Topic: Did You Ever have a Birthday Party at an Arcade?

I guess the title speaks for itself. I remember at least once celibrating the big day at Chuck E. Cheese's as a kid. Pizza and video games are a hard combo to beat! So how about you?

Not that I remember, but the video games/pizza combo was hard to beat, and I don't think I ever did anything else on my birthday.

I've had my brithdays at Chuckie Cheese's a couple of time, maybe 2-3. My last arcade party was playdium when I was 12.

Chuck E. Cheese? Bah, we had the far superior Showbiz Pizza down here in the South when I was younger. Fun fact: it was actually Chuck E. Cheese's that went bankrupt and was purchased by Showbiz, but, for some unfathomable reason, they decided to use the Chuck E. Cheese name (and obnoxious character) for the new branding of the combined company.

i had a birthday at a hotel with a pool and some arcade games in the room

@wariowoods

Before you trash my Chuck, you should know that the establisment was founded by Atari's own Nolan Bushnell!

@Turbo Genesis 64

Yes, and like all things Atari, it failed from its own mediocrity it in the end .

Bushnell was directly competing with the Showbiz line to create the better show, but the latter was simply more impressive in every way (I find animatronics a fascinating topic). Anyhow, per Wikipedia, a description of the unique qualities of the Showbiz animatronics:

"Differing from their main competitor (Chuck E. Cheese's), the characters could mimic playing real instruments and had realistic facial expressions due to the use of latex masks (as used in Disney animatronics) as opposed to fabric and foam. The show also used a large amount of props and stage lighting effects which heightened the amount of perceived movement on the stage."

The characters were better, the music was better (played by some fairly interesting musicians), it was more technically impressive, and it was simply a better animatronic show than Bushnell could come up with.

What 4 year old freakin cares about who owns the place they're having fun at? I loved Chuck E's cause it was fun.

I've had a birthday party at a pizza place a few times and they had an arcade.

Nope. Never had a real birthday party as a kid.

Really Fox?

That's kind of sad.

I had a party as a kid at a placed called "Our Place", which was essentially just an arcade that was exclusively for private parties and events (though they may have also had certain "open" nights). This was the early to mid 80s, when it was still profitable to have a small business like that. It was one of THE places to have a birthday party (followed closely by the Hot Skates roller rink). They'd rig all the machines for free play (don't remember how many cabinets there were, but it had to be 2 or 3 dozen or more) for i think it was 3 hours (or longer obviously depending on the event/party). They even made a point to stay current and rotate games regularly.

Phenomenal place that has since closed up shop, i think sometime in the 90s or so.

EDIT: minor correction

Does anybody remember this place called Farrell's? They specalized in birthday parties too, and I used to see the ads on TV all durning the 80s, but I never went there.

Not a birthday party but there is this huge arcade next to the mgm studios.
I heard on thenews....youtube i mean.... that there is there arcade on wheels! I'd like to party with that.

There's another place like Chuck E. Cheese's that I went to as a kid and it was called Major Magic's. I don't know if it rings a bell with you guys or not?

I did too myself. I think I was 7-8 cant really rember (over 20 yrs ago now) but I got hit in the head with a golf club tryin to cut a tree down with it for some reason and had to go to the hospital and get my head stiched up before showin up at the party like 4 hours late with a huge bandage on my head

I don't really get the impression that arcades are as big with kids as they were in the 80s and 90s. I think it has to do with how all the big games seems to be console exclusives these days.

I went to Dave and Buster's for the first time the day I turned 10.

Had 2 at the arcade in the local mall. Great times. The arcade is long gone and the mall only has 1 store left in it.

The times they area changin...

No, But That Would Be Awesome!.