtains, and characters coming to life. I cherish the memories and love that there are videos of your work out there. Thank you!!!

[@Pushing_Daisies]

Didn’t expect to see the actual creator of the rockslafire explosion here, wow

[@benmiddleton9984]

Genius idea. Showbiz was awesome in the eighties when I was a kid

[@eugenemckinney8736]

Right Where a kid can still be a kid

[@brookebenton8192]

I was born in 82. I miss this place! Being a kid in the 80's was the best!!!

[@smartyflix6898]

It's a pretty narrow band of people that remember and appreciate Showbiz, born roughly 78 to 82.

[@afc2333]

Showbiz in the 80’s was awesome. I live in Saginaw Michigan and I have the greatest memories of it!

[@smartyflix6898]

Small world, I actually lived in Saginaw and went to the Showbiz there in the 80s. Perhaps we crossed paths. 🙂

[@afc2333]

@ I loved the ball pit back then! I’d always find tokens, sometimes cash and other oddities!

[@xxrsesxx404]

I think that show biz should come back plz at least get 5 likes

[@peterjv8748]

Back in the 70s/early 80s Chuck E Cheese was also know for the make-your-own-sundae bar. Soft serve vanilla, tons of butterscotch and as many sprinkles as I could fit on it, for me. I couldn't tell you a single other topping they had because I cared not.

[@marcogodinez1039]

Ğäño que no

[@ella-tw9nx]

Thank you I have been trying to find a good video explaining it all perfect

[@smartyflix6898]

You're welcome, and thanks for watching!

[@calypojr]

Loved this place as a kid...miss it for sure... the 80s was an amazing time to be a kid

[@Wenda_TheKillerCat]

I'm 10 rn. When I was like 8 I wanted to research everything I could about showbiz n cec I wish I could of went to the og chuck e cheese pizza time theater or a showbiz pizza but most showbiz restaurants are either cec or abandoned

[@gmrgamingrm]

Don't forget the fact that Aaron Fecther now has a KZbin channel dedicated to the Rock afire Explosion called "therockafire" where he makes new shows, repairs animatronics, and still sells his animatronics and merch to this day!

[@zippymufo9765]

He isn't making new animatronics. He's just making crap for the influx of children who discovered RAE via FNAF.

[@gmrgamingrm]

@@zippymufo9765 You do know I made this comment like 3 years ago right? I know now that all this crap I said wasn't correct. And for the record, when I said "new shows" I meant showtapes as in all his videos from the 2000s.

[@annrush632]

Well, now I know what happened to ShowBiz! I was always getting those 2 places confused.

[@NostalgiaMan]

Showbiz pizza is better then Chuck r cheese like if you agree

[@eugenemckinney8736]

Agreed

[@rustedsunday7489]

Arron Fechter does tours still nobody mentions that on any of these amazing history videos

[@kikimusha777]

Aaron charges $300 to take a tour smh

[@zippymufo9765]

@@kikimusha777 He's a rip off artist. Selling those "starter animatronic kits" for $3,000 when before they were $200 on his website.

[@mattmc5069]

The last ad I remember for showbiz pizza was in 1990

[@ClassicTVMan1981X]

That was the year the final original ShowBiz Pizza Place store opened, in Richmond, VA.

[@Seiferboi]

I've only been to Showbiz Pizza once. Literally the best pizza ever, and I still remember how it smells and tastes! The guy in the bear costume walked around the place and I was really young, probably 4 or 5 years old, and the bear scared me so much I started crying lol!

[@D2Kprime]

I have been chasing a pizza taste comparable to Showbiz Pizza Place for over 30 years. Nothing comes close. 😃

[@jessicabecerra745]

Great video man!

[@NolanRollin]

This video was uploaded on my birthday

[@patrick74161]

Cool Video! You've got all your facts straight, luckily. Fundamentally, ShowBiz never stopped existing - they just took the CEC assets and started using those instead..In Fact, the CECE Corporate Headquarters in Irving, TX was originally Brock Hotel Management's until CECE moved to a different facility last year. There is several RAE sets still in operation, but they're mostly in bad shape and you can still visit Aaron in Orlando, FL for CEI's Warehouse tours and the "Behind The Scenes" channel - a $6/Month premium subscription where you can see new products, ideas, and archival videos from Aaron.

[@smartyflix6898]

Very cool! And yeah, it took a lot of digging and sorting to untangle what everything looked like. Glad I got it pretty close!

[@ItsSamHussey]

I don't want to reveal to much but when I'm older I'm creating my own chuck e cheese like restaurants

[@davidus_ille_qui_somnia]

You still planning on it?

[@ItsSamHussey]

@@davidus_ille_qui_somnia yup!

[@loisguardado1848]

That was a amazing about what happened in the past of showbiz pizza and chuck e cheese 👌👍🥰❤💖✨.

[@loisguardado1848]

LOL I love it 😎🤘👌👍🥰💖

[@adamharris7775]

Showbiz Pizza was cool.

[@smartyflix6898]

Yeah it was! Thanks for watching!

[@Timr2]

Great video! Mostly factual. When the Rock-a-fire Explosion was still in development, they used The Wolf Pack 5 in their first location. It was similar to the RAFE though.

[@smartyflix6898]

Good information, thanks for watching! If you liked it, consider visiting my new home at tilvids.com !

[@riverdealer]

i saw 'Rock-a-fire Explosion' at Odyssey Fun World

[@megadanthegamer2995]

right, but Odyssey Fun World's Rock afire Explosion is in a uh....questionable condition.

[@areguapiri]

Showbiz was a true experience. Especially because of the animatronics. Nowadays, Chuck E Cheese's is a boring place with only games. There is no show or theme like they had at the Showbiz themed restaurants. It was a much better atmosphere and experience.

[@showbizgreensboro8956]

well, some cchuck e. cheese locations still have animatronics

[@camoking3609]

The chuck E cheese placed I've been too still had a chuck e robot But no one else

[@jaspert.jowlsanimatronicch6032]

The showbiz gang were pretty nice

[@ga_tronix]

2:08 my worst nightmare

[@asrexproductions]

Until this video (which I'm watching in 2023) I had always believed that Showbiz Pizza was the original #astounding 😯❗

[@smartyflix6898]

It's a really complicated development, between the two restaurants.

[@ClassicTVMan1981X]

Bob Brock was supposed to have adhered to Nolan Bushnell's agreement to establish up to 300 stores in 16 eastern and mid-western states by 1984, and this original plan was derailed after Brock ran into Aaron Fechter, whose Creative Engineering had (in Brock's view) better animatronics than what Chuck E. Cheese's was using, hence the birth of ShowBiz Pizza Place.

[@danielelsupremokrak1146]

I love it.

[@Davidjon1946]

We had two showbiz pizza locations here in Buffalo ny some of my best childhood memories were spent inside these one closed down and the other became this place called major magics horrible !!!!

[@thecarsnerd244]

I wish they mirge again

[@LoneShadow-zn6yw]

the bite of 1987

[@sierrasrecordsandfixations]

i heard rock-a-fire-explosion exsited before chuck e.cheese

[@smartyflix6898]

It's complicated. Watch the video, the timeline is a bit muddy at first. :)

[@picknittytv3953]

sierra the cupcake overlord it did

[@fusionprotogen5765]

Showbiz Fun palace no i know chuck e cheese was first

[@namelast8944]

sierra the cupcake overlord same isn't that the real thing, because showbiz pizza first invented the idea

[@JoCox4048]

Chuck E. Cheese’s-1977 Showbiz-1980

[@sonyawilliams5935]

My mom and aunt went to showbiz when they were kids so, this is my aunt's email

[@kenyattathehammerofgod5883]

I'd pay for that pizza recipe now......!!!

[@jaspert.jowlsanimatronicch6032]

2:07 that's too many

[@Plt1lll]

showbiz pizza place is good

[@rickyfrangetello7603]

Nice one

[@CoasterMan13Official]

Aka Billy Bob's Pizza Circus

[@Cofkie]

Will you ever talk more about uncle klunk because I can’t find accurate info

[@smartyflix6898]

I honestly have no idea who that is...

[@Cofkie]

@@smartyflix6898 he was an animatronic in showbiz pizza who was only around for a few months before a lot of complaints about him glitching started to show eventually they had to scrap him but again idk as I can’t find accurate information on it

[@mfuji02]

good ending Bushnell made a comeback after losing it all

[@jaspert.jowlsanimatronicch6032]

3:33 NOOOOO

[@smartyflix6898]

lol

[@dylanstevenunger6059]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[@Antonio25668]

Nice

[@PunchablePancake]

And im going to go see one of the ones still remaining in a while :)

[@Catticus405]

ALL IN in West Virginia

[@WindowsEater]

Mountain Mama

[@megatron8461]

I didn’t know that driving force behind Atari manned a pizza joint. Wasn’t he responsible for this thing called Pong?

[@jaspert.jowlsanimatronicch6032]

2:51 WE WERE SO CLOSE

[@ThePickleMan_]

jasper t. jowls animatronic channel yeah

[@savafanbryan]

Showbiz was the bomb!! All the fun and entertainment. Now reduced to Chuck E Cheese and no full band and horrible arcade games. Showbiz should have been and always be the Kid's Place to go not Chuck E. Cheese's

[@eugenemckinney8736]

Where a kid stopped being a kid

[@emontrewaters3530]

Chuck E. Cheese is fun to Why you think showbiz came out with their own place

[@primusvsunicron1]

Needs more Pong

[@hunterleach5710]

It's really bad that they did concept unification to a really such good show it is not fair to The Rock afire explosion I believe Chuck-E-Cheese would do way better if they gave their animatronics an upgrade and completely changed Chuck-E-Cheese characters to all rock afire explosion characters and also the stage needs to have curtains and it can't have video screens also the animatronics shows should be seen without the lights on and also their animatronics need to get an upgrade and it needs to have a show selector in the animatronics need to be interactive with the technology we have now they can put microphones into the animatronics and even the animatronics can respond to kids

[@smartyflix6898]

Great idea, definitely could be done better today!

[@hunterleach5710]

I agree with the technology they have today they can make their show way better

[@muppetsretrofan8873]

I know you like the RAE, but the CEC characters are cool too [except for the Rockstar era versions], and people have nostalgia for the CEC characters too. There can be room for both CEC and RAE.

[@hunterleach5710]

@@muppetsretrofan8873 the pizza time players are the best show stage that they made and it was really awesome that you could crawl under the stage and there was also a black light room under the stage look up Smitty's super service station on KZbin and if the rock afire explosion had that then the characters would have to be high up for room for the more advanced air valves for the more advanced animatronic characters the only thing I did not like about the Pizza Time Players was there was no curtains and they just sat Dead In Plain Sight waiting to be operated

[@emontrewaters3530]

Or how about they can just have All showbiz or Billy bob wonderlands up the street from Chuck E. Cheese and yea they should have upgraded the animatronics and have them doing the segments/show sicomes thingy they use to do

[@Sid3300]

What year was the smile america advert. Was that after or before showbiz pizza and cec because one company?

[@smartyflix6898]

Not sure on that one, sorry! Check showbizpizza.com as they are a massive resource for all things Showbiz Pizza.

[@ThePickleMan_]

Sid3300 before because it said pizza time thearte

[@emontrewaters3530]

1982-84

[@ftv2376]

Well your kinda wrong the only reason that showbiz isn't around cuase Aron fechter didn't wanna give them the copyrights to use and change the Rae so Cei and Brock went separate ways. Also I'm going on a tour of cei this month so I'll tell you the real truth even if you think I'm incorrect

[@smartyflix6898]

Cool, thanks for sharing!

[@therockafire]

This video was extremely accurate. Almost uncannily accurate considering how many mistakes I have read about this. The only area I think could have been more accurately portrayed is that I, Aaron Fechter went on to experiment and invent and market dozens of new entertainment and communication devices and am continuing to work on solutions for our world's energy problems as I was doing before I built my first talking rabbit in 1975. Although I have experienced financial ups and downs, I have never declared bankruptcy, or lost my home, or my company building, or even been in debt, and I am now working to bring my Rock-afire Explosion back into mainstream consciousness through many avenues. I have a beautiful and loving lady in my life, 3 daughters and 5 grandchildren and can still do more pushups than most men half my age. I continue to believe Nolan Bushnell is mostly smoke and mirrors and takes credit for things he did not do.

[@dylanstevenunger6059]

You’re Awesome Dude 😎

[@zippymufo9765]

@@therockafire The video wasn't about the history of you and your CE company, it was about Showbiz.

[@TheFunArchivist]

I hate how you showed a side by side picture of what the stage looked like when it was a Rockafire... You used the wrong photo. Those were cyberamics, which were PTT's Animatronic designs

[@Prosecondamendment2A]

Back ground music

[@ttv_fnaf6330]

Chucky cheese is always my favorite. :) may the force be will all.☺

[@smartyflix6898]

It is certainly always an experience!

[@ThePickleMan_]

I like showbiz pizza better than Cec because there's no more pizza time thearte

[@alextubegamer7467]

SHOWBIZ PIZZA PLACE IS MORE BETTER THAN CHUCK.E.CHEESE

[@showbizgreensboro8956]

ok learn grammar lol

[@namelast8944]

Whyy!!!!! 😭😭😭💔

[@dylanstevenunger6059]

I Know Bro What The Heck Dude 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[@kenyattathehammerofgod5883]

Why did the pizza recipe change though.....???? Showbiz was so much better.....

[@JessAlekzandr]

ShowBiz was always better CEC sucks period.

[@emontrewaters3530]

CEC sucks now since they gave away the animatronics but they didn’t suck then Ngl showbiz was better but they was no different from Chuck E. Cheese except they did the same thing 😂

[@kieransmusictube7463]

200 subscriber

[@Imjustkay]

i would prefer showbiz reason:all the animtronics are cool while chuck-e-cheese... they dont even have a band for chuck-e-cheese anymore i still go to chuck-e-cheese though i dont want to be rude just saying :I

[@Teresa_a70]

Why does Robert Brock look like Willem Dafoe

[@countyfair74]

I've never heard Willem Defoe before. Sometimes people would ask if he was game show host Bob Barker.

[@Teresa_a70]

Did you watch Sam Ramis Spider-Man

[@countyfair74]

@@Teresa_a70 No, I did not see it. Robert Brock was my dad so I'm just used to seeing the family resemblance.

[@picknittytv3953]

I fucking hate Chuck E. Cheese

[@emontrewaters3530]

Damn

[@Tabth3778]

everybody gansta til 6 kids go missing

[@Joemama-np3id]

To sum it up fnaf happened

[@shutdown3271]

I don't like Chuck cheese now

[@dylanstevenunger6059]

Why

[@fnaf-il8wb]

Fnaf

[@jakerupp3840]

Bankrupt now

[@edwinjimenez4077]

SORRY

[@eugenemckinney8736]

I loved Showbiz pizza place better than Yuck E Cheese Suck E Cheese F$#k E Cheese

[@blackbusinessfocusgroup4012]

Chuck E. Cheese

[@edwinjimenez4077]

CEC KILL BILLY BOB

[@DaveDEntertainment]

Come join our ALL-NEW Showbiz Pizza/CEC group with SUPER-RARE pix & vids!!! facebook.com/groups/showbizchuckecheese/