Why Does Chuck E. Cheese Still Rely On Floppy Disks To Run Its Iconic Shows?
It turns out that even in the age of artificial intelligence, some of the most recognizable companies are still reliant on technology of old, such as floppy disks. Recently, a Chuck E. Cheese employee, known as Stewart, revealed how the chain loads its animatronic shows behind the scenes.
It appears the fast food restaurant has workers load a floppy disk into a dusty computer to broadcast its character shows. The video depicts the old computer slowly loading lines of code in black and white, which Stewart explained contain the information for all the dances.
According to Global Village Space, fewer than 50 of the chain business’ 600 outlets still use this ‘Studio C’ layout of animatronics that make use of floppy disks. Soon, the company plans on phasing out this series of shows altogether, pivoting to screen-based entertainment or mascots.
@showbizpizzaman How to install a new show at Chuck E. Cheese
♬ original sound - Stewart
Tom Persky, the man behind floppydisk.com, told the publication that Chuck E. Cheese had been a long-standing client of his. He remarked that while floppy disks may seem to be a thing of the past, it’s still a reliable way of relaying information, making it an “elegant solution” for the shows.
In fact, when the news site spoke to another employee, the anonymous source revealed that the floppy disks worked “surprisingly well” at syncing up the animatronic and lighting data. Instead, newer versions that ran on flash drives or SD cards often ran into trouble.
Perhaps, even in this era of digitalization, some things are still better the old-fashioned way.
[via Gizmodo and Global Village Space, cover image via Georgesheldon | Dreamstime.com]
