Mousecrap

Posted by Adam Kuban, August 25, 2004 at 10:51 AM

CREEP E. CHEESE A photo of Chuck E. Cheese, by Eric Neely, from his Chuck E. Cheese series. Thanks, Eric!

Who knew you had to be at least 18 to get into Chuck E. Cheese's?

The last time I went to the themepark-meets-arcade-meets-pizzeria playplace was for a friend's birthday party back in Third Grade. Under the auspices of an adult I was granted entr�e—oblivious to the fact that without parental supervision I would have been persona non grata in Mr. Cheese's domain. No, my perception was clouded by visions of skee-ball, Galaga, Elevator Action, and the prospect of watching creepy animatronically anthropomorphic animals perform a hillbilly jugband show. Oh, and by the thought of eating lots of pizza.

I outgrew all that stuff by Fourth Grade, and between then and the age of 18 I discovered good pizza—or at least what passes for good in the Kansas City suburbs. Long story short: I had no reason to go to Chuck E. Cheese's at age 17, which is the age of some guys suing the company in hopes that it will ease its age restrictions. From the Times Herald of Port Huron, Mich.:

Led by JR Brown, 17, of Fort Gratiot, [Mich.], about 10 teens are mounting an e-mail campaign to get Chuck E. Cheese's to lower its age requirements.

On Friday, JR and a friend were unable to enter Chuck E. Cheese's at Birchwood Mall because they were not 18 and were not accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.

"If we can get into R-rated movies, then we should be able to get into Chuck E. Cheese's," said JR, who will be a senior at Port Huron Northern High School.

Company policy mandates no one younger than 18 be admitted without a parent or guardian, said Brenda Holloway, spokeswoman for CEC Entertainment, parent company of Chuck E. Cheese's.

"Our restaurants are for families with young children," she said. "It can be very intimidating for them if large groups of teenagers come in to play the games."

This gives Slice an idea. The new Atlantic Terminal development in Downtown Brooklyn has a Chuck E. Cheese. Perhaps a Slice outing is in order? Anyone interested? Games, pizza, robotic rats. If I get a decent-size group, I'll see about setting a date. Probably mid-week after work, as there are lines out the door on weekends.

Archived Slice coverage on Chuck E. Cheese.

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Tags: Chuck E. Cheese, Oddities