Before he turned 40, Nolan Bushnell founded two brands that permanently shaped the way Americans amuse themselves: the iconic video game system Atari, and the frenetic family restaurant Chuck E. Cheese's.
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Oct 12
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Tim and Karrie League (2023)
In the early 1990’s, Tim League spent $50,000 in savings to lease an abandoned movie theater on the wrong side of the tracks—a shaky experiment that eventually grew into a thriving national chain. As Tim and his wife Karrie built theaters in Austin and beyond, they made a name fo ... Show More
1h 16m
Nov 2024
Chuck E Cheese vs ShowBiz Pizza | Rat Pizza | 1
It’s 1976, and Atari founder Nolan Bushnell is on a mission to launch a family arcade disguised as a pizza parlor. He comes up with a name that’s impossible not to smile at—“Chuck E. Cheese”—and combines pizza, video games, and animatronic entertainment. The chain quickly becomin ... Show More
32m 32s
Nov 2024
Chuck E Cheese vs ShowBiz Pizza | Broken Robots | 2
It’s 1982, and after months of bitter fighting, Nolan Bushnell of Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theater and Robert Brock of ShowBiz Pizza Place finally strike a legal truce. With the video game market crashing and the novelty of their brands fading, Chuck E. Cheese faces mounting ... Show More
37m 52s
Mar 2023
The Strange Tale of Charles Entertainment Cheese, Part One: Atari and Pizza
For many Americans, Chuck E. Cheese is an immediate hit of pure nostalgia -- the pizza! The birthdays! The games! And, of course, the characters. In this week's special two-part episode, Ben, Noel and Max dive deep into the strange history of Chuck E. Cheese, from its founding da ... Show More
37m 37s
May 2020
Sponsored: When Small Businesses Think Big - Atari & Red Bull (Dell Podference) | 1
This episode is brought to you by Wondery in partnership with Dell Technologies. In honor of small businesses, we’re featuring inspiring stories of successful companies that started out small.In 1972, pinball machines and mechanical games ruled the arcades. Then, Atari founders N ... Show More
31m 39s
Mar 2023
The Strange Tale of Charles Entertainment Cheese, Part Two: Betrayal and Nostalgia
As Nolan Bushnell's Chuck E. Cheese concept took America by storm, competitors entered the field. In the second part of this two-part episode, Ben, Noel and Max explore how Charles Entertainment Cheese weathered numerous ups and downs through the decades -- along with some pretty ... Show More
59m 12s