Zapp's Bar & Grill was a chain of American arcade and food centers that first debuted in April 1983.
The chain was created by Nolan Bushnell as a more mature restaurant/entertainment chain that would run alongside Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, another chain founded by Bushnell.
History[]
A photo of an animatronic for Wolfman Zapp.
Zapp's Bar & Grill was founded during 1983 by Nolan Bushnell as a more mature restaurant/entertainment chain that would run alongside Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, another chain founded by Bushnell. Wolfman Zapp, a character based on American disc jockey, Wolfman Jack, served as the mascot and namesake for the company.
Initial locations included Cupertino and Campbell, both located in California. The latter store also went by the name Gilbert Zapp's. By 1984, a location in Dallas was opened, as well as additional locations in Santa Cruz, California and Tampa, Florida.
Most locations would close, however, due to the video game crash of 1983, which also severely affected Pizza Time Theatre, who declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1984.
In 2016, one of the Wolfman Zapp animatronics were found in a local town parade. The animatronic's origins are unknown.