Meet Ben Xavier, the breakdancing arcade technician at Salem’s Chuck E. Cheese

If you’ve gone to Salem’s Chuck E. Cheese in the past three decades, you’ve probably seen the arcade’s technician, Ben Xavier, weaving energetically through the twinkling maze of video games and arcade machines.

Maybe you caught a glimpse of him crouched with his head deep inside the wired bowels of the Jurassic Park adventure game. Or noticed him trying out Angry Birds — his favorite to test — before a big rush of customers. 

You can always count on Xavier, 57, at least from Tuesday through Saturday, to employ his expertise and decades of experience to keep the main attractions humming at the arcade at 3240 Lancaster Drive N.E.

Under his soft-spoken exterior is something entirely unexpected. Xavier used to breakdance in the 1980s as a teenager on the Micronesian island of Yap where he was born. 

He and a group of his friends learned how to do it by watching videos. The teens danced so well that people eventually started paying them to perform at community events. 

Xavier looked surprised and burst out laughing when he learned his boss at Chuck E. Cheese described him as a professional breakdancer. 

“That’s funny,” he said grinning. “I’m too old to do the moves now.” 

Like the breakdancing skills he learned from videos as a kid, he taught himself the skills he needed as a game technician after moving to Salem at the age of 21.  

He got his foot in the door at Chuck E. Cheese washing dishes in the early 1990s but it wasn’t long until he worked his way onto the arcade floor. He eventually became the arcade’s technician and would constantly call other technicians with more experience to troubleshoot and ask questions. He learned how everything worked piece by piece, part by part. 

“I like working with my hands. I have a mechanical mind. I like figuring out things. I get into this zone and I get into this little place. It’s like this little world when I am working and trying to solve problems with these machines,” Xavier said. “Back when I started doing it, back in the 90s, the components were easily replaceable. Like capacitors and resistors, you can remove them off the board, solder them and then put them back on.” 

A lot has changed since he started. Today, games are controlled by computers and connected to the web, Xavier said.  

He took out his smartphone and lowered the volume on the arcade’s sound system. 

“Those were pretty easy to build and parts were cheap. But now as the machines are advancing they are not just the board and wires and a motherboard in there,” Xavier said. “Now I have to learn how to troubleshoot a computer.” 

Xavier popped open one of the machines to demonstrate. Inside the machine was a monitor and a computer tower much like you’d see on someone’s desktop. Surrounding the computer was a jungle of wires, switches and lights that would baffle most people but made perfect sense to Xavier. 

“I tell the game attendants that I train, ‘You have to play the games, and you have to know how they work. And how they win. And how they lose,’” Xavier said. “So that when you become familiar with how the game works, when something goes wrong, you can figure out that there is something going on with a joystick or a movement or a button or the controllers.” 

The games are tested twice a day to ensure they are functioning properly, so playing the games is part of the gig. His favorite game to play is Angry Birds because it requires some strategy, but a lot of the games are naturally designed for younger children. 

“There are some games that are fun to play and check and there are some games that are just like, ‘Eh, OK this one’s working,’” Xavier said. 

Xavier pressed a button on one machine and a troop of animatronic crabs jolted to life. He effortlessly played the game, moving the crabs away by shooting them with a controller. He then moved on to another. 

After briefly showing off the interactive dance floor he disappeared into his control center at the back of the dining area. The inside was chock-full of tools and equipment and looked more like a workshop than a Chuck E. Cheese. 

Xavier pointed to the back wall which is largely occupied by a massive screen that plays a colorful video as entertainment during children’s birthday parties. He said he remembers when corporate would send the latest video to the Salem Chuck E. Cheese as a film reel. Over time that evolved into VHS, then a DVD, and then a flash drive. Today the video is piped in via the Internet. 

Seeing how technology has evolved over time is one thing that keeps him interested in his work. He also strives to make the experience as fun as possible for the children who play his machines. Part of his job is to look out for frustrated children and give them tips on how to play. 

“Because we want them to win, because the more they win, the more they are excited, the more they want to play,” Xavier said. 

Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected] or 503-335-7790.

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