Check Out Tony Ruark and Shane Clack’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tony Ruark and Shane Clack.

Hi Tony and Shane, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
The History of Game Central Station. October 8th was the ten-year anniversary, and wow what a trip it’s been.

We wanted to find games and others that were interested in older gaming, so my wife and I started a Facebook page known as B/S/T Video Games (buy/sell/trade) and we were off and running. After a few years of keeping the page local to Georgia members only, we had met so many friends who loved gaming even more than we did and found many other gaming pages/groups on Facebook to join. After watching the movie Wrech-it-Ralph, my wife had the amazing idea for the page to become…

“GAME CENTRAL STATION”, and we kept growing and growing our little page slowly.

Flash forward to 2020, one of my good friends (made through the gaming community) and I wanted to buy the new PlayStation 5; we thought “Let’s do a gamers garage sale and make some money for the preorders!”

The turnout was what’s phenomenal and we achieved our goal!

“Gamer Garage Sale” got us thinking, so we went to a few actual gaming conventions here in the Southeast Game Jam South, Southern-Fried Gaming Expo, and Southeast Game Exchange, and that’s when Game Central Station Shop & Swap Events was conceived. We had met some amazing event coordinators who were more than helpful to beginners such as us.

Our very first event we planned in just four weeks and had 11 amazing vendors take a chance. The J&J flea market in Athens GA was the location for a rainy Saturday and a Sunday and I truly felt the calling and can legitimately say this is what we wanted to do!

Over the next few years, I teamed up with another local collector named Shane Clack to started hosting game nights, smash tournaments and even teamed up with Game Junction to start a gaming podcast, all while still growing our buy-sell trade page. We worked our butts off, and the events have grown exponentially each time to become something that to this day blows our minds.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
We have taken a blow or two, from event spaces closing down, to the cost of bigger spaces to host more vendors skyrocketing. Having to work full-time jobs is always a pain while trying to plan out events.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I have been selling car parts for dealerships for the past 13 years, and have Chevrolet, Ford, Hyundai, and soon-to-be Toyota. I would say I’m most known for my customer service.

What were you like growing up?
We were outside kids, we played in the woods, rivers, rode our bikes everywhere, and wouldn’t come home until the streetlights came on, and that’s when the gaming started. I still have elementary school journals that I wrote in talking about how I loved Mario but Donkey Kong was my new favorite game!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/game_central_station_x/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GameCentralStationEvents?mibextid=ZbWKwL
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/eventsgcs
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@GameCentralStationVideos/videos