In virtually every Video Game Party I’ve done so far, a young guest asks if they can play a game in single-player (or story) mode. And almost always, I have to say no. I have an easy “go-to” excuse: that playing in story mode monopolizes a whole TV and game system for that one guest; multiplayer mode allows other kids to play instead of wait. But sometimes it’s a small party, so that excuse doesn’t work…but I still have to decline most of the time.

The reason is, especially if the game in question is rated M for “Mature” by the ESRB, is this: in story mode, there’s likely to be more adult content. In Call of Duty: Black Ops III, there’s all kinds of F-bombs and other strong language. In the latest Grand Theft Auto installment (GTA V, which is not part of our inventory), one of the playable characters has “relations” with a fellow drug user in his trailer right before killing her boyfriend. As in past GTA games, the playable character is able to go to a strip club as well as patronize prostitutes as well. Needless to say, as a business that caters to families, we don’t want this content to be accessed by underage kids during one of our parties.

Thankfully, the vast majority of these otherwise adult-oriented games don’t include content meant for more mature users while in Multiplayer mode. For example, in Black Ops III, multiplayer mode is just each player trying to shoot each other, with little if any blood. Zombie mode in Black Ops III is a little more intense but again, no f-bombs and no strippers. Perhaps this makes us prudes; so be it. We strive to make our parties fun for everyone; multiplayer mode enhances the “party” aspect of our events by having our guests interact with each other in a fun, positive way.

One year ago today I was driving westward from North Carolina with my newly acquired game truck, my college buddy Forest along for the ride. We stopped in Tennessee the first night; about this time I was white-knuckle driving across Oklahoma. We were blessed with great weather pretty much the whole time – despite it being December and just missing some pretty nasty ice storms the week before – but the famous winds of Oklahoma were knocking us around pretty good, and the tractor-trailers whizzing past us on Interstate 40 weren’t helping either.

We stopped in Oklahoma City, our hotel next to a Dave and Buster’s. Seemed odd to go to a place that had video games, seeing that we had a game truck, but dinner and an adult beverage beckoned. The winds weren’t only in Oklahoma, we got slapped around as we went across the Texas panhandle and the large arroyo in eastern New Mexico. Snow flurries greeted us as we approached Albuquerque, our next stop for food and sleep.

Sub-freezing temperatures on a sunny New Mexico morning saw us off (my friend Forest, having not traveled much in the winter, was less than enthused about the cold). We ran into snowy but not undrivable conditions as we went through beautiful Flagstaff and made our way through Kingman, following part of the old Route 66 as we arrived in Barstow, happy that we were back in the Golden State.

Only a half-day trip away now, we drove through the Mojave desert, going through Bakersfield and the Central Valley, getting a taste of I-5 before getting on Hwy 49 towards Paso Robles, and then finally on 101 into Monterey County.

Since then, our year has been one of excitement and learning. We’ve been blessed with TERRIFIC customers, all of whom have been kind, patient and generous. Some of my fellow game truck owners occasionally complain about how they’ve had to throw kids (and some parents!) out of their truck for misbehaving. I have yet to even come close to doing that! Central Coast kids and their families are the best.

Even though a year has passed, EZPZ and our Mobile Game Theater is still a new concept in the Salinas/Monterey area, so we’ll be trying to remedy that with radio/TV ads and more appearances at big local events. In the meantime, if you’re a past customer, please let your kids’ friends know about us! Most of all, thanks for being part of our first year’s success!