Wednesday, January 7, 2004

Let the games begin

Playground a video game paradise for locals

Entrepreneurs, take note: the best idea for a business may be the business you would like to see and use yourself.

Former Peachtree City resident and McIntosh High graduate Larry Justice recently opened XPlayground, a gaming center, on Dividend Drive in Peachtree City. XPlayground is a place for video game enthusiasts to gather and play some of the hottest games in the best video game playing environment possible. There are seven 60-inch high-definition television screens, each equipped with a Playstation 2, an XBox and stereo surround sound.

There are two bays of three screens and stereos, each with their own couch. The other television and sound system is toward the back of the building and it is used mainly for the popular game, “Dance Dance Revolution,” which requires players to move their feet on a pad on the floor. XPlayground is also equipped with T1 lines which lets players play some of the games online.

The idea was formed when Justice and his friends would get together to play games like “SoCom Navy SEALs” and “Halo,” one of the most popular games on the XBox. Though it can be played alone, “Halo” is often played by teams and Justice and his friends would lug over additional televisions and XBoxes to play. Justice began dreaming of a place to go with his friends to play “Halo,” where they could leave their televisions at home and everyone was playing on the same size screen. He opened XPlayground in November and has seen his business grow each week as word of mouth spreads.

“We have all the top games, the stuff that people really want to play,” said Justice, who estimates he has over 100 games at XPlayground. The most popular games being played at XPlayground currently are “Halo,” which has its own night (Wednesday); “Madden 2004,” which will have tournaments starting early next year; and “Soul Caliber II.”

As Justice sees interest in other games rise, he plans on picking them up. He also has plans in the future to add old game systems such as the Atari 2600, Nintendo and the Sega Genesis. This will please some of his clientele who grew up on these game systems, but will also serve as a history lesson for his younger customers. While the majority of his customers are in high school, he has seen the younger kids start to frequent the business as well.

“I really wanted to open a place like this in Peachtree City because I remember growing up here and spending time with my friends at the arcades. There is nothing like that around anymore,” said Justice. “Peachtree City is also a great place because kids can ride their bikes or golf carts here. It gives kids some place to go and something to do.”

Justice has lots of great ideas for how XPlayground will grow in the new year. He would like to be open more hours, offer DDR Aerobics and host more parties. While XPlayground has seen a moderate amount of success, Justice has had to deal with having no standard operating procedures or guidelines to follow.

He has done a good job of making sensible rules to follow. For instance, he does not allow the use of outside memory cards, which prevents cheating on games. He has parents sign a parental form for players ages 16 and younger, and doesn’t allow smoking, drinking, cursing, fighting or drugs.

The rate to play is either $2 per 15 minutes or $8 an hour, but Justice also offers memberships and VIP memberships.

A membership costs $10 a month or $75 a year, which then makes the hourly rate $6 an hour. Membership includes free play on showcase games, admission to members-only parties and members-only tournaments, the ability to rent a memory card for $2 a month and/or a headset, for certain games, for $2 a day.

A VIP membership costs $25 a month and lowers the rate to $5 an hour. VIP membership gives free play on the Street Fighter arcade game, front-of-the-line privileges, free promo items when available, member rates for one friend of the member, free play on showcase games, invites to the special events, use of a memory card and use of a headset.

“This place is set up how I would like it,” said Justice, speaking as a gamer. It appears that many others find it is set up how they would like it as well.

For more information, phone 770-631-4003 or visit www.xplayground.biz.

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