The Cheez Maze/ Munch's MadHouse

[MMBBfan327]

I'm looking to see if anybody could please shed more light on The Cheez Maze/ Munch's MadHouse that was under the Balcony Stage. I looked at that pic from the Chase store that was posted in another thread and thought to myself, how did this work? Is this how it was:

You first go into the maze, followed by Munch's MadHouse, then escorted out the maze from another wall on the left of the stage. Does that sound right? Or were all of them different? If so, I'd love to know how they looked.

And also, if anyone remembers (I doubt it), but when you first walked in, which way was the path to the exit? Were there anything else cool in the maze/MadHouse?

[captslappy]

the 2 ptt stores I visited just had the Munch's Mad House and sadly did not have the maze. The Munch's Mad House was a dark light room and you entered a mouse hole underneath Chuck. The ceiling was probably only about 5 feet tall if that beacuse I remember adults having to duck down to be inside. To get the strobes going someone had to put a token in which basically lasted about 3 minutes. With all the epeliptic kids strobe lights are pretty much not used in kid places any longer and in dance places or haunted houses they generally have to have a sign posted warning people strobes are in use.

[MMBBfan327]

Oh, ic so I guess all formats were different...makes PERFECT sense considering ALL PTT's were different at the time. Capt, do you remember if Munch's MadHouse had like a cool sign or any pics or anything in the rooms?

[MMBBfan327]

So I guess there isn't more info about these 2 rooms?

[captslappy]

I dont think it had any sign that I remember. There was a token box though and it had the strobes and black lights. I don't recall if there was a sign above the door or not. There really wasn't a lot to it. It was under the center of the balcony right under CEC himself, at least at the 2 stores I went to. The lights were on a timer and the strobes would shut off after about 3 minutes until another token was put in the box. The black lights were on at all times even when the strobes weren't running. I believe the door was shaped like a mouse hole. That's about all I remember and I don't think there was much else to tell really. There may have been some kind of small sign that identified it as Munch's Mad House over the token box. Not sure tho...

[dheineCECfan]

Wow! You used a token to operate the Munch Mad House/Cheese Maze lights!

[captslappy]

Nothing was free at PTT. You had to put a token in the box to go in the ball pit and usually an employee was "supervising" the kids in there but they were really there to enforce you putting a token in. The Munch house was free admission but the token was what got the timer started on the strobes.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Yeah...i remember the Madhouse in Brandon, FL very well. It was very freaky.

You entered the Madhouse from either the Game Room side behind Jasper's General Store or from the Showroom through a mousehole under the Warblettes side of the stage. They combined the Madhouse with the Cheese Maze under there and nobody really knew they were there unless you were a nosey kid like me! I don't recall any signage at all to tell you otherwise...

Munch's Madhouse in Brandon was simply a small black room that had strobes and black lights. You then exited into another, much longer crawl space that contained the Cheese Maze. It was a GREAT place to hide out to get away from pesky parents...i'll tell you! If you followed through the maze to the end, you ended up in a hallway filled with skill games in the Game Room. It was a neat way to cut into the Showroom or to get to the General Store from the Showroom without having to have to go through the crowd in the Game Room proper.

The crawl spaces were very tight for a adult...actually i doubt a large adult could even get in there. You could not stand up in the Madhouse if you were a older kid...or the Maze for that matter at that location. It was very cramped...but cool as Hell!!

[captslappy]

Damn that sounded cool. Wish my store had one. I thought the PTTs I went to were pretty cool and they only had one caberet act. I would have loved to have gone to one with a cheese maze and multiple lounges and caberets. I feel jaded now!

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Captain, you of all people would have loved this location back in it's day. Brandon Fl kicked major a$$!! It had it ALL and then some:

Two Lounges ( King and Beagles)
One Caberet ( with Dolli..your fave!)
CEC Ice Cream Emporium ( with the rare Little Shavers)
Sports Room ( large function room in the back with a huge projection tv in it for adult diners)
Great General Store that sold many late 70's merch ( awesome stuff)
A FULL Classic Balcony with all the trimmings: Clapper Board, Black Warblettes, Band Board, Marquee Lights, Flag Wavers, Harmony and Oink...you name it! It was awesome!
Munch's Madhouse combined togther with a large size Cheese Maze.

Add to that the fact that this Store was absolutely HUGE and i mean huge! This was without a doubt the largest PTT i ever went to..and to this day i swear is still the largest CEC i ever experienced. The place rocked. Years later i learned it was a official CEC University Training Store which back then was a big deal. I'm not surprised now knowing this....it would explain why this location above all others i visited back then seemed to be the best of the best and have all the latest, coolest, and in the end rare stuff.

I have'nt been back to Brandon since 1983 but when i still worked within the Company i would often inquire about the place and what it's like today. From what i gathered it's still considered one of the top stores and no doubt still retains it's Training Store status. I know it's still high volume so chances are it still gets all the "cool new stuff in the area.

Some day i hope to return there. So much of my past is wrapped up in that buildings wallpaper ( well, the wallpaper that still may exsist...! Hahaha!!)

[captslappy]

That's it. We are going to figure out how to build a time machine. I must see this! You get the Delorean and I'll work on the flux capacitor! Uh someone find us some plutonium too...

[MMBBfan327]

Just try not to get shot Captain...:lol :o

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Damn i wish it were that easy!

But you know,,,we don't need to go to the trouble of building a TIme Machine man...we have SHowbiz Pizza.Com !!

We can 'relive" all the memories right here!

Other cool things i saw in Brandon:

The Chuck E Puppet machine. This was a ancient looking game of sorts that was in there game room when the place first opened in 80/81'. It was a yellow cabinet about 6 ft high and had a clear glass front window. Inside there was a plush CEC marionette that you could control with buttons located on the panel in front of you. Basically it was a interactive activity in a regular arcade game cabinet.

You would put in a token, and suddenly the "stage spotlight" would come on and some funky generic music would play. This is when it was time to start pushing the tiny black buttons in front of you. As you did this, the plush doll on strings would move. Each button you pushed operated one of his limbs...wether it be a foot, arm, tail, etc. It was crude but still fun....exspecially for me since i was heavily into marionetter work myself ans puppetry of all kinds. The plush CEC was actually one of the original 1978 plush dolls strung up inside this "game".

It was ages later when i aquired one in my collection that it dawned on me why this doll seemed weirdly familair. Before then i had seem similar "marionette games" at local old arcades and even my pal J owned one with a clown puppet for some time.

This rare old CEC version was a gem...and no doubt a rare item. Surely judging by the doll inside, and the crude manner it was built, it had to be one of the first CEC themed games ever.

I wish i took photos of it. I photographed a lot at Brandon but it was primarily Cyberamic characters. I do rememeber this marionette game not being there long...i think i only had the chance to play it a couple of times before it was removed in 82' or so. It was located in the hallway where the Cheese Maze exited and most games in this area were ancient items that were not played much.

[captslappy]

I actually saw one of these games you are talking about on Ebay about a year or so back. Very expensive and I am thinking it got pulled. I was tempted to buy it but do to space and $ issues I opted not to. I am thinking one of the 2 stores I went to had one as well but not sure.

[MMBBfan327]

That sounds so freakin' awesome!!! Over the years I have noticed various games featured plushes in them at my stores.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

That "game" would have been a excellent investment Captain. I must have missed it on Ebay...i would have liked to have seen it.

[TreyTX]

Here is a picture of the entrance in the Corpus Christi store. Mr Munch's Mad House sign is in the picture. In this store the Cheese Maze was about 2 stories and has a slide at the end the connected into the ball pitt.http://sp-com.tripod.com/pizzacam/trey/trey62_corpus.jpg

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Thanks so much Trey for posting this photo!

I really like the Munch sign...awesome! I wish they had that at Brandon....they had the room for it and they had everything else it seemed.

I left Fl in the Summer of 83' to move up to MA so i never saw what Brandon became after that time. At the time i was there, the Cheese Maze was floor level and there were no ball pits anywhere. PTT did'nt introduce that until a little bit later on...mid 80's or so.

I can only imagine what the place looks like now.....eek!

[TreyTX]

I visited the store in 1993 to only thing I remember was how large it was and show showroom was very big. I looked into the kitchen and say 2 Middlby Marshal PS250 ovens rather than the standard one...and these were the ovens used at ShowBiz...I think Chuck E Cheese used a rotating oven that you would have to watch to make sure they didn't burn and remove them after they get finished cooking.

[Shiney Happy Jenn]

Yes. CEC uses a oven with a rotating chain grate that slowly sends the pizza skins through the intense heat.
The pizzas are then spit out the other end in about 4 mins or so. If you had a lot of pizzas, or it was a very busy day or you were'nt paying attention on the job, you had a real risk of burning the pizzas when the came off the rotater. You had to remove them once they were out or the others behind it still in the oven would get backed up and not be able to exit. This made for some exciting times...and some neat smoke, smells, and heck even a fire once in a while!

Good times....good times.....

[Lilredridinghood]

You get the Delorean

I think that's Snapper's Department....:)


Uh someone find us some plutonium too...

I think I can help you out with that. I alwyas keep some handy in my purse for emergencies...