This Guy Is Obsessed With Chuck E. Cheese’s ‘The King’ Character [VIDEO]

This guy spent most of his life searching for and restoring some old animatronic characters from Chuck E. Cheese restaurants, and he is totally obsessed with them.

By on October 11, 2018
(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

If you’ve been to a Chuck E. Cheese in the early to mid-1990s, you know which one I’m walking about. “The King” was a sort of stand-alone animatronic Elvis impersonating character. He was usually tucked in a corner off by himself. He was removed during the 90s from all of the stores, and replaced with a Michael Jackson-type character.

Anyway, this one guy is totally obsessed with “The King.” He remembers going to Chuck E. Cheese when he was 12 and seeing The King perform. Then one day when he went back, The King was gone. A lady working there told him that they had gotten rid of the character months earlier. Heartbreak! Jared Sanchez is that guy, and he’s spent most of the past 20+ years looking for, restoring, and re-imagining that very character. He’s actually got four of them in his home (right there in the master bedroom), and has “updated” them to run on modern equipment. He believes there are only seven in existence.

So he “updated” the robot to run on modern tech, like we said above. Remember, these animatronics were designed back in the late 70s and early 80s. It’s old tech that ran on reel-to-reel tape machines. He managed to get them to run on modern computers, and restored all the hardware. He had to teach himself a lot of skills in the process too, like writing the control software and even sewing. Yes, he had to restore and re-make the actual costumes and “skin” that the animatronics wear. The fur, clothing, everything. However weird it may sound, he’s on his way to a successful YouTube channel, and it’s something that he really enjoys. And you can’t argue that he’s learned a ton of very valuable skills from his hobby.

See some more about Jared and his Kings over here.

Around the site