Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jason Scott. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Alright, Jason thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?
AIM HIT GO is a company with many goals. We pride ourselves on providing the best possible experience for the participants of our events. Paying extreme attention to detail and making the needed adjustments to ensure every show is better than the last is a key point of our core principals. One of our main goals is to ensure our players have the best possible experience every time, all the time. Our legacy is to ensure that AIM HIT GO creates, maintains, and solidifies a standard for commercial gaming experiences. The impact we want to have on the gaming industry is to raise the standard of what traditional gaming looks like in order to make every player feel like a champion.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Jason Scott, I am the founder and owner of AIM HIT GO, LLC, a video game entertainment and production company. I’m a 42 year old father of two (Angelina and Leila) and husband to an amazing woman (Mary). Growing up, I spent the majority of my life in the anime and gaming space; attending conventions making connections with like minded people. Among my friends I’ve always been the “social gatherer,” bringing different groups together and bridging the gap for people who would normally never interact to become friends. Gaming aways resonated with me as it was a perfect way to get everyone together on a consistent basis toward a common interest. Years passed and I started a career, first in logistics then in finance. I learned so much and started to apply my new found knowledge into what I really loved; that passion to connect people never left me, neither did my passion for gaming. The gatherings became much more focused and organized, the people I associated with became much more refined and determined, and my drive to keep going was solidified. By surrounding myself with the kind of people that had goals and determination, my mentality never waivered.
Fast forward to 2013 and the XBOX ONE release. At the time, it was the biggest thing in gaming. This system was set to revolutionized what we knew about gaming with features no one had ever seen before. To celebrate, I bought one and invited 10 of my closest gaming buddies to come over. I asked each of them to bring a different console and I would develop a new style tournament based on points; we ended up with 8 different consoles. Featuring 8 different fighting games, one on each console, players could play any of the games we featured, but would need to record their wins and losses. I had prizes set up appropriately for both the highest points and the lowest points overall. The surprising thing about the night was, I asked each of my friends to bring a friend or two and we ended up with over 65 people in my townhouse basement. While I was used to a crowd this size for parties, I had no idea this little game night was going to attract so many people.
The night was going amazing, everyone was having an amazing time, and the tournament was a hit! Then it came time to feed everyone. I had snacks but was not prepared for such a crowd. I decided to pass around a money bucket and only asked for 2-3 bucks from everyone in order to get a bunch of pizzas for the masses. When I got the bucket back, I had collected over $600. I put a pause on the tournament and told everyone they had put in way to much and asked if they could tell me who put how much in. Collectively, they all simply thanked me for hosting and that was their way of showing appreciation. A month later, I hosted a second game night with the same rules. This time 80 people showed up and I collected, out of appreciation, $1100. I thought to my self, “hmmmm I might be on to something here.”
During that time, a friend of mine (Tim Hoke) owned a brewery called Hero Aleworks. I asked him if I could run an experiment and use his tap room to hold a game night. They had already had things established like bingo night, trivia night, movie night, etc. so he had no problem giving it a shot. I will never forget him coming up to me at the end of the night extremely excited to tell me he had never made that amount on a Tuesday night since they had opened. The plan had worked. I did it a few more times successfully and realized this could be a legitimate business. Two months later, I applied for my LLC, got my business license and started my business.
At first, it was simply a side gig. I had a lot to learn as I had never owned a business and I had no idea what I was actually doing. I made so many mistakes in execution, finances, client procurement, and more. However, I never gave up. With every success and mistake I learned something valuable. I adapted and kept going. I was simply having too much fun, but, I had a problem. I wasn’t making enough money to sustain the business as viable source of income. I needed to make a drastic change or my side business was going to be done before it really started. I began to reach out to more and more potential clients and was surprised to learn that really no one was providing the services I was providing. I acquired more and more clients then finally got my first big break at my first convention.
BlerDCon! The founder (Hilton George) had reached out to me and asked me to provided gaming for their attendees. Along the journey I was on to get to this point, I continued to acquire more and more equipment in hopes of something just like this happening. 30 systems! My biggest order ever at that time! However, like a great man once said, “with great power comes great responsibility.” Everything had to be perfect! This was my shot for the right people to catch wind of what I was doing. While there were very clear mistakes made, they were really only visible to me. Things I noticed that would absolutely provide a better experience. However, the attendees and my new client were over the moon with what I had provided.
That convention did exactly what I hoped it would. I started receiving more and more clients, refining my services, and acquiring more assets. Everything I made went straight back into the business and I was finally starting to really grow. Then came COVID and I was forced to pack up my business and put it on hold. Because I didn’t have a traditional brick and mortar establishment, I suffered no loss; I was simply stagnant. Though COVID was horrible, the good thing was that it allowed me a chance to take a step back and further refine my business. Again, it was BlerDCon that reached out to me first as things started to trickle back into “normality.” This time around I would focus my business on conventions and larger shows and minimize the bars and breweries I was frequenting prior. With that success, the rest is history and here we are now! While we still have a long way to go, I am very happy with the progress my company has made! I have since left my previous career to focus on AIM HIT GO, LLC full time.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The goal of AIM HIT GO, LLC is simple. I started the company for the love of the genre and my dedication to the gaming community. Over the years we have made it our goal to provide the best possible experience for each individual. We pay close attention to our players to identify potential points of improvement, we then apply that to the very next event. Improving the experience after every show is how we stay as relevant as possible while catering to the needs of our fans. It is very important to AIM HIT GO that the players pass out to their friends the experience they had gaming with us. I believe this is the most effective way to showcase how much each event means to use whether it is a brewery event, birthday, corporate event, or a large scale convention.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
By far the most rewarding part of my job is when I get feedback from people that have experienced our game room. The excitement and pure joy we are able to provide makes all the effort completely worth it. Whether it is a young person telling me how much fun they had and how cool their experience was or an adult I see playing something from their childhood with a look of nostalgia and a smile, there is nothing that describes that feeling. The world is quite a place these days, knowing our services can put a smile on anyone’s face is exactly why AIM HIT GO exists.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://aimhitgo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aimhitgo/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AIMHITGO
- Twitter: https://x.com/AIMHITGO
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AIMHITGO
Image Credits