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At least in my area, Chuck E Cheese is experiencing stiff competition from places like ClimbZone, a kid-oriented climbing gym and ropes course, and Altitude, a
by bunderbunder 2y ago
At least in my area, Chuck E Cheese is experiencing stiff competition from places like ClimbZone, a kid-oriented climbing gym and ropes course, and Altitude, a trampoline park for kids. They all have the arcade, albeit in somewhat scaled back form. Their food offerings are vestigial.
I've been to kids' birthday parties at all of these. Chuck E Cheese is the only one that doesn't have our kids asking to go back again on the ride home. They have a good time while they're there, but they don't perceive much "replay value".
In light of that, this seems like a good move on Chuck E Cheese's part. They arguably can't completely get rid of the show component for brand identity reasons, but converting it to screens probably reduces their cost structure enormously. And it could free up some floor space, which would let them shift the focus toward physical play. That is something that has a lot more novelty value for kids nowadays than it did when I was growing up. I think probably because the availability situation has flip-flopped: they live in an ocean of high quality passive entertainment, but opportunities to jump and run with a crowd of other kids are becoming increasingly hard to come by.
I still suspect it's too little too late though? Chuck E Cheese locations are physically too small to accommodate a really good indoor play space. They're typically in strip mall locations that don't offer the kind of floor and overhead space needed to install indoor play equipment that's up to modern standards for novelty.
- afavour 2y agoI can second this. Here in Brooklyn there was some big woop made about the local Chuck E Cheese getting a trampoline floor, seemingly a direct reaction to the arrival of these giant trampoline parks. We went to take a look and it was pretty sad, a tiny little area that had a time limit for each kid to manage demand. But like you say, they're stuck. There's a great (I mean, relatively speaking) trampoline park in the city but it's out in an industrial area where they could easily find a space the size of a football field. The Chuck E Cheese is in a shopping mall and clearly has no extra space to use.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- conductr 2y agoThe couple we frequent have had digital screen "bands" at least the last 5 years and the kids mostly just ignore it. They usually have someone wear a mascot uniform and come dance during the main event, but most kids could care less. They're over in the arcade area. The addition of the trampoline area just occurred recently and the whole time we were their they had a teammate chasing kids off of it because most of them didn't have the necessary grippy socks. Initial observations on my end was that it's going to cost them more to manage it than it will bring in in revenue. We go there sometimes alone because my son is obsessed with a particular arcade they have and it's like a special treat to take him, outside of birthday parties the place seems dead. Also, I never see anyone actually eat there. I think birthday parties is their entire business at this point. It's even a joke amongst our parent groups that if you are late to plan something, just do Chuck E Cheese because it's easy and pretty much always available. The kids enjoy it either way
- DSMan195276 2y agoThe odd part to me is that back when I was a kid Chuck E Cheese _did_ have a play area section, with at least a tube climbing thing, ball pit, etc. When I took my daughter there a few years ago though it was nothing but arcade games, and I think it was the same one my parents used to take me too. IMO this is an extra bad move for them because it means they're directly competing with all the arcade places near me and those are much better maintained (and/or have various other attractions).
- mikepurvis 2y agoCompeting with dedicated arcades and also competing with home video games. Like, the only arcade cabinets that are remotely of interest to me as an adult are the ones with a novel input mechanism— DDR, light gun games, and driving sims. Everything else feels kind of pointless when I can play the same thing at home with way better graphics and no predatory progression nonsense. A big climber and ballpit is 100x more novel to today's kids than a knockoff kart game or sidescrolling beat-em-up.
- antifa 2y agoMy Chuck E Cheese didn't have that, which is probably why I always preferred discovery zone (my NES at home was better than most arcades anyways).