Has anybody here ever rented a game truck?

Im in California and starting my own version of a game truck. it has the same concept as mmost others but I have a lot of things making it a step above the others. My question is,have you guys ever rented or even played in one? if so, what were your experiences? also, I want to use this thread as a suggestion thread. I am basically doing this alone and i really need advise from the gaming community so any and all advise is welcome. thanks guys.

 

I've seen a few at conventions and never cared enough. Only times I've played and not thought "meh" was trade shows, etc.

 

What made the "meh" a "meh" experience? What did they do wrong? do you mind explaining the setup?

 

It's a truck. Where you play video games. Why is that even a thing? It makes sense at trade shows - where it's new games that aren't out and the truck just makes it easy to get all in one area, it makes sense (somewhat) at convention for the same reasons at a trade show. But at the end of the day, all you're doing is playing console games that you could already own. It's the exact opposite of an arcade and why several start up console LAN centers have failed time and time again.

What are you expecting to do with it? Have people pay you to come to their house with a semi truck with a trailer outfitted with a handful of games and consoles? Fairs?

I don't get the point. I don't understand how it can be profitable.

 

I can *sorta* understand the ones that give you an experience that you wouldn't be able to get at home cheaply. For example, if you brought a truck round that had 4 x iRacing setups with decent wheels and Occulus Rift, well, you know the rest:

 

A what?

 

uhm you mean a truck all pimped out w/ retro console decals etc...
Along with a few diffrent console platforms? Or one side for Sony consoles and the other for M$ consoles and others?
I don't get it either... Never had the chance to go to a "Game show".
And the front setup w/ a PC and all modding tools out and ready to mod consoles on the fly for passer-bys? = This is the only way you could make it profitable but indeed who would have the balls to do this? It could also get you thrown in jail in some areas.

 

Or maybe you can try selling Retro games/Handhelds & consoles if you have that in mind or better if your going for an Gaming Party Truck with Arcadish games or whatever try modding some original Xboxes or either a PS2/PS3 with Mame or Final Burn Alpha, etc.. for people to try out!

 

Do you mean a videogame equivalent of a taco truck?

 

so I guess a simple "I dont understand the concept" was way to simple for some people. It has been a very profitable industry for about 10 years. Its not a semi truct, its a 24 foot trailer that is rented out for parties and various events. sonny_jim has the concept right.
The semi size one are usuly only used for tradeshows and owned by huge companies. I guess nobody here lives in California, they are everywhere.

 

There are a few in the UK but tbh I don't think it's that profitable over here, as you tend to see their 'stock' popping up on eBay every now and then.

 

You do realize that the trailer you speak of gets driven by a semi truck right?

I've seen them at fairs, trade shows and conventions. Who else would rent them?

http://rollingvideogames.com/ownone.html examples of one.

I can't see it being profitable unless you're constantly doing party after party.

And I've seen them at MULTIPLE events. Concert after parties, etc etc and you know what? I hardly see people utilizing them. Why? Because it's the damn games you already own.

Good luck.

(Isn't this thread spam in a way?)

 

I'm a SoCal native and this on wheels business concept is nothing foreign in these areas whatsoever. It's actually quite common among other ventures as well... Dog Grooming, Personal Car Wash and Detailing, Arcades (You read that right!) and the more popular produce and catering trucks (Roach Coaches, Taco Trucks and even In N Out Burger). With respects gaming, there are plenty around the area from various groups like certain Play N Trade game stores and what not, so I assume there is a decent market for such things.

My question to the OP, Out of sheer curiosity, what exactly do you plan to do differently to make your concept a step above the competition???

 

What I can say now is that it is modular and certain things can be replaced with other things. I cant say everything now but its more of a entertainment truck. As for the other guy who obviously knows everything......Only the huge versions owned by certain corporations are semi truck trailers. these are for things like tradeshows, certain comic cons and things like that. you dont pay to play in those.

 

I guess there is someone like you on every message board in every community. You have to know everything about everything. how is it spam? Im asking gamers opinions about a game related subject, but obviously, you knew all the answers and told me about an industry that you "saw" and are clearly an expert on the subject. thanks guy.

 

thanks you guys who really replied.

 

I've seen these and I absolutely NEVER pay for them. They're really expensive over here - a rip-off.

If it was something TRULY different, then I could see the point. It's not, though. It's a room with a few Xbox (or whatever your poison is) setups with some reasonable screens. It's not like they have a 90" 4K television that you simply can't afford at home. It's not like they have some super immersive experience that you can't get at home.

What would be good is a mobile arcade - especially with rarer games, maybe older games. If it had a load of games you don't see any more, that would be amazing. Especially the larger items - sit downs like Star Wars, After Burner, Out Run (not so much Sega Rally and the common stuff arcades still have), Sega R-360, Virtuality. That would be awesome. The problem there is that they're large and expensive, if you can find them. You wouldn't get many in a truck.

There's no way I'd pay to play on an Xbox, though.... unless maybe it was at a cinema. That would be awesome - a super huge screen. Only problem with that? My local cinema does deals with the local game store - pre-order this game and try it out for FREE at the cinema!

Once upon a time, consoles were really expensive. You couldn't afford them. Especially the likes of Neo Geo. And yes, you'd have places you could go and pay for an hour's play and they were popular. However, like Internet Cafes after them, they're pretty much a thing of the past now - nobody wants to pay to play games they can buy themselves.

The truck in the link posted looks quite small - not enough room to stand up properly, perhaps.... so no good for an arcade. And it just doesn't look that exciting. It looks like a somewhat cramped gaming room.

Sorry if that's not the answer you wanted, but it's my honest opinion - and that's what you ask for. Don't come asking and then slag off the people who gave answers you didn't want to hear. Take it as constructive criticism. And, for your information, I've been in the games industry since the Nineties and attended all the trade shows in the UK. I used to frequent arcades in my youth. I repair and collect arcade games. I have friends who work, or have worked, in major developers and have had brainstorming sessions with them about game concepts. And I have set up and run several LAN arenas, including console networks. I am as qualified to offer my opinion as anyone you'll find.

 

Ok, you're butt hurt. But obviously on this forum the people who have used/seen them? Unimpressed. Everyone else? Also unimpressed.

How much are you going to charge? For how long? let's say you do this for birthday parties or bar-mitz.

http://www.gametruckparty.com/Birmingham let's use this site as a baseline.

$300 for TWO hours. After that, 109 dollars per hour. Let's say the average birthday party is 5 hours - you expect people to pay $520 to you? Probably not going to happen. Not often.

Who has parties during the week? Not a lot. So you're looking at $520 a weekend. Sure that's about 2 grand a month. Now how much is your rent? How about your utilities? And how much gas would you use?

Now you also have to keep buying NEWER games, if you're self employing this ordeal. Hell, if you do it NOW your truck will be outdated in 2 months!

What you're mistaking is i'm not claiming to be an "expert" because I have "used them". No, i'm busting your bubble that this is NOT a booming market. Food trucks work - because it's a portable restaurant. People will pay 5 bucks for a taco for lunch or whatever.

For people to actually go out of their way to PAY for someone to bring video games? Not likely outside of a Bar Mitsvah - not even a normal birthday party is likely. I don't know if you have kids but if you have the party at YOUR house - you're probably not inviting enough kids to warrant dropping 300-500 dollars on a trailer with a few consoles.

If you have it at Chuck - E Cheese or something, well there goes your spot. They're already at a place intended to entertain.

I've asked - and you still haven't answered. WHAT is your market? Others have asked WHAT is going to set it apart? Because everyone who posted (I was just most vocal) said we don't understand why you would pay to play regular games.

 

Yeah, they're even more expensive over here - I found one quoting £250 odd for 90 minutes!

Even if you were to split that 16 ways and ask each head to pay, it's a lot of money if its kids. And you can't really ask kids to fork out $20+ for a birthday party, so you're left footing the bill. So it's for rich kids, pretty much.

How much is bouncy castle hire over there? Here, it's around £50-150. Per DAY. You can pick up a second hand Wii for around £30 or Xbox 360 for around £50-70. Controllers are cheap second hand. So, even if I didn't have a console already, I could grab a Wii, a few Wiimotes and a pile of games second hand... AND get food AND hire a cheap bouncy castle for the day... and that sounds like a fun kid's party!

 

I'm really trying to wrap my head around this too. I've never heard of this type of business before and that link from earlier is just some company trying to get you to franchise one of these things. I think they've go the right idea; sell some poor suckers these trucks and make all their money that way. the franchise fees alone must make it even harder to make a profit with these things. Charging $300 for 2 hours, how many parties can you hit on a weekend? You'll need at least an hour or two to get from one location to the other and for set-up and you can't have conflicting times. On a VERY lucky weekend, you may have 4 2 hour parties. That's $1200, which you will lose immediatly as you buy 4 copies of the newest games for all 12 of your consoles. Then you need gas, insurance on the truck and trailer, insurance for the business and liability since you are allowing 16+ strangers into your mobile game station.

Maybe I'm missing something here and these are actually really popular and lucrative?