Day 9 - Chuck E Cheese's

We survived our first full week of summer. The kids did a pretty good job with their chores and earned some tokens (refer to my token reward system here). That meant today we needed to go spend them. We decided to try the new Chuck E. Cheese location in Chandler, AZ. You can check out my review of this location here.

I think of myself as somewhat of a Chuck E Cheese expert. We love to visit Chuck E Cheese around home, when we are traveling with Daddy on business trips, or going to Grandma's house. My kids even got a ton of CEC tokens from Santa this year. I love that all the games are only one token. I also love that I can get great deals on tokens.

Tips for Visiting Chuck E Cheese's (CEC)

• Never play $.0.25 for a token. The most you should ever pay for tokens is 20 cents, but I usually wait until there is a deal that makes tokens around 15 cents each. 
• There are always coupons on the CEC website (although not the best ones). Our best coupons come in the newspaper inserts. My favorite one is 150 tokens and a large 1-topping pizza for $22. 
• Our CEC also has weekday lunch specials when school is in session. One of these deals is "Buy 30 tokens, get 30 free." You don't have to use the tokens right when you buy them. I usually have a stash saved up of cheap tokens that I bring with us on vacations.
• Another was to get discounted tokens is to use CEC rewards calendars. You can print these reward calendars from the CEC website and redeem them for 10 free tokens. The drawback to these is they require a food purchase to redeem. I haven't tried it before but maybe you could just buy a drink?
• Play online CEC games for free tickets. The CEC website has fun games that reward you
  
  with real tickets you can redeem at CEC. You can use one printed ticket reward per child per day, so print one for each child. Again, these now require a food purchase to redeem (lame!).
• If you have a choice, choose a CEC with a playground. It is nice to have something for the kids to do that doesn't cost tokens. Right now, since my kids have an uneven amount of tokens to spend, some finish sooner than others. Having tubes to crawl around in keep them entertained instead of complaining. 
• Don't give your kids all their tokens at once. Parcel out a few and then they have to return for more. This has a few benefits. They have to keep checking in, they don't spill and lose their tokens, and they don't waste all their tokens on games that don't require any play besides dropping in the token.
• Try some of the games yourself. If I bring my husband, I know beforehand I'm going to have to set some tokens aside for him. It's fun to take a trip back to the old days and play skee ball. And the kids love getting all the tickets you earn.
  
• Save a token for the picture machine. Almost all CECs have a "sketch your portrait" machine. It is so fun to take a family portrait every time we go to save as a souvenir. 
• Help with ticket redemption for little ones. When we just had the kindergartners and under, everyone would turn in all their tickets to me. Then they would all tell me one thing they wanted within certain ticket categories. If there were still enough tickets left, I would let them choose one thing more. Everyone got the same number of prizes, regardless of ticket worth. If we had leftover tickets, I would save them for next time. Now that I have older kids getting varying amounts of tokens, they manage their own tickets, but I still help with the littles and have a ticket stash of my own for days when they don't quite earn enough to get the prize they want. (It has been my experience that CEC employees round up your total tickets)
• Visit on a weekday morning. Saturday mornings are usually very busy with birthday parties. Evenings also tend to be busier. To avoid crowds and have younger playmates, arrive as close to opening as possible. 

What are your Chuck E Cheese tips?