EATON — Preble County District Library hosted the popular Game Truck last week. The climate-controlled, mobile vehicle stopped at several locations, including the Eaton branch of the library.
Inside this custom-made trailer are seats for 16 people and four flat screen televisions which are connected to any game system upon request. Local youth enjoyed PlayStation4, XBOX360, and Wii consoles with plenty of the latest and most popular games on hand.
The Game Truck is a mobile entertainment company which has expanded to 26 states. Each vehicle is operator owned and is available upon prior booking. In addition to the four screens inside, the trailer can extend out to one side with two additional game systems to play outside in case more room is needed. The customized trailer is pulled by an oversized pickup truck and operated by either a lone owner or with a team.
The franchise, which is located in southwest Ohio, travels to events upon requests for several hours with special rates for groups, parties, and other social events.
Greg Young, the owner of the vehicle, spoke about this unique business.
“The game truck is basically a mobile video arcade that shows up to home, businesses and libraries such as here in Eaton,” Young said. “We have a good time — our slogan is, ‘we deliver excitement,’ so we make so that the kids are having fun, are comfortable no matter what the temperature may be. Our branch is in Arizona, and franchises are all over. I’ve been doing this for 10 years, this franchise out of Cincinnati for five. We plan on expanding into Richmond and Lexington, Kentucky areas. We focus on platform gaming such as PlayStation and the upcoming Nintendo Next. We also offer outdoor games such as the laser tag system.
“Our game library is very large, we can facilitate for nearly everything for kids, and sometimes for adults,” he added. “If we have numbers above 20, we will have a formula for one adult for every 20 kids.
“I’m a gamer so this is a great job. I get to test the market and this always brings smiley faces every time. I’ve never seen an angry kid or person here.”
Christina Jones is the Young Adult Librarian, at Eaton’s Brooke Gould Memorial Library.
“This is all about teens having fun in Preble County,” Jones said. “We are encouraging digital information literacy and just to provide a fun recreational activity for teens to do because we realize during the summer that it’s hard for kids to have fun. It also combines with the teen summer reading incentive program. This truck went to four locations in Preble County. I saw this truck on the highway and I Googled it, talked to Greg and I highly recommend people to hire this out. It’s all about the kids having fun.”
Young can be reached at 937-562-1484 or at [email protected] for anyone interested in booking his mobile arcade to future events. The company’s website is www.gametruck.com.
