Credit: CEC Entertainment/Netflix, edited by ITMIn one of the stranger developments in television history, a Squid Game-like game show starring Chuck E. Cheese, the titular mascot of the national pizza chain, is currently in development.
Magical Elves, the production company behind the massively popular reality cooking show Top Chef, the competitive standup comedy series Last Comics Standing, and many more, is working on a new competitive show themed around both the character Chuck E. Cheese (technically, Charles Entertainment Cheese) and “grown-up” versions of the games found at the iconic American eatery (per The Hollywood Reporter).
The official synopsis of the currently untitled series says, “The format will feature stand-alone comedic physical challenges where duos of ‘big kids’ (aka adults) will compete over supersized arcade games — including pinball, air hockey, alley roller and the human claw. The top ticket earning duo will get the chance to exchange their tickets for prizes off the massive version of the iconic Chuck E. Cheese prize wall.”
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While there are few details about the series as of yet, this description is strikingly similar to the massively popular Netflix show Squid Game, just with Chuck E. Cheese rather than traditional Korean children’s games.
The original Squid Game centers around a group of impoverished and desperate people who enter a secret tournament to play “grown-up” versions of familiar children’s games, which have a tendency to be gorily fatal for anyone who fails at them. While the show is a fictional narrative (informed by creator Hwang Dong-hyuk’s financial issues and widespread wealth inequality in South Korea), it also inspired a real-life game show in which players compete for prizes, albeit with death not being on the line.
It can be assumed that the new Chuck E. Cheese game show will be more in line with the real-life Squid game, rather than the fictional one, but it’s still a fairly odd concept to bring the arcade games and (likely) the various characters of the pizza chain into a non-scripted series. Prior to this developing series, CEC Entertainment (the parent company of Chuck E. Cheese) has previously produced one direct-to-video movie titled Chuck E. Cheese in the Galaxy 5000, but this will be the franchise’s first foray into reality television.
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Magical Elves co-CEOs Jo Sharon and Casey Kriley said, “Chuck E. Cheese is THE place where a kid can be a kid — but as grown adults, we still have dreams of ruling the arcade, taking on the iconic games we love! We’re excited to celebrate these legendary arcade games plus the best of today, all with a super-sized twist.”
Inside the Magic reached out to Magical Elves for comment, but has not heard back by the time of publishing.
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