Showbiz Pizza Place Related

Overview

The tokens listed on this page are from restaurants that based their overall theme on the Rock-afire Explosion. This band was an integral part of Showbiz Pizza Place's identity. All but one of these restaurants were named after a member of the RAE (Billy Bob and Looney Bird), and the other was named after the RAE itself. 

The catalog numbers for some of these tokens are of the standard arcade token form created by Stephen Alpert and Kenneth Smith for their book Amusement Tokens of the United States and Canada in 1979.

Billy Bob's Wonderland

Billy Bob's Wonderland is a Fun City Arcade restaurant and arcade operating in Barboursville, West Virginia. It is one of five remaining public exhibitions of The Rock-afire Explosion. The others being at the Volo Museum, Wolmi Theme Park, Dream Factory, Gulliver's Kingdom, and Gulliver's World.

As of October 2024, Billy Bob's Wonderland is under the control of Fun City Arcade owner Mark Hoffman.

Billy Bob's Wonderland dates back to 1989, with its first location being in East Barboursville. A former Showbiz Pizza Place location, it was rebranded and redecorated to avoid any corporate interference from Showbiz Pizza Time Inc. The rebranding allowed Billy Bob's Wonderland to avoid the Concept Unification conversion. They also maintained a location in Ashland, KY which would open in 1997. Ashland's Billy Bob's Wonderland would be almost the same as East Barboursville's except there show was missing Antioch and would be on one big stage instead of a normal 3 stage.

The current location, where Ashland and East Barboursville relocated, opened in 2003 and is much larger in size than the previous locations. Both shows from the old locations were brought to the current location, but only the Ashland, KY show was used on stage. The stage was similar too Ashland's stage. The stage was on one big stage and was missing Antioch, Sun, and Moon.

Billy Bob's Pizza Theater

Billy Bob's Pizza Theater was an Australian family entertainment center. It featured similar things that ShowBiz had including the Rock-afire Explosion which they got from Creative Engineering directly. It opened in 1988, located in Knox, Victoria, Australia and closed in late 1993.

Billy Bob's Pizza Circus

Billy Bob's Pizza Circus was an arcade, restaurant, and roller rink that opened in the 1990's. It was located in Conyers, GA, and it featured a Rock-afire Explosion. The Rock-afire Explosion was installed by Aaron Fechter and his assistant at the time, Alex. Billy Bob's Pizza Circus featured a Billy Bob walk-around costume along with a Fatz walk-around costume. There were also many paintings featuring Billy Bob and the rest of The Rock-afire Explosion on the inside and outside the building. The place closed in 2008 and remained vacant/forsook, with The Rock-afire Explosion still remaining inside the building. The owner planned to sell the show, although no one purchased it, and it ended up being in storage.

What was left of the show was saved by two Rock-afire fans who go by Connor Leschinsky and LKD Animatronics. The building is now a thrift store, and as for the animatronics they were scrapped.

Billy Bob's Pizzatron

Billy Bob's Pizzatron was a restaurant concept in Israel that used The Rock-Afire Explosion. The company was named "Billy Bob's Pizzatron LTD" and opened up 3 locations (according to Aaron Fechter) in the north-eastern of Israel. The shows for Pizzatron were bought by an individual named "Eli".

The first location to open was the Ness Ziona Power Center location, which opened in 1997. There are currently no photos of the show.

The second location was in "Rothschild Mall," which opened in 1998. They received their show from a place called "Major Magic's" that purchased and retrofitted its Rock-afire Explosion to be its own original characters. Major Magic's later went out of business and sold their show to Billy Bob's Pizzatron. Billy Bob's Pizzatron made a poor attempt at turning the show back into The Rock-afire Explosion. They also had a spare Billy Bob on the side of the stage, with no cosmetics. This character was used to show children how the animatronics worked. With them owning a classic Rock-afire, they also owned many items from The New Rock-afire Explosion, such as a New Rock-afire Explosion Billy Bob walkaround costume and Karaoke machine.

The third and final restaurant to open was the Bat Yam location, which opened in 1999. (It was actually located in "Bat Yamon Burgrenz," which is assumed to be a mall.) It was located in the food court between McDonald's. and Domino's. There is not any clear cause of why this one had to shut down, but it is probably because the mall was converted into a medical mall.

Pizzatron went bankrupt in 2007. Rothschild Mall's show was sold to a young filmmaker in Israel who is believed to still own it. Creative Engineering still has a promotional flyer for Billy Bob's Pizzatron hung up. Recently, new footage from Rishon LeZion and data of Billy Bob's Pizzatron has been discovered by an animatronic fan undergoing the alias "LKD Animatronics."

Club Hotel Eilat

There was also a Rock-afire Explosion show at the Club Hotel Eilat, which was an external resort that had nothing to do with Pizzatron.

Chimpy's Pizza Safari

Chimpy's Pizza Safari was a pizza restaurant in Libertyville, Illinois, and Niles, Illinois that featured The Rock-afire Explosion. The Chimpy's Pizza Safari in Libertyville opened in June 1993. By the Mid-2000's, Libertyville's show was in poor condition, with deteriorating cosmetics and mechanical issues. The store later closed in 2005. Their show would be sold off. It is unknown when the Niles location opened or closed, but its opening predates that of Libertyville's. It is unknown what happened to their Rock-afire when they closed.

Stage Appearance: Dook, Mitzi, Fatz and Looney Bird had retrofitted outfits, while Beach Bear, Rolfe, and Billy Bob kept their original looks. This applied for both locations. Outside of character design, Center Stage had the standard, Showbiz-like appearance while Stage Right and Stage Left just had the cloud backdrop and some florals. This also applied for both locations.

Fun Station USA

Fun Station USA is an indoor amusement park that anteriorly featured The Rock-afire Explosion in both of their locations. Their most popular location (Staten Island) had The Rock-afire Explosion installed in the early 1990's and uninstalled in 2007. After the show was uninstalled, Billy Bob, Fatz, Dook, and Beach Bear were scattered around the Jungle Jim and the Himalaya Ride. The Lynbrook location kept their Rock-afire on-stage, albeit it was never aired up. Lynbrook uninstalled their show in 2007-2008 and sold it to a family fun center in Canada called Scandia Golf & Games. The Staten Island location sold their show to a Rock-afire fan denominated Jojo King during September of 2015, according to one of Jojo's Youtube channel. Jojo would sometimes switch them from Chuck E. Cheese characters, as he has Helen, Munch, Jasper, and building cosmetics. It should be noted that Jojo's Mitzi and Beach Bear are not from Fun Station. The Rolfe, Mitzi, and Beach Bear from this location were scrapped, Beach Bear being sold to King in a condition of parts so poor he could not be repurposed and is likely used for parts in his current animatronic. There is little documentation of the current state of these animatronics: Two channels run by Jojo and one by someone by the alias Native New Yorker have posted videos of them performing during their time at fun station, the empty party room after having acquired them, and "stream highlight" reels, such as the "Infamous Mold Stream" and some videos of the restoration itself, including airing up Fatz; who promptly breaks, and a very low PSI Billy Bob singing "The Real Slim Shady" as well as some other tracks. It is unknown if restorations were ever finished. The current state of the band is unknown.

Jeepers!

Jeepers! Amusement Paradise is a family entertainment center that has rides, games, redemption tickets & prizes, soft play & inflatables, delicious food, $5 wristbands (Wild Wednesday only), and birthday party packages.

The location at 779 Virginia Beach Boulevard in Norfolk, Virginia had arcade games, roller slides, ball pits, amusement rides, $5 wristbands (Fun Time Fridays only) and you can have a party here. This location's roots go back to June 6, 1983, when it first opened as a Showbiz Pizza Place. In 1992, Little Caesars purchased this location and converted it into a Caesarland, replacing all SPP and RAF references with references to Little Caesars. In 1997, Rock-afire Entertainment purchased this location and converted to the Jeepers! brand and the Rock A-fire explosion returned. Today, this remains as one of the few remaining Jeepers! fun centers left in the US and the only Jeepers! left in the Hampton Roads area.

Another location on 298 Eire Street in Sandusky, Ohio roots go back to January 6, 1992, when it first opened as a Leaps & Bounds fun center. In 1994 it was converted to a Discovery Zone fun center. In 1997 the then-newly formed Rock-afire Entertainment bought the place and made the first of many Jeepers! fun centers and added the Rock-Afire Explosion animatronic show. In 2003, the amusement area got a Showbiz Pizza partial retheme.

In 2016, It got Sonic & Mario At The Olympics, which was imported from Japan.

The location at 865 Folk Street in Burlington, Vermont. This location has rides, playgrounds, and ball pits. This location's roots go back to August 1, 1992, when it first opened as Leaps & Bounds. In 1994, McDonald's sold off this location to Discovery Zone and it became a Discovery Zone fun center. In 1999, Rock-afire Entertainment bought this location and converted it to a Jeepers! fun center. 

These types of tokens were used to be directly inserted into games to deal with malfunctions and to test the games to ensure they were working properly. They were not to be handed out to customers. The tokens were then taken out of the token counter's inspection tray during the collections and were not included in the games tracked game revenue. After a collection, the painted or control token (also known as manager tokens) should be fully replenished.   

Looney Bird's

Looney Bird's was a small short-lived restaurant chain that spun off of ShowBiz Pizza Place. It contained The Rock-afire Explosion and gave its focus on the character Looney Bird, which was the chain's mascot. Three locations existed before they closed down. The first location was a test location in Orlando, Florida with a New Rock-afire Explosion Stage, which opened in 1993. The two other locations were located in Jackson, Tennessee and Covington, Louisiana, however, both of these locations had the Classic 3-Stage Rock-afire Explosion.

The concept behind Looney Bird's was to blend the nostalgic charm of The Rock-afire Explosion with a fresh dining experience centered around its new mascot, Looney Bird. The chain only had three locations.

The first Looney Bird's location was a test site that opened in Orlando, Florida, in 1993. This location was notable for introducing a New Rock-afire Explosion Stage. The Orlando site was envisioned as a prototype that could lead to a broader chain if successful. It aimed to modernize the entertainment experience by offering a more interactive and immersive show.

Following the Orlando test site, two additional Looney Bird's locations were launched in Jackson, Tennessee, and Covington, Louisiana. Unlike the Orlando location, these two sites featured the Classic 3-Stage Rock-afire Explosion.

Each of these locations incorporated elements of the original ShowBiz concept while also trying to establish a unique identity centered around Looney Bird. The restaurants featured not just animatronic shows but also themed decor, menu items, and merchandise.

The chain struggled to gain a sustainable foothold in the market. Several factors contributed to the chain's eventual closure. These included the high costs associated with maintaining and updating the animatronic technology, challenges in differentiating the brand from its predecessor, and the shifting landscape of family entertainment, which saw the rise of new competitors and changing consumer preferences.

By the mid-1990s, all three Looney Bird's locations had closed down.

In the years since its closure, the Looney Bird's brand has gained a cult following among enthusiasts of retro dining and animatronic shows. Collectors have sought out memorabilia and stories from the Looney Bird's era.

Marc's Funtime Pizza Place

Marc's Funtime Pizza Palace was a chain of rebranded Pizza Time Theater locations throughout northern Ohio, United States. The locations were all owned by Marc Glassman, owner of the Marc's grocery store brand, which currently still exists. There were 6 locations in total:

Middleburg Heights, Ohio (1987-1990's/2004): Balcony Stage

North Olmsted, Ohio (December 1991-Late 1990's)

Akron, Ohio (December 1991-1994)

Mentor, Ohio (December 1991-July 1995): C-Stage

Columbus, Ohio (December 1991-1993/1995)

Boardman, Ohio (December 1991-1993/1995)

One location (currently unknown as to which) received a The Pantones show from a Celebration Station in Springfield, Pennsylvania that operated from Late 1984 until February 1989. A newspaper article from the August 10, 1989, issue of The Philadelphia Inquirer states: " Paul Kuhns, manager of Marc's Funtime Pizza Palace of Cleveland, bought the animals for $10,000 and estimated their worth at $125,000. We want the animals to open a second store."

This is interesting, as there were no Marc's Funtime Pizza Palace's in the city of Cleveland, all were in the suburbs of Cleveland (except for Columbus and Boardman), so it is unknown what location The Pantones show was placed in. It is also unknown as to what the second Marc's Funtime Pizza Palace location was, as all locations after Middleburg Heights opened in December 1991 or later.

The only photos and videos that exist of any Marc's Funtime Pizza Palace locations are from the Middleburg Heights and Mentor locations. All other locations do not have any photos or videos that exist of them.

Character Conversions: As each store was converted at a different time, the designs of the characters varied. However, each store kept the same character names, according to a former employee.

Chuck E. Cheese - Marc the Dragon
Helen Henny - Rita the Rabbit
Mr. Munch - Fletch the Monkey
Jasper T. Jowls - Chomps the Walrus
Pasqually - Ally the Moose 

Monterey's Tex-Mex Cafe

Monterey's Tex-Mex Cafe, originally Monterey House and later Monterey's Little Mexico, is a chain of Tex-Mex themed restaurants in Oklahoma and Texas, founded in 1955 in Houston, Texas. The chain was purchased by Brock Hotel Corporation in July 1987, and operated by ShowBiz Pizza Time from 1988 to 1994, through the subsidiary company BHC Acquisition Corporation. The chain was sold to Monterey's Acquisitions Co. of Houston, Texas for $6.7 million in cash, and a $4.7 million promissory note. In addition, ShowBiz retained a 12.5% ownership interest in Monterey's Acquisitions, a new division of the Pineapple Group of Houston. The sale was completed in May 1994. During the period of ownership by ShowBiz, the restaurant chain changed its name from "Monterey House" to "Monterey's Tex-Mex Cafe" and was reduced in size from 58 locations in August 1988 to 26 locations at the time of its sale. The restaurant chain is still in operation today under the name "Monterey's Little Mexico".

Odyssey Fun World

Odyssey Fun World is an indoor amusement park located in Tinley Park, Illinois and formerly in Naperville, IL. Both locations had operating New Rock-afire Explosion shows up until 2016. The shows were removed from the two stores in January 2019.

Odyssey Fun World first opened their doors in the Chicago area in 1994. They commissioned Creative Engineering to provide both stores the New Rock-afire Explosion, which at the time was recently finalized since production started in 1992. Their restaurants were one of the first installations of the New Rock-afire Explosion in a public venue.

Sometime around 1997, the Tinley Park Odyssey Fun World store managed to rescue parts from the New Rock-afire Explosion Lite in Magic City of Waukegan, Illinois (located just nearby their facilities) after its closure, which led the store to gain another set of Dancetronics (Mijjins) for spare parts. It can also be presumed that they also acquired several of the show tapes made for the place as well.

The shows at both locations often had holiday decor during the 2000's, an example being Naperville's New Rock-afire Explosion having a Christmas overlay in November/December 2005. During this time, this was when the shows started to go downhill in terms of maintenance. Stage left's curtains were disabled in Naperville at the time for unknown reasons. Proceeding afterwards, the turntables on center stage were shut off due to technical issues and stage left broke, leaving Fatz Geronimo and Mitzi Mozzarella off to the side with Billy Bob in front on center stage, and Dook LaRue being hidden on stage left permanently.

At Tinley, the New Rock-afire Explosion was less maintenance than at Naperville. The center and individual turntables never broke but were deactivated due to an unfixed over-rotating issue. Most of the characters were deteriorating quicker because of the low on upkeep. Masks and cosmetics started to fall apart as each year progressed, making the characters look off-putting to the customers who come and visit.

Fate of the New Rock-afire Explosion Shows at Odyssey Fun World

Sometime in mid 2016, the Rock-afire show at the Naperville location went out of commission due to numerous technical issues and deterioration on the bots and cosmetics. Odyssey Fun World had been trying to raise enough money to have the show fully repaired by Aaron Fechter, who personally offered to repair it. Despite these efforts, unfortunately, it did not get properly restored and was since left abandoned in the store.

Prior to that, the entirety of the Tinley Park New Rock-afire Explosion went out of commission. Since then, the stage became a place for storage. Piled onto the stage were some extra chairs, the Magic City Mijjins collected in 1997, and loads of miscellaneous materials. Several of the characters' cosmetics were getting worse than the condition it was already in the mid-late 2000's.

No updates were given to either location's shows in terms of restoration in 2016 or 2017. This went on during 2018 too, as more junk was added to fill space. On January 6th, 2019, the Naperville location closed permanently. A short time later, the Tinley Park show was removed. The only New Rock-afire Explosion piece that still remains to this day is the stage. It has been stated by the employees that they plan on using it for karaoke or other live performances.

Both Odyssey Fun World locations' stage parts and bots were split up and taken by several Rock-afire fans, the three notable people being Damon Breland of Smitty's Super Service Station fame, David Ferguson: the creator of the Bluebox and owner of Goofy Gas Fillin' Station, and Jacob Goldberg: founder of Jasper's Dog Den.

As of May 2020, the Tinley Park location is currently remodeling their entire building while the original NRAE stage base, curtains, and valance are intact, marking the end of the jungle-themed era that has been around since their opening.

Rock-afire Bar

Rock-afire Bar was a bar and arcade located in Kansas City, Missouri that opened in May of 2018. This location was the latest new location with a near complete Rock-afire Explosion band.

The band featured at this location had some major changes to it. First off, the show was on one single stage similar to the CU 1-Stage. There were no curtains either. The show mainly used performances programmed by Chris Thrash originally used for the long defunct ShowBiz Pizza Zone though other original showtapes were used as well.

The characters on the stage at this location were from left to right Rolfe and Earl (on top of a pedestal), Dook, Fatz, Beach Bear, Mitzi, and Billy Bob. Sun, Moon, Choo-Choo, Antioch, and Looney Bird were absent from this setup. The "Used and Abused Tars" prop from the Mini-Stage was used instead of Smitty's Service Station for Billy Bob's backdrop.

In October of 2018, the backdrop behind the show was painted to resemble the background of the original Rock-afire Explosion setup with the missing characters included in the background.

Rock-afire closed its doors in February of 2019 and has not reopened since then.

Rock-afire Pizza

Rock-afire Pizza was a restaurant in Indio, California. Originally, it had an operating Rock-afire Explosion show. However, as of July 31, 2008, they were no longer running the show and had replaced it with large-screen TVs to show sporting events. Rock-afire Pizza has been closed as of 2011 and while its former space was once occupied by a Shakey's Pizza Parlor, that location was shut down in 2020. It remains to be seen whether the land it occupied will be reused.

Scandia Golf & Games

Scandia Golf & Games was a Family Entertainment Center located in Kelowna, BC, Canada. They purchased their Rock-afire Explosion in 2008 from Fun Station USA in Sayville, NY. The show was in decent condition at the time of the purchase. From around 2019 to 2021, the show sat with arcade machines in front of it standing but not operating. As of 2022, the show was said to be restored until somebody vandalized and stole from the set, leading to restoration being halted. In 2023, the show was sold to the YouTuber "pikalove" and is currently with her. The show was said to be going to the Americana Conference Resort Spa and Water Park, but this never happened. Prior to its removal, it was one of the very few places with a public Rock-afire Explosion. The show ran on pristine reel-to-reel show tapes and had a unique show selector with only one button that cycles through shows.

Token Town

Token Town (alternatively called Token Town USA) is a FEC in the Euclid Square Mall, next door to the Cabela's mall entrance.

The chain uses the token design (and takes it's name) from the Pizza Time Theatre locations which closed and renamed themselves around the time of the PTT-Showbiz merger (with Pizza Time Theatre morphing into what is now known as Chuck E. Cheese's).

Token Town has a fully refurbished Rock-afire Explosion animatronic show, along with a full menu with pizzas, burgers, salads, sandwiches, Hershey's Ice Cream, and cakes.

Token Design Controversy

In July 2016, Token Town was involved in a short legal battle with CEC-ABS Entertainment over "stealing" PTT 1977 designs for their arcade tokens. The claim was filed by Gertrud Klien, an allegedly corrupt member of CEC-ABS' asset management team.

Gertrud initially won the case and managed to get Token Town to switch to generic tokens, only for Token Town's owner and operator, Polish-born businessman Jackson Malinowski, to appeal in a higher court and have the ruling overturned. The judge stated:

"The 1977 token design has not been used since the 1980's "Smile America" campaign began, and the original Token Town token design was a modified design, and most of the PTT copyrights and patents have lapsed, so if CEC-ABS sues people for PTT-related things, they will be suing fans and businesses making tributes to Pizza Time Theatre left, right, and center".

CEC-ABS' company president (Kenji Yukimura) was in Tokyo at the time. Upon hearing about the lawsuit, he walked into court to deny all claims, stating that CEC-ABS was "extremely appreciative and supportive" of fan support and that Gertrud was "hypocritically attempting to bring down the very company that inspired Token Town's existence in the first place". Kenji was deemed by the judge to be totally uninvolved in the lawsuit, with Kenji warning Gertrud that she was in "big trouble".

Malinowski and Yukimura soon resolved with apologies and restoration of the PTT-era token designs, however Token Town's owner added an additional notice to the tokens crediting CEC-ABS for the design out of good faith. Gertrud Klien was demoted to a cast member later that day. Gertrud resigned entirely two days later, citing emotional distress and humiliation amongst her colleagues, and the "Streisand effect".