When east Chula Vista resident Regina Lancaster retired nearly three years ago, she found retirement ultimately wasn't for her.

After years catering aboard yachts it was only natural she find another adventure.

“I love building something and making something happen,” she said.

Lancaster first heard of the company GameTruck, while reading an article in the newspaper one morning in May 2009.

GameTruck is dubbed the ultimate video game party because they come to you.

“I had never heard of a game truck,” Lancaster recalled. “I thought, someone’s really come up with a great idea.”

Lancaster immediately sent her three adult children emails with a link to the company’s website. Along with her husband, youngest daughter Mary and her spouse who lived in Vegas at the time, they applied to become franchise owners.

Today, Lancaster is 25 percent franchise owner of the South San Diego GameTruck and runs the business out of her home.

“It’s really a family affair,” she said.

They threw their first party in August 2009.

“In the beginning I wondered myself, ‘how much fun is it to play these video games?’” … I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “It’s something fun for the whole family.”

Lancaster said the investment totaled between $150,000 and $170,000 including franchise fees, a fully loaded trailer and included the decision on territories.

GameTruck South San Diego covers Chula Vista, National City, Imperial Beach, Coronado and San Ysidro and a few other areas.

“For me, there was never any doubt to open one here (in Chula Vista),” Lancaster said. “It was really an opportunity to do something fun and it gave some of my family an opportunity to come back to Chula Vista.”

Each GameTruck theater carries four, 55-inch flat screen plasma TVs, a library of 80-plus games with varied ratings with multiplayer games for X-Box 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii and a climate controlled gaming lounge that can accommodate 20 players.

Although Lancaster said she’s often booked on weekends for parties, she also holds charity events with organizations in the city, including the Chula Vista Police Department and South Bay Family YMCA.

Chula Vista Police Officer Leo Banales said GameTruck has donated its services twice for the department’s annual National Night Out, opening up the truck for whoever wants to check it out.

“It helps us out in this tight economy,” Banales said. “It gives something for parents with young kids an option and it gives the GameTruck proprietors and chance to pitch in and help us out.”

South Bay Family YMCA marketing, business and community relations’ director Rebecca Kelley, has worked with Game Truck for their ‘healthy kids day’ event, which helps families build healthier lifestyles through activities and shared experiences.

Kelley said Game Truck gives back to the community.

“They donate their time and game trucks for our events as well as an additional package for a (raffle) prize,” Kelley said. “The kids have had a great time. When it comes to a for profit business I think they work very well with community organizations and the kids that we serve.”

Lancaster also said she holds events for the Chula Vista Chamber of Commerce and Fourth of July Naval big bay event.

“Are you guys ready to go?” asks Joe Howe, owner and operator of D.C.’s GameTruck franchise, as a group of 11 kids line up outside one of his video game trucks. “Yeah!” the kids scream. Video games have their pluses and minuses. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, new research shows that gamers can be more creative and faster decision makers. But video game detractors point to the dormant nature of the games as part of the U.S.’s obesity problem.

With four 50-inch televisions and long leather couches, each game truck can handle as many as 16 players at a time. Coaches like Cody Williams, below, help with gameplay.

Jason Smith, 10, probably didn’t think about any of that when he asked his parents whether the Game Truck, a neon green trailer on the back of a pickup, could come to his party to celebrate the end of the school year.

Video games are not something Jason plays all the time, according to his mother, Marjorie Smith, a computer programmer. She’s standing next to a row of four 50-inch televisions in the dark trailer, which is lined on the ceiling with neon green lights. The children sit quietly, eyes glued to the screens. “This is longer than he would normally play,” she says.

For two hours or longer, the game truck sits wherever the party is, while as many as 16 people, children and adults, play dozens of different video games inside.

“I was born to play Halo,” says one kid, sitting on the 20-foot-long black leather couch in the trailer parked outside the Smiths’ house in Alexandria.

The kids quickly become engrossed in the games. They choose their games, then sit down, four to a screen, and compete against each other — so there was no waiting.

“A lot of times, the kids come in and they’re so wound up, it takes 15 minutes to get them into the game,” Howe says. “Obviously, this is a good group of video gamers.”

The games are all vetted by parents before the trailer opens to the kids. Howe has as many as 50 games to choose from, including all of the newest and most popular offerings. A board by the door lists the games that the kids are allowed to play, and a coach assists everyone with game changes, battery issues or gameplay.

“We have an Xbox on every TV and Wii on every TV,” Howe tells the kids.

While Howe does a lot of kids parties, he accommodates adult also: bachelor parties, tennis tournaments and corporate team-building events. GameTruck started six years ago in Arizona, and Howe has been running trucks — he has two — here for about three years.

At parties, everyone gets along in the game truck, Howe says. There’s no drama, and he and his game coaches stress fair play and gaming with others. The only rule: no food or drink in the truck, except bottled water.

Chris Smith, Jason’s father who also works as a computer programmer, stands at the door with his wife watching the gamers. A couple more neighborhood kids join the party and the truck gets a little louder. Last year, Smith says, they had a water themed party to end the school year. This year, they got the ever-popular moon bounce along with the GameTruck.

But don’t expect Jason and his friends to turn into couch potatoes. They had to cut the party short because Jason had soccer practice.

 

Where: Anywhere in the DC Metro area How much does it cost? Monday-Thursday: $349 for two hours, $95 for each additional hour for up to 16 people at a time in the truck; Friday-Sunday: $395 for two hours and $175 for each additional hour for up to 16 kids at a time in the truck. Ages: 5 and older. For parties with 5- and 6-year-olds, Howe limits the party size to 12 children. For more information: Visit www.gametruckparty.com/dcalexandria or call Joe Howe at 703-955-6009.