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June 11, 2008 - 5:45PM
Updated: June 11, 2008 - 7:54PM
Electronic amusement trucks on a roll
David Woodfill, Tribune
Scott Novis grew up playing video games. "I'm the Atari generation," said the 42-year-old founder and CEO of GameTruck, a company with a fleet of "mobile video game theaters."
The theaters are 32-foot trailers equipped with 50-inch plasma television monitors and the latest home video game systems that are much more sophisticated than the Atari 2600 console Novis played in the late 1970s.
Hitched to the back of pickups, the $75,000 trailers are delivered to children's birthday parties, graduations, corporate events and other gatherings.
The Tempe-based company is one of several mobile game parlours sprouting up around the Valley and nation.The trailers, which can accommodate up to 16 people, costs $275 to rent for the first two hours and $85 per hour after that for a private party. Other prices apply for corporate events. The service includes instructors who teach players how to play the games and use the equipment.
"They pull right up to your driveway," Edie Simpson, a Mesa resident and mother of two teenage boys, said of GameTruck.
Simpson discovered the service after chaperoning her son's prep school graduation party earlier this month. The party's attractions included a swimming pool and mobile casino, but the GameTruck proved far more popular with the kids, she said.
"I never saw it empty," she said. "It was incredible."
Dan Benzer, owner of Gamin'ride in Gilbert, has one 32-foot trailer capable of accommodating 16 players.
Benzer started the business in January, but he said business is increasing about 20 percent a month.
"We just (received) our numbers for May, and that was our biggest month we've ever had," he said. "We're continuing to trend up."
Benzer's service costs $299 for the first two hours and $99 for each additional hour.
Edward Woo, a Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst focusing on interactive entertainment companies, said he'd never heard of a mobile gaming parlour, and he'd be surprised if the concept becomes widespread.
"Part of the problem I see with this model is the same problem with arcades," he said.
Woo said when home game consoles started becoming more prevalent, children no longer felt it was necessary to pay to play video games in arcades.
He said he sees that same potential attitude toward mobile gaming parlours. Novis said he understands the skepticism, but said he's happy with the demand he's experiencing.
He said the company became profitable in March, and demand is growing so much that he's expanding his fleet of trailers from three to five and has begun franchising the business in California and Arizona.
"People are booking us every day, so I guess there's something there," he said.
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