They went on to build different kinds of technology and businesses, but Nolan Bushnell and Steve Jobs once worked at the same office. In fact, Bushnell was Steve Jobs’ first and only real boss when Jobs worked for the seminal video game company, Atari, which Bushnell founded in the 1970s. Bushnell described Jobs in his book Finding the Next Steve Jobs: How to Find, Hire, Keep and Nurture Creative Talent as “the smartest person in the room, and he would tell everybody that. It’s generally not a good social dynamic.” The focused, determined, robotic Jobs was very likely a model for some of the robots Bushnell used in his next entrepreneurial enterprise — the surprisingly enduring restaurant franchise concept Chuck E. Cheese.
Now that the Chuck E. Cheese Challenge — a follow-up to the viral Mannequin Challenge — is tearing up the internet, you might want to channel your inner Steve Jobs to dominate the global robot dance competition. (The Chuck E. Cheese Challenge asks people to dance like the animatronic robots at the restaurants.) Read Walter Issacson’s book about Jobs — and you might be able to bring some Method Acting to your Chuck E. Cheese Challenge. Which robot, btw, do you think is most like the cantankerous genius Apple co-founder?
