Bullwinkle's Restaurant

Bullwinkle's Restaurant also known as Family Fun Center is a chain of family entertainment centers. Similar to Chuck E. Cheese's, most locations feature a sit-down pizza restaurant, complemented by arcade games and small rides for children, themed after its namesake, "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show".

Arcade

Bullwinkle's featured a token operated arcade section featuring popular video games such as "Street Fighter II Turbo", "Cruisin' World", "The Simpsons", and also games which were played for tickets, such as Skeeball. The tickets could then be redeemed at a prize counter for various prizes, ranging from dracula teeth, toy soldiers or plastic spiders on the low end (5-40 tickets) to boomboxes and lava lamps on the high end (1000-2000 tickets).

Restaurant

The restaurant section of Bullwinkle's seemed to have a log cabin feel inspired by the "Dudley Do-Right" cartoon. The walls and support beams were made of logs and the floor had red carpeting, upon which sat many long wooden tables with wooden benches. A family would sit at one of these tables and order food from a small menu. The main fare usually included some sort of pizza, snowshoe fries and a pitcher or two of soda drink. The restaurant was often popular for the birthday parties of elementary school children, as they could play in the arcade until the food was ready.

Animatronic show

The restaurant section of the restaurant also featured a main stage and two side stages. At regular intervals, the large red curtains on the stage would part, revealing animatronic renditions of "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show" characters (though Rocky was auspiciously missing from the stage, [not in Santa Clara, CA] instead existing as a voice originating presumably from somewhere out of view). Others included Dudley Do-Right, Borris and Natasha and some other characters who were on the show.

The characters would then put on a variety show with songs and comedy. The show included a water fountain performance, similar to that of the Bellagio in Las Vegas albeit on a smaller scale.

Locations

One restaurant operated in Santa Clara, California during the 1990s, but was later converted into a nightclub. [ [http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/11.06.97/beat-9745.html Metroactive Music | Beat Street ] ] One operated in Upland, California but was converted into a Boomers!. While Bullwinkle's Restaurant is not well known in California outside of the Sunnyvale/Santa Clara community, there are other Bullwinkle's Restaurants in Wilsonville, Oregon, Cary, North Carolina, Richmond, Virginia, and Miamisburg, Ohio (rib joint and bar). There is (or at least was) a Bullwinkle's in Michigan and one on New York's Long Island. There was also a Bullwinkle's Restaurant in Edmonton & Calgary, Alberta, which was popular throughout the 1980s and early 1990s until it was closed. These restaurants are all described as "Family Fun Center" in addition to "Bullwinkle's Restaurant".

References

* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_22_34/ai_62555063 "Bullwinkle's food, games chain debuts full-service variant - Brief Article"] - Nation's Restaurant News, May 29, 2000.
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_v18/ai_3445154 "Bullwinkle's braces for growth as Straw Hat agreement nears - Bullwinkle's Inc"] - Nation's Restaurant News, Sept 24, 1984 by Richard Martin.

External links

* [http://www.fun-center.com/ Welcome to Family Fun Center and Bullwinkle's Restaurant! V.2006]
* [http://www.bullwinkles.com/ Bullwinkle's Family Food 'n Fun]