A new business in Ferndale is the latest game in town when it comes to new ways to throw parties and special events.
Activ8, which opened last week on Hilton one block north of 8 Mile, is rentable space stocked with dozens of gaming systems, and hundreds of games and TVs all around. Everything comes in a lounge setting where socializing and interacting are as much a part of the party as game-playing.
Activ8 Gaming Lounge is owned by Neal Nosakowski, CEO of Trinet Corp. in Novi, and is the latest version of a gaming rental business he started about a year and a half ago.
That business, a mobile gaming unit, takes video game systems, games and a stage to graduation parties, weddings and special events. Nosakowski's specially designed monitor set-up turns players toward the audience and away from the TV screen, ideal for a game such as Rock Band, he says. Instead of singing, drumming or strumming a guitar with your back to party guests, players perform for them. The mobile gaming unit went into operation a little over a year ago.
It was the success with the unit combined with interest in monthly gaming lounge parties at Nosakowski's Novi office called Social Saturdays that convinced him to open a permanent spot in Ferndale. Originally, the gamers' lounge was in his office, and after more than 1,000 people came through in one year, he knew from the feedback that there was a market.
"The overwhelming majority were like, 'This is really cool. I would like to rent the for my office party, or my kids party,'" he says. "That was the start."
Writer: Kim North Shine
Source: Neal Nosakowski, CEO Activ8 Gaming Lounge and Trinet Corp.
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