BUCKHANNON – It may have been April Fool’s Day, but JesterLine wasn’t joking around about its grand opening and ribbon cutting April 1.
JesterLine Gaming Technologies had a soft opening March 7, but the big announcement – and cutting of the ribbon took place at noon Monday with the help of the Buckhannon-Upshur Chamber of Commerce.
Since their March opening date, co-owner Jarod Ramsey said business has been steady.
“Getting word of mouth out and trying to explain to the community who we are and what we’re doing has been positive,” Ramsey said. “It’s been encouraging hearing some of the stories where people want to be able to come in and try the new technology and to be immersed into the VR or to understand more about what interactive play is.”
Ramsey said the community has been so supportive, it’s overwhelming.
“All the love and support from the community in general, just coming out here, and wanting to be a part of this from the start and for them to come out and enjoy this moment with us is just completely overwhelming for me,” he said.
Co-owner and CFO of JesterLine, Lacy Ramsey, said she feels blessed to be part of the community.
“It’s very cool feeling to see all these people come out and want to support something that is so new, and just feel very blessed to have a community around us to support us on this journey,” she said.
The gaming center has been looking to start more tournaments on a local and national level, and Jarod Ramsey said they are going to post information about that soon.
“We look to get information out on our social media and our new website page that is going to be coming out very soon, where we want people to be able to ask all the questions that they want to ask about competitive gameplay, and what we’re going to be offering as far as prizes as well,” he said.
Recently, the gaming center has also teamed up with West Virginia Wesleyan College’s eSports team and Jarod Ramsey said the partnership has been mutually beneficial.
“Working with the college has been great,” he said. “It’s nice to not only be in the same town with a great college that is growing, but for a business that has started out that is already growing with the industry. The college was the first private school to offer an eSports program, but for us to be able to have the first LAN center and share the same backyard is great.
“We’re able to work with professional circuit individuals that come out to play, and we can also build up the community to build their skill level up and just see what contenders are out in the Mountain State.”
JesterLine Gaming Technologies was also named the West Virginia Small Business Development Center’s Small Business of the Month.
