actually a rat, prompting him to suggest changing the name from "Coyote Pizza" to "Rick Rat's Pizza". His marketing team believed this name would not be appealing to customers and proposed "Chuck E. Cheese" instead. The company adopted the rat as their mascot.

The first Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre opened in San Jose, California, in 1977. In 1978, when Atari's then-corporate parent, Warner Communications refused to open additional locations, Bushnell