I know that in my last post, I went over several recent questions that customers have asked. But during last weekend’s wonderful event for middle and high schoolers at the Marina Teen Center, one young man locked me up with a question I hadn’t been asked before:

What’s your favorite game?

Me: Just out of the game truck’s inventory, or mine personally?

Kid: Both!

This was a new one! I hemmed and hawed, and I think I just randomly picked one for the truck (Madden) just to suffice. Usually, I’m asked what game am I currently going through, but not what my favorite is.

When it comes to a lot of things (games, music, food, etc), my tastes depend on “where” I am at the moment…mood, frame of mind, what’s going on around me. If the weather’s nice and I’m being more active, I’m more likely to want to eat more healthy. If I just want to chill, then I prefer listening to jazz. If I’m stressful, then a first-person shooter helps me release that pent-up energy. Point is, my “favorite” things depend on my environment at the time.

If, however, I’m really pressed to answer this young man’s question, here’s my answer (and apologies to him for not really answering him at the time):

Rockstar’s spaghetti western version of Grand Theft Auto, released 6 (!) years ago, is still the game I go to over and over again. The gameplay is still fun, the characters (especially protagonist John Marston) are not typical two-dimensional virtual puppets, and the open-world environment is incredibly realistic from the bluish hue you’d expect in the morning/high noon to the reddish colors you would find at sunset in the Sonoran Desert. Rumors flare up now and then about a sequel, something that would make this old gamer actually go to a midnight release for.

To be honest, no one has asked to play NHL in our Mobile Game Theater. As a hockey fan, I admit to being a little disappointed (especially since the Western Conference Champion San Jose Sharks are about an hour away!). But if I’m being honest, this is my favorite game among our game truck inventory. However, this game is kicking my rear end! I’m too good for beginner mode, but the next level up (normal?) has been humbling me. I chalk it up to not having enough time to hone my skills, having to run a business and all. That’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it…

On the subject of sports games, we’ll be adding Madden 17 to our game menu this week, and we’ll be looking for NBA 2K17 in our mailbox in mid-September.

So there you have it, for whatever it’s worth, my favorite games both in the game truck and my personal collection. Subject to change. 🙂

We get questions now and then than aren’t answered in our FAQ section but are certainly worth mentioning.

Do your prices depend on how many kids are at the party? Is there some kind of sliding scale?

A nice mom from Hollister asked this recently. The short answer is no, our pricing structure is fixed. There are a couple of reasons why we don’t adjust according to a head count: 1) Our expenses are the same, whether there’s just one kid or one hundred. Fuel, oil, maintenance, insurance, etc don’t change with the number of guests. 2) It’d be difficult to adjust the pricing “on the fly”. Imagine a parent says there will be 10 kids attending a party, and as the party progresses, 10 more show up. Keeping track of which kids are paid for and which ones aren’t, then charging the parent retroactively is too much of a headache.

Think of us like a taxi or limo…it costs the same no matter how many passengers there are. Except we’re stationary. 🙂

Can we have extra party time, but in exchange for food? How about just 30 minutes more?

Believe us, we understand wanting to stretch your dollar and get the most value for your hard-earned bucks. But as we mentioned above, fuel, oil, wear and tear on our generator, etc are costs we have to bear. We will have employees soon, so extra time means they have to be paid too.

Additional hours are available at $99/hour (no fractions thereof), and are only available if our schedule allows and upon owner’s approval.

Can I rent your add-on games separately?

This one, from a family in Salinas, caught us off guard! No one had asked this before.

If you didn’t already know, we offer 3 “add-on” non-video games that can be ordered with your Video Game Party for an additional $25 each or all 3 for $60 (as of this writing, subject to change).

Our answer ended up being a big YES! As long as our customers are willing to take responsibility for any loss or damage to the games, why not? However, for now this will only be available to folks within 30 minutes of Marina.

Got more questions for us? Hit us up at ezpzgameparty (at) gmail.com…we’ll be happy to answer them!

If you’ve read one of posts from a few weeks ago, you know the games that are the most requested. But one older game we sometimes slyly suggest often ends up being one of the most played games of the party.

A first-person shooter perhaps, like Halo, Call of Duty, The Division, Star Wars Battlefront? Nope.

Maybe a sports game? WWE2016 (kinda sports-related, I know), FIFA, NHL? Guess again.

One of the old Nintendo go-to games like Super Smash Bros, Sonic, or the classic Wii Sports? Strike three.

It’s a game from 2010 that we didn’t even know about until relatively recently.

It’s Blur for the Xbox 360.

If you’ve played it, you know why it’s a big hit in our Mobile Game Theater. It’s fast. It’s fun. It’s intense competition. It’s Need For Speed + Spy Hunter.

First off, the tracks are crazy challenging. From San Francisco to New York and other locales, you’ll be busy enough just navigating through these joints.

You can choose all different kinds of cars for your race. Dodge Challengers, Ford Focuses, Audis, Volkswagens, even Land Rovers!

Then you have “power-ups” at your disposal. You can throw down some lightning on the leader to slow him up a bit, you can drop a mine to wreck your friend who’s tailgating you (kinda wish I had that in my own car!), you can even put up a shield to give you brief protection from all that stuff. All this stuff makes for a fun and exciting session of racing.

So if you’re having a Video Game Party with us soon, don’t be surprised if we throw Blur on one of the TVs. And don’t be surprised if racing down the Embarcadero throwing down mines for your friends to run over.

As most of you are aware, EZPZ began bringing Video Game Parties to Central Coast families in January of this year. We’ve been blessed with a steady increase of wonderful customers, but until recently we’ve never had more than 2 parties in a day or more than 3 in a weekend. We broke that barrier with a 3-party day and 5 on the weekend earlier this month!

Making that weekend even more challenging was the fact that we had just returned from visiting family in Hawaii late the night before! We had to get up (relatively) early to clean up the game truck, charge up the controllers and make sure everything was in tip-top shape for our crazy-busy day.

Our first party was Kyle in Salinas. He and his friends from his baseball team spent a lot of time playing MLB The Show and some shooters like Black Ops III. It was really windy that day too, but it didn’t keep some of the boys from enjoying the sunshine while playing Black Ops II.

Next up was Juan in Hollister. We were a little concerned at first because there wasn’t much space in front of his family’s house, but the neighbors were great and allowed us to partially block their driveway (and they were rewarded with some time playing Injustice!). Juan played a little bit of everything, including Giant Connect Four, one of our add-on games!

Wrapping up our big day was Andrew, also in Hollister. Andrew had just finished 8th grade and was celebrating his promotion to high school. He and his friends played a lot of Mortal Kombat XL and Black Ops III, and the ladies got plenty of Just Dance time in as well!

Saturday, the next day, we got to take a little  bit of a breather with one party on the schedule. Darian was celebrating his 9th birthday in North Salinas. The kids enjoyed Halo and Black Ops, and the parents got in the act, playing Mario Kart on one of our outside TVs.

Wrapping up the weekend on Sunday was Elijah, also in Salinas. He and his friends split their time playing shooters and Madden and playing on a HUGE inflatable slide in their front lawn!

Two of that weekend’s parties came to us by way of referral, for which we’re extremely grateful! Any of our wonderful past customers can earn a free 2-hour game party when they refer 5 weekend game parties to us! If you want more information on our referral program, please contact us.

We’re so happy to have such a busy weekend! We look forward to having many more like these in the near future! And don’t worry…no matter how busy we get, we’ll treat you like you’re the only customer of the day.

So now that we have a few months of active business under our belts, we’re getting the gist of what our customers like, and what they’re most curious about! So this blog entry is a compilation of the most frequently asked questions I get (not to be confused with our FAQ page that addresses things like company policies, reservation requirements, etc).

“How did you come up with this great business idea?”
I wish it was my idea! Honestly, game trucks have been around for a while; they’re just new to the Central Coast. There’s a franchise called GameTruck that began in 2006 in Arizona…to my knowledge, they’re the first to come up with this unique service. Today there are a few different game truck manufacturers/franchisors throughout the country. Our truck was built (and briefly operated) by Rockin Rollin Video Game Parties in North Carolina. Their owners, Dana and Ed Gainer, are the most honest and down-to-earth of the whole bunch, build a GREAT game truck, and we’re honored to be associated with them.

“Why did you decide to go into the game truck business?”
It was really seeing a need in our community that wasn’t being completely fulfilled. I have a 12-year old son, and he and his group of friends pretty much do the same things over and over for their birthdays: roller skating at Water City in Marina, bowling at Monterey Lanes, pizza and a movie, etc. It used to be Jump-n-Around in Sand City before they got too big.

I had heard about game trucks before – I think there was a Games2U truck on the Big Island of Hawaii, where we once lived – and so I called a game truck business in San Jose. They didn’t return my message. It was then that I realized that a game truck would be a great fit right in here on the Central Coast! This was last August…we drove our game truck from North Carolina back home in December. Here we are in early May, with 4 months under our belt already!

“So your son must really love your new business, right?”
Well, yes and no. I put him to work! The floor of the game truck needs to swept, the controllers need to be sanitized, the TVs need to be unfingerprinted, the seats need to be cleaned and Armor-Alled, and so on. If I need to learn about a new game, then he gets to play with me. 🙂

“Are you a gamer? You must play all the time!”
Yes, I am a gamer, I’d play all day if I could. But…I hardly play anymore! There’s no time! All the things that come with running a business, like planning, bookkeeping, marketing, networking, social media, blogging, maintenance…I have less time for gaming!

“What’s behind that door (the one in the back)?”
I try to come up with something different each time I’m asked this. My office. The bathroom. The members-only club. The kitchen. Truth be told, it’s just a back door. 🙂  I was once asked “is there a downstairs?”

If you have a question that isn’t answered here or on our “real” FAQ page, contact us and ask away!

As word gets out about our Video Game Parties, more folks are realizing the fundraising potential that EZPZ Video Game Parties provides to our Central Coast schools.

As of this writing, two local schools are taking advantage of our commitment to our awesome community: Monterey Bay Christian School in Seaside, where we donated a 2-hour Mobile Game Party to their silent auction held in March, and Sacred Heart Parish School in Hollister, who will be providing a Mobile Game Party to the students who are the best walkathon participants next month!

In both cases, we’ve also created promo codes for customers to use when booking their own parties. When the codes are used, we donate 10% of our proceeds back to the school (codes are MBCS and SHPS, respectively).

If your school or non-profit is looking for fundraising ideas, give us a call! We’re happy to do festivals, after-prom parties, sober grad parties, and so on! We just need room for our truck and trailer (about 55 feet) on relatively level and stable ground.

As a father of a middle schooler, I know it’s not easy having to help your kiddo sell all those candy bars, magazine subscriptions, Christmas decorations…the list seems endless. To do that on top of keeping up with homework, chores, the usual busyness of the week is a tall order for students and their parents! Let EZPZ help make it easier for your school community! Call or email us today, and we’ll explore the possibilities!

Kids, especially the ones celebrating their birthdays, are understandably excited when our Mobile Game Theater pulls up to their Central Coast home. A couple hours (or more) of button mashing with their friends and relatives (without parents limiting their playing time) is pretty much guaranteed fun.

Interestingly, and humblingly (not a real word, I know), two of my recent birthday kids said this:

“This is the best day of my life.”

Note there’s no exclamation point. These kids said this not in a moment of exuberance and excitement, but what I perceived as a statement of fact. I find this to be quite humbling.

It’s easy for those of us who own and run video game truck businesses to see every party as just another of hundreds of other events we work. We’re appreciative of each and every customer (well, MOST of us are…there are jerks in every cross-section of people and ours is no exception), but when a birthday kid makes what seems like a genuine statement like this, not only should I take notice, I have to take notice.

Perhaps the birthday kid has had a rough go at it in their short time in this life. Pressure to keep grades up, bullying, family strife, peer pressure…who knows. As the dad of a 12-year old, I know my son is dealing with a lot and needs to blow off steam now and then.

If I can alleviate some of that birthday kid’s pressure with a couple hours of fun with friends, then my business is more than just booking parties, marketing and bookkeeping. It’s a little bit of catharsis, an oasis in a dry land of science projects, chores and soccer practice.

Not every kid is under such pressure, I realize. I’m not saying a game party is anything more than it is: a service I provide. However, if a birthday kid says something like it’s the best day of their life, then I’ll make doubly sure that they’re not disappointed.

As mentioned elsewhere here on our site, the game truck industry is plagued by one or more affiliate marketing companies, based back east but using toll free numbers and wording on their websites that make it SOUND like their local (like San Francisco Game Trucks dot com), that attempt to book parties at 1.5 to 2 times greater than what most game truck companies charge, then attempt to book a local game truck at their usual rate…of course the marketing company keeps the difference. Often, the marketing company doesn’t find any game truck company who wants to work with them, so no party gets booked. The day of the birthday party comes, no game truck comes, and the poor parents are left scrambling, trying to find out what happened. This has happened dozens of times across the country, but thankfully it hasn’t happened here on the Central Coast (at least that we know of), despite the fact that these sites do sometimes show up when you Google terms like “Monterey Game Truck”.

The good news is that our SEO (search engine optimization) efforts are paying off and these jokers are starting to get squeezed off the first page of Google. Now, usually when you use a search engine like Google to look for a local Mobile Game Theater (or game truck), you’ll see EZPZ and another game truck business up in San Jose at the top of the search results. The 3rd parties/affiliate marketers are starting to be relegated to the second page of Google results (most people won’t go past the first page).

That being said, we can’t emphasize this enough: Please watch out for these 3rd parties. They go by names like Rush Cube, Mega Fun Game Trucks, and so on. To our Santa Cruz neighbors: you’ll probably see San Francisco Game Trucks dot com come up in your search engine results for Santa Cruz Game Trucks. They are an affiliate marketer.

When in doubt, check and see if they have a local address and phone number. If you call them and sounds like you’ve reached a call center, you’re probably dealing with a 3rd party.

Affiliate marketers aren’t all bad; most provide a valuable service to companies with whom they’ve established a relationship. The nefarious companies leeching off our industry (as well as others) often take the customer’s money first, THEN attempt to reach out to local companies. They have yet to attempt to contact us (though we usually don’t answer calls from toll-free or out-of-state numbers); we will not have anything to do with them.

You can help us squeeze these companies off the first page of search engine results by clicking on our site (or other legitimate sites) when you Google “Salinas Game Truck” or “Santa Cruz Game Trailer”. Engaging with us on social media helps too! Lastly, if we’ve been fortunate to have you as a customer recently, please consider leaving a review for us! These actions may seem self-serving, but they send signals to Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other data aggregators   that EZPZ Video Game Parties is a real local business.

Since EZPZ is pretty much the only “game” in town (pun completely intended), it follows that not a lot of people here in the 831 know about Mobile Game Theaters (MGT), or Game Trucks, or Game Trailers. Allow me to explain a little more in depth.

In its most basic form, the MGT starts off as just a trailer…in fact, some people think I’m hauling an expensive car (not unlike the trailers you see in Pacific Grove, Carmel or Pebble Beach during Concours d’Elegance). Instead, the trailer is customized to contain stadium-style seating (comfortable, not those uncomfortable metal bleachers) and all of the accoutrements to house the gaming action.

It’s hard to say when the current trend of video game trucks/MGTs began. One operation began in 2006 and is now a national franchisor. 10 years later, there are now MGTs throughout the US, Canada…even Nigeria! We’re proud to be one of the near-100 game truck owners who got their start from Dana and Ed Gainer of North Carolina, who not only design and build video game trailers, but still do parties and events with their MGT. The Gainers not only make a darn good MGT, they genuinely care about the businesses (and owners) they help launch.

Regarding our Mobile Game Theater, it is 32 feet long and contains a total of 7 flatscreen televisions; 5 on the inside and 2 on the outside. The two outside are ideal for games that require movement, like dancing games or “instrument” games like Guitar Hero. One of the TVs inside is called the Action Station, which again can be used for motion-type games. The other 4 TVs are suited for multiplayer games like Halo, Super Smash Bros, Call of Duty Black Ops III, and Madden 16.

The stadium-style seating is double tiered, so there’s plenty of room (24 is about the max inside, 4 outside). Each TV has its own Yamaha high definition sound bar; there’s never any complaint about not being able to hear the game.

The trailer is kept fairly dark, though we keep an entertaining laser light show going throughout the trailer; between that, the TVs, and lighting above and below keeps the trailer safely illuminated.

Lastly, our trailer is climate-controlled. The temperatures don’t get very extreme here on the Monterey Peninsula, but we’re ready if they do, or if we have parties in the warmer Salinas Valley, San Benito or southern Santa Cruz/Santa Clara counties. In fact, as I’m writing this, I booked a party in Hollister…though I’m sure it won’t be as hot as the summer temps can get. 🙂

To see the trailer in action, please visit our Photos page as well as our Facebook, Instagram and YouTube pages. If you have any questions whatsoever, please contact us!

PS: We now have a quick video showing what a mobile video game party is…click here to go to our YouTube page to see it!