It wasn’t built for fun. It was built to measure control—at least, that’s what the legend says. In the early 1980s, a family arcade chain spread through Midwest strip malls: bright tokens, plastic tunnels, singing robots. Parents relaxed. Former staff later described something else: leftover slices rearranged into new pies, uneven cuts and mismatched toppings—more misdirection than meal.The tunnels carried darker rumors: children who crawled in and didn’t come back, suburban police reports filed and sealed. Technicians said the animatronics’ eyes weren’t just glass; they were wired to cameras that watched every table. After closing, the machines twitched, metal jaws grinding long after the music died. Leaked blueprints allegedly showed “corporate use” rooms with no doors. Wristbands were scanned in and out. Some parents swore the numbers never matched.In this episode, we debate the Chuck E. Cheese “control system” theory—Proponent lays out the tokens, tunnels, cameras, and scans; Skeptic pushes on evidence, provenance, and what’s possible versus folklore. Family fun—or something designed to count you?

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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