For most people, a game is just a game.
Not Chris Busacca. Games are his livelihood, a passion, and a way to connect with his family and other adults and children.
Whether it’s a birthday party, a school, a church or a camp … Busacca heads out in his truck filled with video games or delivers a bounce house, foam-shooting cannon, water slide, giant movie screen, laser tag gear, or other interactive play – all in the name of providing fun.
The truck with its 24-foot trailer is the showpiece of Busacca’s business, Rolling Video Games.
The air-conditioned (and heated) trailer is outfitted with stadium-style bench seating for 15 to 20 children along one side and television monitors on the other. Kids can play console-style games on Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Wii U. The truck carries power and an internet connection.
“We have the most popular games that kids want to play. Fortnite. It’s hugely popular,” Busacca says.
“Kids love the setup.” And if one child’s attention span snaps, “the dad in me is keeping them engaged and interacting with the others – the things that make a great party. No kid is just sitting there staring for an hour and a half,” says the father of three.
Busacca and the staff are with the children at all times. “We don’t just open the doors and leave.”
Part of the magic, he says, is making parents feel confident that their children are safe and happy.
“Our customers are both the kids playing with us in the truck and the moms and dads who booked us,” Busacca says.
“It starts on the phone, letting customers know that I have experience, that we know what we’re doing. When the game truck rolls up, they see me or one of my staff – all presentable young people. The parents send the kids into the truck and get an hour and a half of peace.”
Parents are always welcome, he says. “Most of the time, they pop their heads in, grab a couple of pictures, see that we have everything under control, and off they go.”
If parents or counselors book a bounce house or an inflatable that will be on-site all day, the staff may not stay. The foam cannon, which shoots a mountain of foam that is 5 feet tall, requires adult supervision.
Usually, Busacca or his staff stay with their equipment so that everyone can have fun.
“If it’s an interactive game or a slide, we want the parents, the adults, to feel comfortable and enjoy their party and not have to worry about watching kids the whole time. I think that’s a huge part of our success,” he says.
“We take a lot of time finding the right staff, training them, vetting them. When we get to events, they are on point. They represent the company exactly as we want.”
Rolling Video Games is thriving, Busacca says. He and his staff often have one or two parties on Fridays; four on Saturdays; two on Sundays; plus one or two large events on weekends with inflatables or laser tag.
Children ages 7 to 11 are the most likely to enjoy the gaming truck. But parents sometimes book the truck or other games for older teens or themselves – especially as part of other party activities.
A self-described lifelong gamer, Busacca has been running the business for almost 14 years. Three of those years, starting in 2021, have been in the Greenville/Simpsonville area.
Yes, he acknowledges, his sprawling extended family of newcomers are the folks who lifelong Greenville residents may love to resent. He says he understands. “We just try to be the good people that we are and let that shine through.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Busacca began feeling constrained in his home state of New Jersey.
“We came for a visit. Like so many other people, we fell in love with Greenville, we fell in love with Simpsonville,” he says.
One by one, family members visited. Within six months, everyone had moved to the Upstate: Busacca, three siblings, his parents, and his in-laws. Each sibling has three children. “Our neighbors from the same street in New Jersey … six of them moved here … and their in-laws,” he says, smiling.
The siblings live within 10 minutes of each other in Simpsonville and all help in the business – as do Busacca’s 12-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter, and several nieces and nephews.
Busacca’s youngest was an infant when the family moved; his wife, Lauren, runs “the battleship” at home.
The family support became essential in the year after the move. Busacca discovered two bumps on his head, ignored them for several months, then sought out a dermatologist for a biopsy. He was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma, a blood cancer. The bumps on his head were inflamed lymph nodes.
“Stage 4. It was everywhere. It threw us completely for a loop. I felt healthy. I exercised every day,” Busacca says. “We tried to figure out why it happened. My doctor said, ‘Don’t waste your time. These things happen, and it’s happened to you. We’re not going to let it define you.’”
Health care providers consider the disease treatable, but chronic, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
After six months of chemotherapy, Busacca says he’s in remission. “It’s beautiful. I’m living by that mantra from my doctor. I’m still Chris. I’m still a dad. I’m still a husband. I’m all the things that I was afraid that I wouldn’t get a chance to be.”
When it comes to those parents who are also his clients, Busacca says he’ll never try to sell more than they can afford or need.
“I’m not a hard-seller. We work within a parent’s budget, and we give them an awesome party for whatever they’re spending. I’m going to listen, make suggestions, and live up to every expectation that they have,” he says.
“Whatever group of kids is standing there when we pull up, we’re on. It’s showtime.”
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