My family went to Chuck E. Cheese's this weekend. My wife had gone to Chuck E. Cheese's when she was little, but I had never gone to one before, so when the opportunity came up we went.
Man, those folks know how to encourage people to spend money. It took me by surprise how effectively they did it, actually.
We were looking for food, so we got a pizza. The meal came with four tokens for the “fun stuff,” which basically just whetted our appetite. (Smart Move #1 on CEC's part.)
I didn't realize how adept a 2 1/2 year old was at finding the slot on a machine and putting a token in. Unbeknownst to us we were training our child to spend money and get immediately satisfying results. (Smart Move #2 on CEC's part.)
I also didn't realize how competitive my wife and I are at Skee Ball. The machines aren't just for kids. (Smart Move #3.)
Chuck E. Cheese's and the Nag Factor
Most importantly, there's The Nag Factor. (The book that I picked up this phrase from was Born To Buy.) We had gotten through the first couple of years with our daughter pretty nag-free, but not that day. Eventually we conquered her expectations (mainly by saying “OK, this is the last time”) but not until we had gone through a few bucks' worth of tokens. And boy, they go fast. (Smart Move #4 — they turn your kids against you. 😉 )
Conquer Chuck E. Cheese's
So, how does one conquer Chuck E. Cheese's?
- Just not go back. That would indeed conquer them, but we did have a lot of fun. This one would be hard to swallow.
- Make it a special-occasion thing. It starts to cost a small fortune when it becomes a staple. Once every couple of months or so for a couple of hours won't break the bank.
- Get food elsewhere. The pizza was OK, but nothing great, and it was expensive. We can get better pizza other places. It's the noisy “kid atmosphere” that has the appeal (if adults are capable of calling it that).
- Get (genuine) tokens off of eBay. It's easy to get real Chuck E. Cheese's tokens for about half price off of eBay. So you can double the length of your stay or halve the price of playing the games.  Here's a direct link to Chuck E. Cheese token auctions on eBay. Make sure that the tokens are real Chuck E. Cheese's tokens, with the mouse picture on them, and not generic tokens or tokens for some place other that Chuck E. Cheese's. If you're not sure, ask the seller before you buy. Using non-Chuck E. Cheese's tokens in Chuck E. Cheese's machines is theft.
- Start with the free stuff. There actually is free stuff in there, like a big tunnel slide or kids' song videos on the big screen. Try those things out first.
- Try to get by with the rides without feeding them. Easier said than done, especially when the kids already know that they do cool stuff if they put a token in.
- If all else fails, try good old-fashioned parenting. Set limits and go before the law of diminishing returns sets in.
There are always good coupons available on the deal sites for lots of free tokens.
You can also set limits at the outset, like "each of you has FIVE tokens to spend." It teaches the kids to be judicious with their money, to decide whether they want to participate in a ride before feeding the coin slot. My cash-strapped parents did that with us, and a lot of the kids who had birthday parties there did the same thing. Mainly all we cared about was the ball pit anyway.
Yeah, I still remember the pizza as not being great. After 12 years.
The limited token thing worked pretty well for me. Another way you can do it when they're older is say "Here's $5. You can buy as many tokens as you want and you can keep the change. But we're not buying more tokens."
When it's their own money, kids can be more thrifty. Wouldn't work too well if you have a smart kid who wants to save it all or if you have one who expects to get more from you once their tokens are all spent.
My parent did give us money at the beginning (usually $5)and told us there was no more money after that. My sister and decided to do group games and split them. It makes it more enjoyable.
LOL. Chuck E Cheese. I went there as a kid. I seem to only remember going for special occasions such as a b-day. It was always a good time. My parents always gave us a spending limit on tokens also. I don't remember what it was, but it was surely no more than $5 each. My brothers and I always played competitively against each other. I still have the scars! 😉
Good post. Our family is planning a trip there very soon – as a potty-training award. I am not really looking forward to it, but if it saves me $40+ in diapers a month, I'm "game" for it.
If it's the child's birthday you don't need to buy a party package from CEC, just mention it at the door and they will give your child a hat and balloons and they can still do the whole birthday parade thing. CEC also allows you to bring in your own cake and they will store it for you in the fridge.
And don't forget your hand sanitizer 😉
Hand sanitizer, nice. My wife and I have had a business idea for a while that included marketing hand sanitizer to places like CEC and the McDonald's Playland.
We are off to CEC tomorrow. . . we've had dry pants for a week. . .
Don't forget this tip: Let the grandparents take the kids to Chuck E. Cheese! Works for us:-)
hello chucke chees should be ket only for special ocasions but if you go only you might find coupons for a great deal like i have 8 coupons for a pizza 4 drinks 100 tokens for $24.99 now after that i just tell the kids these are the only tokens we have and were not buying more then we have a great time under $30 but if you gow to chucke chees with out a coupon your waisting money and throwing away a bunch of tokens just visit http://www.chuckechees.com
If you go to their website, they have decent coupons. We went this weekend and we could use the same coupons over an over. (Buy 40 tokens and get 30 free worked really well, and they said we could just keep bringing the same coupon up and they would accept it.)
I believe no piece on Chuck E. Cheese would be complete without mentioning Tim Wilson's epic ode to the eatery: "Chuck E. Cheese Hell"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLGtuDZTk6o
Puts it all in perspective.
Our CEC here is great: they offer free rides for the little ones on M-F from 11 am to 2 pm and they have a lunch special for $8 that includes an individual pizza, one trip salad bar, & a drink. I upgrade to the all-you-can-eat salad bar for a dollar & the kids split the pizza. We've also joined their kids club, and on Tuesdays, each kid gets a kids drink and 5 free tokens, or on other days, just the 5 free tokens. I also have printed out some of their reward calendars (homework, potty training, brushing teeth, etc.) and the kids fill them in with stickers or coloring and they each get another 10 tokens per visit. For me, a mom with 3 small kids, the $9 and change I spend for two or three hours of kid-exhausting time (they all nap when we get home), is a great bargain! Also, since the rides are free, the kids spend their tokens on games that give tickets; each child receives one or two little toys each visit & I get a voucher for the remainder of the tickets and we are saving up to get one of the nicer toys (I'll use it for Christmas or a birthday). Just a sidenote: their games where you have to hit things that jump out quickly and accurately can be a great stress reliever!!
We are heading to CEC tomorrow to celebrate my son's 7th birthday. He is so excited—I am not but all the comments were very helpful. We have the coupon ready for free tokens with a purchase of 50 tokens from the CEC website and hope to eat elsewhere. My least favorite part is cashing in the game tickets for prizes. It takes my kids forever to decide what little trinkets to choose. Then those little toys lay around the house for weeks totally ignored. The bottom line is that the kids absolutely love CEC.
You can also buy the toys for whatever their tickets are worth if it's 80 tickets it's $.80. Sometimes when one kid feels left out it's much easier to send 2 or 3 dollars then earn 200 or 300 more tickets. We did this when some of our tickets were "lost"…
I Dont Do Halloween in the normal way. I pick a place every year and the kids and I have fun. This year we are going to Chucke cheese. I intend on letting them play till their hearts content. I know the last time they went we didnt even get to eat our pizza as they cleaned our table. but this time I have a sign made.
my wife signed up for the coupons on CEC website, and we noticed they the same coupon on one day was cheaper on the next day so sign up a few days before going.and another thing is when people ask what you or your childeren want for b-days or X-mas ask for gift cards, we are going this weekend and uses a gift card.
Looking for a Christmas gift idea for my nephew who just turned 9. Is CEC still a good time for that age? We live in NJ, he in OR. They just opened a CEC there, and thought it would be neat. It's been many years since I took my own kids, and can't remember how old was too old.
Wahoo, a Chuck E. Cheese post! I worked there when I was in high school…and yes, I got to be Chuck!
Anyway, a couple inside tips. First, use the coupons! They bring the prices down to normal. Second, great idea with the money limits. Third, the birthday party stuff is accurate. Cake is fine, just don't bring your own food and drinks. Chuck is happy to visit, too!
The biggie, though, is this. If your kiddo really wants whatever prize for tickets, just buy it. CEC works on a system of 1 ticket=1 cent (or at least, they used to), so ask the cost of paying the difference. That 500 ticket item is only $5 in real money. Now you don't have to worry about your skee ball score!
The smart parents I saw would work both systems. Here's $5 for tokens, and when you're done, you can have anything under 500 tickets. Ten bucks spent for entertainment, and everyone's happy!
Chuck E.'s is a rarity for my kids. We go maybe 3 or 4 times a year and only do tokens and maybe drinks. It works best going early in the day and leaving before it picks up too much. I would rather buy a better tasting pizza elsewhere- for less money too!
FYI: Dollar Tree and other dollar stores frequently have Chuck E Cheese goodies. Buy them and smuggle them in with your purse/diaper bag.
🙂
Your suggestion of buying generic tokens on ebay to “beat” chuck e cheese’s is simply theft.
Hopefully police departments read your views, soliciting others to break the law.
Steve: Thank you for pointing out my vague wording. Now I see why some people took issue with what I wrote. I corrected the post.
Buying and using generic tokens (tokens that do not have CEC and the mouse printed on them) is theft.
Sign up on the Chuck E Cheese website for email coupons. They are better than the ones on the website and the ones in the coupon section of the Sunday newspaper.
If you collect CEC tokens, check out ebay – people do sell CEC tokes and you can find some really early ones there. However, with the price of the winning bid and shipping, don’t think you are getting a deal unless you are collecting (the email coupons equal or beat the price you would find on ebay – without the hassle!)
Also, CEC gives rewards for report cards… 3 tokens for an A, 2 for a B, 1 for a C. They also send out a coupon on your birthday for 10-15 tokens as a birthday gift (no purchase necessary).
With just one adult and one kid, we would use the coupon for $19.95, get a large pizza and 40-50 tokens. Dinner (pizza and soft drinks) and entertainment for $20.
And their pizza isn’t bad. It is better than frozen and can be seasoned with the pepper flakes and grated parmesan. It definitely is not gourmet, but the target audience is children.
We like Chuck E Cheese and go there about 4-5 times a year. It is a nice family outing – especially on a rainy day. Kids can play in tunnels, do games, get sketched, have cards with their pictures printed on them… and there is a range of activities to suit ages from munchkin to adult.
And just where do you think the tokens on eBay come from? CEC headquarters is not selling them.
Buying quantity tokens on eBay to use in the store is STEALING. It doesn’t matter if they were originally CEC tokens or otherwise. You are basically stealing tokens from one store to use at another. Buying tokens that way is putting money into the pockets of an employee or vendor that stole from one of the stores.
You are taking value from the store you are visiting without compensating them.
And the stores aren’t all company owned, so there is a fair chance you are cheating a small business owner out of their margin.
Taking something from person A, without compensating person A, is stealing. It means nothing to them that you paid person B something.
You couldn’t be more incorrect or ridiculous. If you went into a Chuck E Cheese and told the manager you bought your tokens on eBay they wouldn’t stop you from using them as long as they are legit Chuck E Cheese tokens. Also, if you research it you’ll see that you must have a minimum of $1,000,000 in order to open a franchise like CEC, Hooters, McDonalds, and most other big name franchises so there goes the feeling bad for the small business owner.
@Not a thief: Saying that an employee or a vendor stole the tokens is a huge assumption, and probably incorrect.
What is likely is that someone acquired the tokens legally (i.e., bought them), sold them to someone for far less than they paid for them, then that person sold them to me.
I saw nothing on the website or in the CEC location stating that the tokens used in the store must be purchased in the store. If the store changes its policy, then I won’t use them there.
But what purpose would that serve? Having tokens to spend gets me in CEC, where I have the opportunity to buy food (at very high markup).
Plus, the tokens aren’t free to the franchise owner. Every token I bring in from the outside is one he doesn’t have to buy.
Unless told otherwise, I will not agree that using genuine CEC tokens at CEC is stealing.
I agree… that would be like saying that if you bought tokens at one chuck e cheese you could not use them at another location, which is rediculous.
I find privately owned places like funspot to have better deals than CEC and have a lot more to do while your there and they tend to have a better selection of games. CEC is a real hell hole my 10yr old brother bugs me to take him there and the one time I did (out of curiosity.) I had a migraine from all the little kids screaming and they even steel stuff from you. When I went there with my brother and one of his friends this group of 8yr old trouble makers walked in and started swearing like truck drivers, and one of them tried steeling my cup of tokens and a couple of others tried steeling pizza and our drinks (Parents control your fucking kids!). The employees are the rudest mother fuckers on this planet, I go to complain about the play place smelling like shit (no doubting some kid probably did shit in it. 😛 ) and the bitch at the desk had the nerve to tell me to shut the fuck up to my face and put up with it >:( . I never went there again it was a 1 to one hour and a half drive away getting to there and another hour and a half back and it was just awful and over priced. I mostly go to funspot it’s only 10 minuets away and is the guinness world records largest arcade bowling is only $4 a lane. They have all kinds of arcade machines some are so old that my dad remembers the from when he was in elementary school. When you enter the main arcade You really smell the age of some of these machines room the have a ginormous selection of game’s and a majority of them are only one token to play. I even had a few birth day parties there when I was young. Just to make a long story short if you can find them the privately own arcades are better than CEC there are a couple others in my area that I recommend like the spacecenter but its a hour drive for me but they have lazer tag, and you usually get more for your tickets for 200 tickets at the space center you can get a coffee mug and at funspot for 500 a glass beer mug at CEC your lucky if you even get a paper cup for 500 tickets.