Chuck E Cheese's   

1025 Washington Pike # 30
Bridgeville, PA 15017
412-257-2570
www.chuckecheese.com

Directions   Email   Send to Cell  

There isn't a video-game-playing kid in America who hasn't had (or at least attended) a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese once in his lifetime. Excursions to the ubiquitous pizza chain are nothing short of a pilgrimage for kids, a fun-filled ritual of excess. Founded in 1977 by Nolan Bushnell -- the man behind the Atari empire -- Chuck E. Cheese quickly became the theme park of pizza chains. Kids forget all about the pizza and submarine sandwiches, however, once they start dropping tokens at the video arcade. And when the curtain is raised on the restaurant's famous menagerie of animatronic sideshow characters, pacification is at its finest. There's only one word for the atmosphere here: noisy. Whether it's kids squealing or video games blasting, the raucous sounds of fun never let up. Things really get hopping after school and on weekends, when birthday parties are a daily event. Everything is designed with the young ones in mind. That means short tables, durable plastic cups and no sharp corners or things to trip over. Pack up the kids and let 'em loose. Just don't forget to bring the aspirin.