We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Zimar Manigault a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Zimar, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?
The biggest challenge in the mobile video game arcade industry is exposure and advertising. I guess that would really make two challenges. During all 7 years of being in business and all of the online marketing and advertising options that are available to me fall short of the potential number of clients that are possible for mine and most other companies in my industry.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
To start I have to tell you that I’m a musician, composer and a gamer. I do a 3 mile walk every morning and go to the gym at least 5 days a week. I’m very active and positive minded. I like doing things a bit different from everyone else.
I started my company about 7 years ago. After the market crash in 08, and a real estate investing business lost with all of it’s assets, I had to reinvent myself. I went back to school for a degree in video game programing. Although the school and course was subpar at best I had the chance of working for a video game truck company as a driver/ game coach for close to 4 years. I’m an entrepreneur by heart, and have tried and succeeded in a few business ventures (small indie record label “Abstrakt Reality Records, A big rig trucking company and a real estate investment company) , so when I came across the perfect job that included driving and video games (yes I’m a gamer) I quickly became interested in a new business and told my employer that I would be interested in owning a game truck business of my own one day, he told me that he would teach me what was needed and what to to look out for to become successful game truck owner.
As I worked for him I quickly figured out what worked and what needed improving. After 4 years, I finally got the courage and confidence to take yet another business leap of faith. I did what most small new business owners did, I went to family for startup capital. I decided to make my business stand out by improving on the number one issue that I saw with most game trucks back then. .
Most game trucks have at best 7 screens and were designed when the original Xbox 360 and PS3. consoles were out .
Back then most games for those consoles had games with a 4 player option (you can play with 4 gamers on the same screen). The mobile video game arcade industry (Game Truck) was born around the same time. and were centered around the 4 player game option. The trucks (they are really trailers pulled by a pickup truck) were built with, at best 7 screens (5 inside and 2 outside. That meant at best you could get 28 gamers playing 4 per screen.
About my 3rd year of working the game truck the Xbox One and PS4 was released and that changed everything. better graphics faster consoles, however the 4 player option was no more as the gaming industry was moving towards online multiplayer. Instead of games with 4 player per screen option, you now had online player and the most you could have as a option was 2 players per screen. Now the most you could have playing at the same time in a game truck was 14 gamers (2 per screen). The consoles changed, the game truck design did not. Most parties have an gaming attendance of close to 20 gamers. There are still some games with a 4 player option (Minecraft, Mario Kart etc.) but they are far and few. This was a major design flaw that I saw that needed a fix.
Taking in my experience driving large vehicles (as once owner of a big rig company) I decided to convert an old school bus. After you take out all of the seats you have this big open shell of a tank to work with. I came up with a design to put as many screens as I could into this bus. The size of the screens might be smaller however a 32 inch screen is plenty big to sit close to for two players and worked out great.. I could fit 13 screens in the bus with a total of 26 players all playing 2 per screen. As an extra bonus the screen in the back is a 70 inch which was used for the 4 player games that still existed as well as dancing games (Just Dance, Smash Brothers, Mario Kart etc). so actually I can fit back up to 28 gamers, all playing at the same time.
As a gamer I’m always on top of the latest gaming releases and trends. I saw the gaming industry shifting to online multiplayer experiences. I outfitted the game bus with internet hotspots for all of the consoles. Now every console can access the internet as well as sync with the other consoles in the bus for online multiplayer gaming. This makes it possible to host parties anywhere I can get a good cell signal (parks business locations etc).
It was a challenge in the beginning as most clients have never heard of a gaming bus. My very first party was given from my former boss. It caught on as more people discovered the advantages of more space, more screens and the ability to have the bus host parties at parks. Most of my clients are return families. I do advertising, social media and plain old word of mouth. I stay pretty busy.
I started building a 2nd bus in 2019, then 2020 happened and all just about stopped. I guess I’m very fortunate to survive as a business. I’m also very fortunate that my business is mobile and does not rely on a static location. It’s also the fact that my business is the business of celebrating ones child as most of my gamers are from the age of 7 and up. a month after the lockdown my phone was rigging off the hook with parents wanting something for their kids to do other than drive them crazy.
It’s been touch and go since 2020. I think people are feeling more confident and organizations are having more events as I have both buses on the road and booked every weekend. to top it off I have now gathered a nice circle of charter schools, afterschool organizations that have since filled the weekdays. I’m booking more schools and the fact that my vehicle is a converted school bus is a big plus.
I’m grateful that I can run a business that I like that has my passions and hobbies as a business model. I don’t get that much time to play games as much as one would think. I do play daily but only for a few hours or so at 1am in the morning when my wife is a sleep (she’s not a gamer…..too bad..lol). I have one employee and looking to grow the company. I plan on developing a laser tag unit separate from the video gaming bus at some time next year.
I can really take my business to any city, state or even country as mobile video game arcades are in most major cities around the globe. i’m always looking for new opportunities to grow the company. My next mission is to develop a advertising budget to do a static advertising campaign (billboards, digital billboards). Although a very good number of clients know to look for the video game truck / bus industry online there are millions here in Los Angeles County that have never heard of our industry and don’t know to look on line. Now if I could only bump out one of accident lawyer or car insurance billboards that seem to plague Los Angeles I might have a shot.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
I believe the fact that I was bigger and had more to offer was one of the advantages to my success and reputation. Being a gamer certainly helped a lot as I knew what games were best for my bus. Not every game is a fit for a 2 hour party. Either knowing how to play the games to help gamers with controls or connecting to each other or just the point of knowing what games to suggest is a big plus when you have parents of undecided kids. The parents notice.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
The best source for new clients come from previous clients. If you have a very satisficed and happy client they will pass along your business to family and friends. When people look for business options, they really don’t want to take an chance on a business they have never used or know of. This was my challenge upon starting out . No one know what to make of a video game bus. After a few parties I started getting business from referrals of past clients. Put that together with my reviews on yelp and the phone started rigging. My second source would be yelp as most potential clients that are not referrals will do a search and then verify that search with reviews from past clients via Yelp.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.TheUltimateVideoGameBus.com
- Instagram: ultimatevideogamebus
- Facebook: The ultimate video game bus
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zimar-manigault/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6DmfVi-WDM
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-ultimate-video-game-bus-studio-city