Valley Life: Dude, kids game trucks the way to party

Dude. It's party season for this grandmother.

Three of my four grandchildren have had birthday parties in the past few weeks. Two of them were girlie parties — the 3-year-old celebrated with a Minnie Mouse theme, complete with mouse ears, and the 4-year-old hosted a princess tea party, complete with tiaras.

But my 8-year-old grandson's party was all boy. So what do you do with 18 8-year-old boys? Dude, you host a video game party. I haven't been to an 8-year-old boy's birthday party in years. Things have changed since my son turned 8. Back then, it was either a pizza parlor or skating rink party, where kids ran around, yelling, screaming and begging for more coins. There wasn't much else to choose from.

But today's hottest ticket is the Game Truck Party, where they bring the party to your doorstep — or at least your driveway. I wish they'd had this when my son was a kid because it was so easy. All you do is call the video game truck company, book the date, pay the fee and invite the kids. They take it from there.

Here's how it goes: At the allotted time, a big brightly colored truck pulls up in front of your driveway, making you look like a rock star. The truck is greeted by 18 wide-eyed 8-year-old boys who can't believe they're about to play video games for the next two hours.

A really nice guy called a "game coach" opens up the doors and side windows, turns on wall-to-wall 50-inch flat screen TVs, hooks up the gaming systems — like Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii — inserts the 8-year-old players' favorite games — like Skylanders, Wii Resorts, Mario Brothers — and hands over the controllers. Dude, it's birthday party heaven.

I know what you're thinking. Kids today play enough video games. But they don't usually play together. Believe it or not, hosting a video game party is actually good for kids. They collaborate, they socialize, they learn skills, they move around, they take turns and they're inspired to read, do math and solve problems. Some of the game truck companies even include laser tag games that get the kids running, hiding, playing in teams and using strategies.

The game coach, with the enthusiasm of an 8-year-old boy, makes sure everything runs smoothly and fairly. Meanwhile, the parents get to mingle outside, comfortable in the knowledge that their kids are safe inside the self-contained party. With the convenience of keeping the party at home–and with no mess to clean up–it's a parent's dream too. The prices are comparable to a party at the play gyms, bounce houses, trampoline sites, movies and giant mouse pizza parties.

Dude, I have to say, the two-hour party flew by faster than a speeding Mario Brother. I've never seen so many boys in one place get along so well. I don't even think they took a bathroom break during the whole event. And I learned 18 different ways to use the word "dude."

The only problem? Dude, they could have used one more game truck — just for the dads.

 

Tempe, AZ (PRWEB) March 21, 2013

GameTruck, a leader in video game entertainment, has kicked off 2013 with a bang, climbing the ranks as one of the country’s top franchise businesses and receiving nods in prestigious media outlets including Entrepreneur Magazine and CNN. This comes on the heels of a record-breaking year for the business, with franchise operations growing to 79 franchisees operating 85 trucks nationwide. GameTruck is the original and longest-continuous running mobile video game theater concept in the country, bringing ultimate video game parties almost anywhere via self-powered, climate-controlled trailers outfitted with as many as eight flat-screen HDTV’s, enhanced sound systems and dozens of the latest multiplayer games.

Climbing the ladder 170 spots on Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500 list, GameTruck ranked #218 on the list of Top Franchises. The Franchise 500 list is considered to be the best and most comprehensive franchise ranking system in the world. Franchises are judged on a number of criteria, most importantly the financial strength and stability, growth rate and size of the system. GameTruck also ranked #7 on the Top New Franchise list.

Adding to the momentum building over the past few weeks, CNN Money recognized GameTruck as one of the top 5 hot franchises of the year—sparking a wave of interest from possible new investors and GameTruck franchise owners.

“It’s an incredible honor to be recognized on such important and highly reputable lists” says Scott Novis, CEO of GameTruck. “We’ve built a business model that has resonated with both franchise owners and consumers across the country, and are poised to expand exponentially in the coming years.”

Also noteworthy was GameTruck’s inclusion in Franchise Business Review’s 2012 Guide To Today’s Top Franchises under the Sports and Recreation category, and a feature on Fox Business American Franchise Spotlight which cements their success in the small business category.

GameTruck offers a premier party experience for both children and adults in an interactive, multiplayer environment accommodating at least 16 players. GameTruck trailers are equipped with more than three dozen of the latest multiplayer video games and all the major video game consoles (XBOX360®, Nintendo Wii™ and Playstation®). A GameCoach manages each event, promoting fair, interactive play. Parents can book a party simply by visiting http://www.GameTruckParty.com and searching for a franchise nearby.

A standard GameTruck party consists of two hours of play for ages 6 and up; 16-20 players can compete in the trucks interior. Just like at home, GameTruck parents can look through the library and take out what they deem unacceptable for their kids.

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About GameTruck

GameTruck was founded in 2006 by Scott Novis in Tempe, Arizona. It is the home of Patented Mobile Video Game Entertainment™. What started out as a fun birthday party experiment for family and friends quickly turned into a busy weekend business. In 2009, GameTruck had a break out year growing by more than 800% and expanding into most of the top markets across the United States.

GameTruck’s franchise organization is unique in that Phoenix operation continues to serve as a means to validate and improve upon the existing business system, while providing a platform to introduce new innovations in the industry as we created. In short we continue to work in the business we created, reaming laser focused on bringing people together to enjoy gaming in a multiplayer environment and to provide games with the best gaming experience available. Moreover, each GameTruck location and their staff are committed to providing high quality entertainment at an affordable price.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1141298#ixzz2ODbWgMx4

 

Birthday parties come with a lot of fun and a lot of work for parents planning and executing these events for the offspring that they love. If you rent a facility for the party, you have to transport all your party supplies, incur high costs and in most cases turn control of your party over to a commercial facility. But what if you could hold a party in the comfort of your home, where your child and their guests would be completely entertained and the mess and craziness of a party would be kept to a minimum? Sounds great right? You can with the GameTruck.

What's the GameTruck you ask? GameTruck is a mobile and totally self-contained gaming studio. They come to your home and provide your party guests with a minimum of two hours of gaming fun. Inside you will find a huge comfortable couch across from 4 large flat panel televisions in a climate controlled environment. Stocked with dozens of the top games and the latest gaming systems, the Game Truck appeals to everyone.

The GameTruck host is your partner in your party. Once the coach has the GameTruck set up and before any of the party guests begin playing he will have you, the party host, board the GameTruck and approve all of the game offerings. This gives you complete control on what games your guests play. Some of the games do carry teen and mature ratings, as the truck attempts to appeal to a wide audience, but any games can and will be removed as an option at your call. These removed games are taken off the wall and guests do not even know that they exist as a gameplay option.

Once game approval has been made the fun begins. The game coach gets everyone up and playing quickly. On most games up to 4 people can play against each other at one time. The game coach keeps the party going, switching out games as partygoers wish, and making sure everyone understands how to play each game. All you have left to do is sit back and watch the fun.

I recently had the privilege of experiencing an evening of fun from my local GameTruck located in Indianapolis. We had a really great experience and once the truck arrived here we were playing games within a matter of minutes. We had a wide variety of ages attending the event and everyone was able to find an old favorite or a new challenging game to play. Even though I chose to remove two of the more mature game titles there was still a lot of game choices for the diverse crowd. Even with several people on the truck, the game play experience was quite good.

For parents trying to justify the cost of renting the Gametruck for your event, once you add up the expense of throwing a typical birthday party with games and entertainment, GameTruck is a real value.

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