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What’s at the center of the Venn diagram connecting fun, pepperoni, and mice? Chuck E. Cheese, of course.
TV producers are banking that the union of pizza and rodentia will spark nostalgia on a level even Pizza Rat couldn’t fathom in the form of a new Chuck E. Cheese–themed gameshow, on which adults will compete by playing all the games they loved as kids. The Hollywood Reporter credits the production company Magical Elves (Top Chef, Nailed It!) with pulling the idea out of the ball pit.
“The format will feature stand-alone comedic physical challenges where duos of ‘big kids’ (a.k.a. adults) will compete over supersized arcade games — including pinball, air hockey, alley roller, and the human claw,” reads the marketing copy for the show. “The top ticket earning duo will get the chance to exchange their tickets for prizes off the massive version of the iconic Chuck E. Cheese prize wall.”
The production company has released no details about when the show would go into production or where or when people would be able to watch it.
The announcement follows the success of Peacock’s surprise horror hit, Five Nights at Freddy’s, which dramatized the video game series in which people survive a stay at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a barely (bearly?) veiled nod to Chuck E. Cheese. The last season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia also featured a similarly themed episode that took place at Risk E. Rat’s Pizza and Amusement Center, where the show’s “Gang” got drunk and played all the games. And, of course, the show follows gameshows like Family Game Night (basically a Hasbro ad) and Squid Game: The Challenge, on which adults played kids’ games.
The Chuck E. Cheese show is far from a nostalgia bid, though. The company, founded nearly half a century ago on the idea that kids simply adore animatronic vermin, is still thriving with hundreds of locations around North America.
