Push up your glasses and pop in your retainer, it’s about to get geeky up in here.

Geeks Night Out: The Science of Fun, a celebration of science, technology and the people who make it all happen, is coming to downtown Tempe on Thursday, February 16.

It may seem as if the geeks are taking over, but they’ve actually been dominating the scene for quite some time. In fact, 20 percent of the jobs in Tempe are tech-related.

Geeks Night Out is all about bringing local businesses together and inviting everyone to let their inner nerd run wild.

There are two sides to the event: the is the fun and light-hearted side, which includes a costume contest, live music, ghost tours and plenty of video games; and there is the business and networking side, which includes a job fair, success panel and rapid pitch.

A free event for the whole family, Geeks Night Out is as much an opportunity to network as it is a place to have a good time.

Tempe’s Geeks Night Out is part of the Arizona SciTech Festival, which celebrates everything science and technology related just in time for the centennial celebrations.

Jeremy Babendure, director of the Arizona SciTech Festival, said it’s a statewide celebration for our society and culture, with over 250 events happening until March 15.

The SciTech Festival, a seven week festival that takes place all across Arizona, ignited a fire in Tempe that made for a one of a kind event.

“The concept of Geeks Night Out was something that was championed by the City of Tempe,” said Babendure.

Babendure reached out to Tempe, offering them a platform that they quickly filled out themselves.

“Science and technology is an industry that drives Tempe,” said Babendure. “It’s important for people to realize what is driving our economy.”

Babendure said the idea behind the festival is not only to get our future generations interested in Arizona as a huge leader in science, but to change Arizona’s identity in general.

“It helps to develop local awareness and, eventually, an international brand for our community as innovators in technology,” he said. “[Maybe] people can start viewing us more as leaders in technology than what Governor Brewer does on the tarmac with President Obama.”

Tempe Council-member Onnie Shekerjian, who chairs the council committee for technology, said Tempe is a unique city because of the highly educated population coming out of ASU and surrounding universities.

“For people over 25 years old, about 40 percent of those people in Tempe have a bachelor’s degree or above,” said Shekerjian. “The national average [for that age group] is 24 percent.”

Shekerjian said Tempe has a lot of tech companies starting there and relocating there, which adds to the personality of the city.

She also said Tempe is a location to have fun, which is why there is such a variety of different “geekness.”

“Being a geek is not being uncool,” she said. “Everyone has their area of geekness.”

Looking at Tempe as a whole, Shekerjian said it is an eclectic city that is very rich in culture for being able to strike out beyond your own. Case in point, the small businesses involved in Geeks Night Out.

Local Businesses Shine

For a lighthearted (or perhaps intense) time, visitors can take part in a good old fashion trivia game. Pop Culture Paradise is hosting the competition, and the topic is the endless battle of Star Trek vs. Star Wars. Prizes will be awarded to the man or woman who knows their intergalactic facts.

If the individuals would rather wear their geeky passions for the public to admire, there is also a Phoenix Comicon costume contest where prizes and trophies will be awarded to the best Sci-Fi outfit.

Youngsters  and game enthusiasts can also indulge their video gaming thirsts in giant mobile video game theater provided by GameTruck, another example of a Tempe-based business that has expanded all over the country.

GameTruck started in Tempe in 2006 and was founded by ASU alumni Scott Novis. Novis built a prototype in his garage after being inspired by his son’s fourth birthday.

Now there are 55 GameTruck franchises across the country, hitting birthday parties, work events and schools.

Chief Operating Officer David Wachtel said seeing a GameTruck is all it takes to get hooked.

“With our business, you have to see and feel it to get it; you have to witness it yourself,” Wachtel said.

“It’s a different world from the one I grew up in, going to the arcades,” Wachtel said. “It’s pretty incredible.”

Having their business in Tempe has also allowed them to connect with other small businesses such as Evil Controllers.

“Tempe offers a closer community feel,” said Wachtel, who sees Geeks Night Out as a great opportunity for businesses to network.

GameTruck is teaming up with Evil Controllers to create a unique product line of controllers for both the mass market and individuals with disabilities.

Young Entrepreneurs

Adam Coe is the CEO of Evil Controllers, a Tempe based company that customizes gaming controllers and even allows gamers to build their own creations.

Evil controllers will be showcasing their products inside a theater at Madcap where visitors can test out a new way of asserting their dominance on Call of Duty or Gears of War.

Coe is also on the Geeks Night Out success panel. A young entrepreneur, Coe was just a freshman college student with a good idea. An avid gamer, as many students are, Coe went home for spring break and decided to relocate some buttons on his Xbox controller in order to up his Halo game.

Truck full of games? Yeah, they’re real!

When I was a kid I had two consistent fantasies growing up.  One was; acquire superpowers and perhaps becoming a less lame version of El Dorado. Two; living in a truck full of videogames. As time passed, it became painfully clear that was I not going to be a member of the Superfriends but, I still held out hope for my truck full of games. 

Last week, Harold Goldberg (gaming journalism Jedi Master and author of All Your Bases Are Belong to Us) invited me to check out a GameTruck that was being sent to New York City to be evaluated by us. GameTruck is a franchise that essential sends you a mobile gaming center in the form of a 50 foot trailer that’s decked out with videogames and big screens. From what I’m told this is a big hit for children’s parties and occasionally the nerdy corporate gig. It just so happened that NYC was hit with tropical storm like rain and winds that could lift a cow, but that was not stopping me. I was determined to see this damn truck, I had to. I would fight through waves of knife-wielding banditos in order to see a dream come true. Sadly, the worst thing that happened to me was stepping in an ankle deep puddle and almost losing my hat to the wind. 

 I have to admit, I was skeptical at first. I was half-expecting a janky converted minivan with a couple of screens of Madden 12 being played; fortunately the monster that pulled up proved the contrary. An enormous trailer pulls up covered in crazy green decals after debating where to put the damn thing, the GameTruck gave us refuge from the storm.

Inside we were treated to a truly state of the art set-up. Neon green and red track lighting illuminated the inside of the surprising spacious trailer. I counted five HDTVs each hooked up with a Wii and Xbox 360. In one nook of the truck you had your Kinect station where you would be able to play motion games or wanted to get a session of Guitar Hero without hitting someone with plastic instrument or errant elbow.  The coolest feature of the Game Truck is that the side panels can pop off and two TVs magically rise from behind the couch so games can be played from outside the truck. So far, I was impressed with a lot of design decisions mostly because that there is plenty of room for parties to walk around

Once we were able to soak everything in, we decided that some games needed to be played in order to properly evaluate the Game Truck. We walked over to the game wall and tried out NHL 12. We plopped down on the leather couch and had a couple of intense matches where I proved to be the victor. I was inside my dream, I could not be stopped.

My biggest concern is how the games would sound once you have a ton of kids screaming and hollering drown out the game noise. I guess, it’s a small sacrifice for the convenience of having a game party you don’t have to set up yourself.

 You could easily cram about twenty or so screaming kids who are provided with plenty of options as far games are concerned. Since the GT is marketing as a kid friendly endeavor, parents can choose which games their younglings could be exposed to by simply going to the gamewall and removing the games they feel aren’t suitable for their party and the kids are none the wiser. Each GameTruck comes with a Game Coach to explain the basics to the non-gamers in the groups and takes care of all the set up pre and post game party. It was explained to us that Game Coaches pretty make sure that everyone gets to play and nothing craps out.

As I was playing, the Game Coach explained to us that the most popular games usually are Super Smash Brothers and pretty much any other fighting game. Each Game Truck comes with its own network setup so intense 8 on 8 Call of Duty or Halo LAN matches usual end up happening at some point during a party.

Normally, GameTrucks don’t make it out NYC but they are looking for a franchisee to take the risk. From what I heard from Kenneth, the owner of this particular truck, GameTrucks are huge in the suburbs and are a great end cap for a kid’s birthday party and build great word of mouth buzz. A NYC Game Truck would have a problem with just finding places to park. We had to set ours near a playground nearly blocking traffic. Prices vary depending on how many people are gaming, and how far the truck has to go but, completely reasonable for the most part.

All in all, my game truck experience was glowingly positive. It managed to match up with my ridiculous man-child fantasy and I think premise of a rolling LAN party is pretty ambitious. From a party goer stand point, you have a lot of game choices and unless you have like fifty people wanting to play at the same time, there’s something for everyone with little wait time. To be honest, I didn’t want to leave the truck once were settled in. Maybe it was the storm, but I really did not want to leave. I can only imagine a pack of kids feeling the same way once their time is up. That’s what they in the end, kids begging their parents for an extra hour. Cue the “CHA-CHING” sound! In case you’re wondering I did ask if I could live in the truck. Kenneth simply said no and I had to move on with my life. Fantasy ruined.

For more info on a GAMETRUCK, check out GAMETRUCKPARTY.COM and find a truck near you.

Thanks again to Kenneth Levey for letting us nerd out in his truck!

GameTruck is a video game party on wheels. There are more than 50 GameTrucks in the country, but Brad Taylor of Des Moines has the only one in Iowa.

The GameTruck trailer is equipped with four 55-inch HD TV screens, 200 Wii, PS3 and Xbox games and leather-upholstered seating for 16 players who can play in small groups or together. The trailer, which pulls up and parks at the party site, also has its own generator, heating and cooling system.

“We’ve had every kind of party you can imagine: bar mitzvahs; bachelor, bachelorette parties; birthdays for 30-, 40-year-olds; corporate events, Super Bowl parties. We’ve been at large-scale events like fairs and festivals. But the heart of the business is boys’ birthday parties,” said Taylor, who is celebrating his second anniversary as a GameTruck owner.

The seating can also be removed to make way for dancing or cheerleading with videos, which is popular among younger girls, he said.

Taylor’s GameTruck has hosted more than 30 parties in each of the past three months, and Taylor said his truck has been consistently in the top 10 for number of parties per truck within the nationwide GameTruck organization.

His largest GameTruck party was thrown by a family for an entire junior high graduating class. Other activities were provided, and partiers took turns in the trailer.

Adults’ parties are a lot of fun, too, “but a lot of them aren’t as video-savvy as children, so they need a little bit of handling at times,” said Taylor, who has a roster of college-age “game coaches” who supervise and assist with videos.

GameTruck was founded in 2006 by engineer Scott Novis of Tempe, Ariz. He began franchising it in 2008 and his company, GameTruck Licensing LLC, is No. 385 on Entrepreneur Magazine’s 2012 list of top franchises.

The total investment for a franchise is $119,500 to $304,000, according to the magazine. GameTruck Licensing does not charge a franchise fee, so the investment covers the purchase of the GameTruck.

Taylor was introduced to the GameTruck business during a visit to Arizona a few years ago and immediately saw its potential in central Iowa. As the father of two children with winter birthdays, Taylor knew the venue might be ideal for children’s birthday parties, especially for those who have outgrown play places geared for younger kids.

“I decided it was something I wanted to do, but I came back to Des Moines and thought about it awhile and tried to figure out how to do the financing,” said Taylor whose day job is as a computer consultant for Alliance Technologies.

He bought a Dodge Ram three-quarter ton pickup truck to pull a 35-foot-long, V-nose trailer with a 10- by 30-foot gaming area. The length from the tip of the trailer to the bumper of the truck is 50 feet.

An 8500-watt Cummins Onan diesel generator provides the power, heating and air conditioning.

“We’ve had parties in all weather conditions, some as cold as minus 18 and as hot as 110. It’s held its own,” Taylor said. “We even did a couple in a blizzard, which I wish we hadn’t done, but we were on our way when it hit, and how do you tell a 10-year-old boy the party is not going to happen?”

Julie Katich of West Des Moines hired the game vehicle for a pre-Christmas birthday party for her son Carson, who turned 11 on Dec. 20.

“It’s so hard to think of parties with a winter birthday,” said Katich, of West Des Moines. “Carson decided he wanted this. He’s been at other parties with it.”

“I like that it has all sorts of games to pick out,” Carson said. “It also has good seats and speakers.”

Parents usually like how easy the party is to host, Taylor said. “We can send electronic invitations. We show up and take control. Our game coaches are the supervisors,” he said.

The vehicle was parked in the Sacred Heart School lot for Carson’s party, but the majority of time it is parked in front of people’s homes, Taylor said.

He doesn’t allow food and beverages in the trailer, but some clients have had him park near pizza parlors where they eat.

The charge is $295 for two hours and $95 for each additional hour on weekends. During the week, rates run $275 for two hours and $85 for each additional hour. The charge may be higher for larger events because the game coach has to monitor the times per player and help people on and off the truck.

The busiest time is during the winter. “We don’t have to compete with parks, pools and backyards,” Taylor said.

Chad Svendson of QSP Fundraising has used the GameTruck this year and last year as an incentive for school fundraising through magazine subscription sales. Students who meet a quota are treated to time — usually about 30 minutes — playing videos in the GameTruck.

Svendson said the first year, when the incentive was new to the students, they sold $22,000 worth of magazine subscriptions. This year, when the students were familiar with it and eager to play the videos, they sold $40,000 worth.

“We make sure that when the GameTruck is at schools, only school-appropriate games are allowed to be played,” said Svendson, a former teacher, coach and associate principal. “We stay away from games where any type of weapon is used and make sure the games are in line with school-appropriate activities.”

Taylor said he intended the GameTruck to be a side business, but it’s become a second, full-time job.

“I’m glad I did it,” he said. “I’m having a ton of fun with it, and after all, when you’re around parties and fun events, everyone is in a good mood.”