GameTruck: A Unique Video Game Birthday Party Idea

 

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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Video GameTruck Party at McDonald’s™

When I was asked to have a GameTruck Party, even though Gavin is to young to appreciate it, how could I say no? GameTruck is a portable video game trailer that is available for hire at the location of your choice, as long as there is a franchise in your general location.

Inside the climate controlled trailer there are 5 flat-screen tv’s, a long, leather couch that runs the length of the trailer, and a Playstation, Wii and XBox at each television. Included with the party is a Game Coach, basically a designated adult, who helps to put the games in for the children based on their requests, and who also facilitates the game play, so that all children get equal chance of playing. Dozens of games are available for kids to chose from, and as the person in charge of the GameTruck for that event, I was able to decide along with other parents, which games could be available to play and which ones disappeared prior to the start of the event.

Then became the process of deciding where I’d have this GameTruck Party. We live in a condo and I have a 3 and 1/2 year old, so I opted to move the truck to a location closer to Boston and invite other blogger friends to attend who had kids that were more fit for the GameTruck atmosphere. After a quick call to my friends at McDonald’s, who ironically were planning an event for kids to sample and taste the new Fish McBites, we had a large, family friendly space, and a location for the GameTruck.

Inside the restaurant, families tasted the new Fish McBites, which are only available through the month of March, played with McDonald’s themed puzzles and domino’s and received a t-shirt before they were escorted to the GameTruck. Most of the kids seemed to like the Fish McBites. I took my son at a later time to McDonald’s to sample them and though he tried one, he much more readily preferred the chicken nuggets.

Our party coach, Alex, arrived on time with the GameTruck and when we entered the truck, set the kids up with games of their preference on various platforms. During my time in the truck, no matter how many kids and adults were inside, Alex our coach was very calm and had a tremendous amount of patience. It was February and it was toasty warm inside the truck, especially when it was filled to capacity. Though some people had expressed valid concerns prior to the event regarding the noise inside the truck, most of the kids didn’t seem to notice much of what was going on around them, they were so focused on the television in front of them. In hindsight, I think the darkness inside the truck could have posed more of an issue than the noise. There were games for all age groups, fun choices for both girls and boys. Most people who attended the event were pleasantly surprised at how deceivingly large the truck was once inside. Before long, while watching our kids have a blast, the adults began dreaming of another GameTruck party playdate, solely for an adult party, in warmer weather, where we could open up the sides of the truck and have some much needed relaxation time.

For pricing information, please visit GameTruckParty.com to see if there is a truck able to come to your neighborhood.

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Birthday fun: The big green GameTruck

Though my kids are young, they are already starting to get into video games. So, we were thrilled for the chance to give our youngest a GameTruckParty when he turned 3 earlier this month.

GameTruck is a cool alternative to a traditional birthday party. The GameTruck shows up at your house, equipped with Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles and plenty of games inside for every age range.

We had prepped our kids for the GameTruck experience, but they were still wide-eyed and excited when the huge green truck pulled up in the front of the house. Each of their trucks can accommodate up to 16 or more players

The truck offers plenty of room to lounge around, 5 or 6 giant flat screen HDTVs with consoles set up with each one. The truck includes a vast selection of games with everything from Mario Brothers to Skylanders to NBA 2K13. The GameCoach was extremely helpful, and helped all my kids play the games — even the ones who were doing more “pretend” play than actual play.

Prices for the GameTruck parties vary, depending on where you live. Here in our area, it’s $295 for the first two hours, $105/hour for each additional hour (Friday-Sunday, up to 25 people). Weekdays are a little cheaper, and you can also find discount codes on their website for hosting parties early in day, last-minute bookings, military personnel and more. You can also order gift bags, t-shirts, sports bottles and other items for your party guests.

Even if you don’t let your kids play video games all the time, the GameTruck is a fun idea for special occasions. Two hours of video games isn’t going to hurt anyone!

Whether you have toddlers or teens, or kids in between, the GameTruck experience can be a whole lot of fun. Every couple days since the birthday party was held two weeks ago, my sons ask me, “Mama, when is that big green truck with video games inside coming again?”

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