chuck e. cheese

I didn't go to Chuck E. Cheese too much when I was a kid, but when I did it was a treat. I think the fact that I didn't go too much made each visit something I even looked forward to more. There weren't any near where I lived, but there was one a few miles from my grandparents' house, so that is the one I visited.

This weekend, Golden's mom said she wanted everyone to go to Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate Mother's Day because that is something that they did when Golden was a kid. It was something that NJ would enjoy as well. So, that is what we did on Saturday.

I had some concerns that there would not be anything there that someone as young as NJ would be able to enjoy Chuck E. Cheese's, but I was mistaken. There was plenty there that he liked to do. The only part of the night he did not seem to enjoy was leaving.

While we were there, I had plenty of time to observe the intricacies of how a Chuck E. Cheese store operates, and I had an epiphany. Chuck E. Cheese is essentially a casino for kids. I am sure that I am not the first to come to this conclusion, but this was the first time I drew the parallel. Given the big focus that some churches put on gambling and the casino environment, it is amazing to me that I have never heard anyone decry Chuck E. Cheese or Showbiz Pizza at any point in my life. Below is a sampling of the similarities that I saw.

• Casinos have chips and Chuck E. Cheese has tokens. Both of these imply to the person inside that they are not spending actual money.
• In a casino you hear "clink, clink, clink, clink" from the slot machines. One of the noises that you hear a lot at the cheesy mouse is the "click, clink, clink, clink" of the token machines.
• There are a lot of lights.
• The carpet is very busy.
• There are a collection of games that are fun enough that you don't really care if you get a payout, and there are a collection of games that you only play on the small chance of a big payout.
• The animatronic machines provide entertainment similar to the singers that sometimes work for casinos.
• In both situations the house always wins.
• Most importantly, almost every part of human nature that a casino is supposed to appeal to exists in the local Chuck E. Cheese.

It seems the only similarity I can't draw is that you have to pay for your drinks at Chuck E. Cheese. Then again, Mr. Pibb doesn't lead a person to spend money as freely as a mixed drink does.

After I have said all of that, this doesn't mean that we are going to keep our kids out of Chuck E. Cheese. It just means that I am going to try to be fully aware of what appeal the place has to them.