Chuck E. Cheese Wants to Shred 7 Billion Prize Tickets in Bankruptcy

Chuck E. Cheese wants to shred 7 billion prize tickets in their bankruptcy proceedings. COVID-19 has affected the CEC Entertainment Incorporated supply chain and that means a whole lot of paper tickets got to go. The company filed an emergency motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas on Monday. According to the document from Bloomberg law, there are now, "enough tickets to fill approximately 65 forty-foot cargo shipping containers." It's a wild mental image, one comprised of untold Saturday afternoons just destroying Whack-A-Mole or hitting that strange rotating light Jackpot machine about a thousand times in a row. But, a hearing on the 21st will determine if the destruction takes place.

In case you weren't aware, Chuck E. Cheese has been in the news since the coronavirus shutdown began over the bankruptcy plans. At first, things looked grim for our friend Charles Entertainment Cheese, but some of the locations have resumed business in spit of the losses. However, as the belt tightens and health restrictions push all of the remaining sites to use e-tickets, the time to shred a bunch of the old papers ones might be here. But, even earlier in the lockdown, a bunch of delivery pizza eaters discovered they were getting their pies from the beloved childhood staple.

"CEC Entertainment, Inc. recently launched Pasqually's Pizza & Wings nationwide. The inspiration was rooted in the desire to create a premium pizza while staying true to the CEC brand," a Chuck E. Cheese spokesperson said at the time. "Pasqually's Pizza & Wings, named after another favorite member of Munch's Make Believe Band, shares kitchen space with the Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, ensuring high-quality, fresh ingredients. Pasqually's Pizza & Wings' recipes use fresh, homemade pizza dough, just like Chuck E. Cheese, but it is a different pizza that features a thicker crust and extra sauce, giving consumers a more flavorful, more premium pizza experience. While Pasqually's Pizza & Wings recipes are currently only available for delivery, select items might be added to the Chuck E. Cheese menu in the future."

"The whole business of Chuck E. Cheese is designed around the birthday experience, so people don't normally think of pizza when they think of Chuck E. Cheese, even if it is a good product," Duncan Brannan, former voiced of Chuck E. Cheese, explained in a recent interview. "People think of birthday parties, the arcade, and a ball crawl, but not pizza... Businesses have done this for years — where they create their own competitor to spread their market. I also read that it was a new recipe, so more power to them, especially considering the fact that everyone is hurting from this pandemic — they're trying to figure out how to stay in business."

What would you do for just a couple thousand of these tickets? Let us know down in the comments!