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First released in 2014, Five Nights At Freddy's is an interactive survival horror game in which the player needs to survive the nights at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza while battling homicidal animatronic characters. The initial parts of the game franchise are solely set in several fictional restaurants that go by the name of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. The goofy, children's approach to the restaurant along with the animatronic puppets is reminiscent of several other children's pizza restaurants.

The restaurant's haunting essence can be summed up by a tagline from the trailer of the first game. It reads, "during the day, it's a place of joy... but you aren't here during the day. You have the night watch."

10 Fredbear's Family Diner Was The Pizzeria's Old Name

Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria was initially called Fredbear's Family Diner, as per Phone Guy in Five Nights At Freddy's 2. He also states that the original restaurant, this so-called diner was a local family restaurant till it was branded and franchised as a pizza chain.

One of the hidden altered posters in the game also gives further insight into the history of the first restaurant. Apparently, a man dressed in an animatronic suit lured a few children in the back of the eatery and murdered them. While the suspect was apprehended, none of the children's bodies could be recovered. The game later points to antagonist William Afton being the serial killer.

9 Inspiration From Chuck E. Cheese And ShowBiz

The inspirations from family pizza chains like Chuck E. Cheese and ShowBiz Pizza Place are obvious. All these chains rely on animal mascots, a rat in the case of Chuck E. Cheese, and the Billy Bob bear being a central character in ShowBiz's advertising.

Both companies also featured animatronic robot performances in their restaurants. Chuck E. Cheese also featured an animatronic band similar to the game, called Munch's Make Believe Band. ShowBiz's band was the Rock-afire Explosion in which Billy Bob played the guitar.

8 ShowBiz's Secret Images Were To Be Initially Featured

Each installment in the video-game franchise features several hidden elements that can randomly appear in the restaurant, along with a few so-called secret images that function as amusing Easter Eggs. Five Nights At Freddy's creator Scott Cawthorn revealed in a Reddit post that he had talked to the creator of ShowBiz Pizza Aaron Fletcher and got access to some images of the real-life pizza chain along with their animatronics. However, Cawthorn soon decided to cancel his decision with the fears of negative attention being drawn to ShowBiz.

As he puts it in his own words, "I removed them when people traced them back to Showbiz Pizza (I'd hoped they were obscure enough to not be so easily identified)."

7 The Pizza Place Possibly Thrived Until The 80s

As per the novels inspired by the games, the location of the pizza eateries is mostly traced to Utah. As for the time period in which the titular five nights take place at the Pizza Place, Mary Schmidt's paycheck can be of help.

Schmidt, the heroine of the fan-game Five Nights At Candy's, receives a paycheck by the end that is dated in November 1987. The fan-game focuses on a Burgers and Fries restaurant that was established after the Pizzeria closed its doors, following the events of Five Nights At Freddy's 2. This probably means that Freddy Fazbear's Pizza possibly existed in the 1980s.

6 A Real-Life Pizzeria Got Unwanted Calls By Fans

A New Jersey pizzeria has gone by the name of Freddie's Restaurant and Pizzeria since the year 1944. Unfortunately, the establishment's everyday business was affected by it receiving more calls around Five Nights At Freddy's rather than calls for orders. Many fans of the game, most of them being children, call the eatery to ask if Freddie's Restaurant inspired Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. The restaurant also added an extra phone line to handle the increasing amount of unwanted calls.

5 Differences With Real-Life Animatronics

The animatronics of the game's Pizza Place seem to be pretty believable when compared to the musical robots of ShowBiz Pizza and Chuck E. Cheese. Still, for obvious reasons, the game's robots are much more agile, and the chief difference lies in the hips. The robots in Chuck E. Cheese restaurants were not provided any articulation below the hips to provide them with more stability. At Freddy Fazbear's, the animatronics have more flexible knees, and ankles.

Animatronics are often designed to perform a specific task, like waving their hands or walking. The in-game robots too function according to predetermined routes and positions. At the same time, they can execute random movements, pointing to a more autonomous artificial intelligence behind them.

4 The Pizza Place Served As A Haunted House

Based in Las Vegas, The Fright Dome was a popular walk-through horror attraction that ran for about a year from 2016 to 2017. Its owner, Jason Egan, even brought Freddy Fazbear's Pizza as a haunted house located in the Fright Dome.

Visitors could wander throughout the Pizzeria just like the actual game, with characters like Chica, Bonnie, Freddy, and Foxie stalking and scaring them. The Fright Dome's website rated the tourist attraction as "I." The "I" stands for "intense," and it wasn't suited for children below the age of 12.

3 The Novels Provide A Different Origin

The Silver Eyes was the first novelization of the Five Nights At Freddy's franchise. While the book drew in good-enough reviews, some fans were disappointed with the fact that it did not answer many of the game's mysteries.

However, The Silver Eyes did add some background to the Pizzeria's history. The plot revolves around a 17-year-old girl called Charlie who returns to her hometown at Hurricane, Utah. Out there, she attends the launch of a memorial scholarship dedicated to one of Charlie's childhood friends. As is revealed, the friend along with a few other children was murdered at Freddy Fazbear's Pizza by her father Henry. Henry, rather than the game's William Afton, had also designed the restaurant's animatronic robots and after being suspected of murder, he committed suicide using an unknown animatronic robot.

2 Chuck E. Cheese's Creepy Stories

Earlier this year, a Twitter user had shared some stark similarities between Chuck E. Cheese and the Pizza Place outlets in Five Nights At Freddy's. The tweets featured news stories around missing children, the death of an after-hours employee at a young age, strange movements from the animatronic mouse, and similar stories evoking a haunting nature.

The conspiracy theory was quickly shared among the gaming community. However, it was later revealed that there were just fake stories, possibly the work of a fan.

1 Rebranding Chuck E. Cheese For Five Nights At Freddy's

This year's COVID-19 pandemic proved to be a tough time for several business establishments, including Chuck E. Cheese, whose parent company, CEC Entertainment, filed for bankruptcy this year.

The incident has prompted several Chuck E. Cheese outlets to shut down, which has only roused the interest of the game's fans. The fans have actively been suggesting for these closed restaurants to be rebranded as Five Nights At Freddy's locations.

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About The Author

Shaurya Thapa (582 Articles Published)

Shaurya Thapa is an Indian freelance journalist who mostly dabbles in writings on cinema, music, and human interest features. When it comes to Screen Rant, he writes lists on a wide array of subjects ranging from international films to mainstream Netflix series and comic book trivia. He also hosts a podcast called 'BhindiWire', an Indian parody of IndieWire.

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