Nolan Bushnell wanted to bring arcade games out of pool halls and into family restaurants. His first Pizza Time Theatre opened in San Jose on May 17, 1977, at Town and Country Village, and stayed there until February 1985. It was the first family restaurant to combine food with arcade games and animated entertainment.
The mascot almost had another name: the costume Bushnell bought for a coyote turned out to be a rat. He suggested Rick Rat’s Pizza, and his marketing team came up with Chuck E. Cheese.