Punches fly and tokens go bye-bye at Chuck E. Cheese’s

Last year, Irving-based Chuck E. Cheese’s -- the place where a kid can be a kid -- launched a new marketing plan to appeal to parents. The arcadeand pizza chain expanded its menus, adding items such as cappucino and artisan pizzas, plus beer and wine at some locations. They even threw in free wi-fi.

The good news is the strategy seems to be working. Maybe a little too well.

Over the weekend, a Miami Chuck E. Cheese packed with adults erupted in a melee. This time it wasn’t the kids throwing punches and pulling hair -- it was their parents.

The brawl was all captured on video by Miami high school student Krystel Jimenez, and it has since gone viral, joining a growing list of embarrassing restaurant smackdowns that includes a northwest Dallas taco shop fight in June.

Jimenez told Inside Edition the ruckus was frightening, “because no one could stop it.”

Eventually, police showed up but made no arrests and nobody was seriously injured.

Chuck E. Cheese’s could be facing another dust-up as the company announced this week that it is doing away with its gold tokens after 39 years in favor of a reward cards to play games, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.

What’s the big deal, you might ask.

Well, it appears there is a collectibles market for arcade tokens, Bloomberg explains, and because Chuck E. Cheese’s is one of the longest running arcades, there will be a gold rush of sorts with all the recent tokens flooding the market and devaluing coins.

One last bit of cheesy Chuck E. trivia to chew on: Did you know that Jaret Reddick, lead singer of the lovable Denton band Bowling for Soup, became the voice of the mouse mascot in 2012? He called it the “a freaking dream come true.”

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Punches fly and tokens go bye-bye at Chuck E. Cheese’s."