The Ticket Blaster is a game and entertainment concept in use at Chuck E. Cheese's locations.
History[]
High-speed camera shot of a child playing the Ticket Blaster game.
The idea behind the Ticket Blaster was conceived by CEC Entertainment Concepts in the late 2000s. The first Ticket Blaster devices were installed in multiple locations starting from 2009, before being installed in every location (international branches included) by 2012.
Even though he was replaced with Jaret Reddick as the "official" voice of Chuck, Duncan Brannan can still be heard as the voice of Chuck E. that you hear in the Ticket Blaster.[1]
In 2013, a CEC location in Florida attempted to combine the game with the Oculus Rift VR technology to create a test concept - the "Virtual Ticket Blaster Experience". Despite positive reception to the experience from guests, the test ultimately backfired after CEC Entertainment ordered its immediate termination little over a week after the test started. The company cited health and safety concerns as their reason for cancelling the project, When in reality younger children (especially those with autism) were scared.
Concept[]
A Ticket Blaster device in idle.
The actual "Ticket Blaster" device is a booth connected to a series of low-powered fans that blow tickets into the air in a wind tunnel-like fashion. The device is commonly located inside the left-hand corner of the showroom. People willing to play the game step into the booth and attempt to catch as many airbourne tickets as they can before the timer runs out (30 seconds usually).
In order to prevent abuse of the concept, a strict "1 turn per customer, per day" rule applies.
Some of the "tickets" are actually small coupons in denominations ranging from 5 to 1500 tickets, redeemable at face value. The 1500-ticket voucher is branded as the "Magic Ticket" (this was previously only 1000 tickets' worth until July 2016). A recent promotion also added a "Golden Ticket" which acts in an "everybody wins" instant-win manner, with the top prize being $250 towards a new Dell PC. This promotion started in May 2016 (just weeks before Kabushiki Gaisha ABS assumed control of CEC Entertainment), and ended in October that year.
Prices for a turn in the Ticket Blaster as of June 2016 are 1 token for regular guests, with Birthday Stars booked as part of a party receiving their turn for free.
Tie in with Chuck E. Birthday packages[]
Chuck E. Cheese's has long promoted the Ticket Blaster as a bonus perk for its "Birthday Stars" ever since the concept's inception, with the first ever reference to the Ticket Blaster experience being noted as part of advertising materials for the "Chuck E. Reinvents Birthdays" campaign.
Children celebrating their birthday at a CEC location are entitled to a free turn in the Ticket Blaster as part of any birthday package. At first launch, regular guests could pay $5 for a turn inside the Ticket Blaster, this price dropping to $1 later on. Despite this, it was still commonly believed that the Ticket Blaster was solely reserved for Birthday Stars: CEC-ABS Entertainment would later go on to dispel this rumor by dropping the price to 1 token (around $0.25 according to current token prices). FUN TIMES!