I agree with her... but it’s stupid to sue. Just don’t go. We don’t.
If it puts CEC out of business, that would be a good thing. Places are nothing but germ factories.
Keller’s attorney, Eric Benink, should be shot, or at least disbarred and forced to work at Chuck E. Cheese for minimum wage.
The machines do not spit out money when the kids win. They spit out Chuck E. Cheese tokens that can only be used in their stores.
There’s no reason to say this is gambling.
Then don’t take them there. There are plenty of real pizza places out there to take them to.
Chuckies has terrible pizza and always has. A founder of a video game company back in the 80s was forthright about it. They started Chuck E Cheese as a way to draw kids into playing their video games; the pizza was crap but that was not the point of the place.
Most states have specific exemptions from gambling statutes for the type of ticket/prise operation Chuck-e’s runs.
The rides are usually kiddie type rides. The show is the animatronic video presentation.
The "games" will vary from store to store. Games that give out tickets are called redemption games. There are games that don't give out tickets...these of course are non-redemption games.
Each store has a mix of redemption and non-redemption games. The redemption games vary widely. Some give a fixed number of tickets and do have a high element of skill. Some give a variable number of tickets and have a high element of skill. Some give a fixed or variable number of tickets and don't require much skill. On some games the payouts are programmable. On others they're not.
The "payout" is paper tickets that can be redeemed for prizes. Or you can purchase prizes straight up...or a combo.
I would say that the person suing is looking to make a buck off Chuck....
Under what theory of law does this woman have an actionable complaint here?
Is this going to be dismissed in a summary judgement for the defendant?
Ms. Keller should sue the state of California for allowing her daughters (3 and 5 yrs) to 1) have jobs to earn money to spend at CEC and 2) to have a license to drive to CEC. Oh wait...
I have often made the gambling comparison....half jokingly. Some of the games of chance are ‘progressive’, which means the payout gets larger each time a player loses.
This is exactly the same concept used in many casino games of chance.
No. Sue for the insipid animated Mouse show.
The bottom line is that CEC should be able to run its business the way it sees fit. I don’t go there for pizza, I go there when I want to give kids a treat (their perception, not mine) AND get them fed.
We have a Chuck E. Cheese in our town, and we went ONCE. Migraines while 9 months pregnant suck! LOL We were living in a hotel after moving to town and wanted to celebrate our son’s 5th birthday. The kids loved it...Mom and Dad, not so much.
That being said, there is a place here in town that was opened in the last couple of years by a couple from our parish (their son is a classmate of our oldest daughter). It is a pizza buffet type place w/the games and tickets that are redeemable for prizes. The place is clean, well-run, the food is reasonably priced and pretty tasty, and is set up in a manner that adults can enjoy a pizza out front w/o hearing the screaming kids if they want. They even have live entertainment on certain nights. The place is packed any day of the week I pass by it. It’s one of the most popular places for birthday parties in town.
I like Chuck E. Cheese. I like the pizza and the carnival games. I just don’t like some of the other customers, and don’t like it when it’s too crowded. Years ago, CEC was dark inside and the pizza was orange. Then the pizza got better and they put in fun, but unsanitary, ball pits and climbing apparatus. Now all that’s gone and the lighting is better. For me, if the clientele improved, it would be a good thing. But I live in LA and the crass people are ubiquitous. Not CEC’s fault, really. I think CEC generally tries to run a decent family place and there is no other big chain that does quite the same thing. Chuck E. is ok with me.
