It Doesn't Have to Be Your Brithday to Have Fun at Chuck E Cheese

“When Grandma Patty and Aunt Suzie come home, we’ll all go to Chuck E. Cheese’s,” my Mom aka. “Grandma Helen” promised Brianna, her great-granddaughter. True to her word, Mom had her three-generations of girls at Chuck E. Cheese within less than 24-hours of Suzie’s and my arrival in Greensburg. We weren’t celebrating a birthday as most people do when they go to this entertainment center. We simply wanted to enjoy the games and rides, laugh and play.

Chuck E. Cheese’s is “where a kid can be a kid” and where an adult doesn’t have to worry about losing children to abductors. Everyone in your party is hand stamped with a code. If the child’s code doesn’t match the adult’s, you won’t get pass the exit sentry. That’s just one of the many reasons why I like going to Chuck E. Cheese’s as much as our 4-year-old Brianna.

There are over 500 locations of Chuck E. Cheese’s in the country. The one we visited is located at Westmoreland Mall in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. A simple exchange of a ten-dollar bill gave us a cup full of tokens and access to games. Not unlike a casino, there’s audible cues that gives rise to excitement. There are rewards for a game well played in the form of tickets to exchange for prizes. And, there are good feelings when your visit is through.

Brianna could hardly wait to introduce her Aunt Suzie to a mechanical horse and a simulated riding course. Brianna demonstrated her skills first; then challenged equestrian trained Suzie to mount the horse. From there Brianna took a solo rocket ride. And, then she drove the Chuck E. Cheese car with Suzie as her frightened passenger.

Suzie shot some hoops. Brianna tested her skill at skeet ball. Both girls battled a simulated house fire to save the fictitious governor and fired shots at creepy monsters while on a jungle safari.

At one point, Brianna got so excited to play the next game that she dipped her hand in Suzie’s cup of Sprite instead of the cup holding the tokens. Opps! Eventually, the cup of tokens became empty. It emptied before the cup of Sprite did. So now the tough decision would not be which game or ride to go to next. The decision would be to select a prize using the accumulation of reward tickets.

Brianna studied the case. “Two of those, please,” she said pointing to the funny face spectacles.

August 4, 2008