Step into World 1-1 Games at the Santa Maria Town Center East mall and it’s like stepping back into the 1990s. There are fully functioning original Mortal Kombat and Wrestlemania arcade games flanking the main counter to the left and the right, respectively.
Sitting at the counter is Rudy Ruiz, the man behind the memorabilia. At 35 years old, the Santa Maria native’s been playing and collecting video games since he was a kid. When the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) first came out in the 1980s, Ruiz would buy games—not just to simply play them, but to also put the boxes and all of their contents on display. Games would often come with posters, and even the boxes themselves were works of art.
In 2014, with all of the extra copies of games in his collection, Ruiz started World 1-1 Games while he was still serving in the U.S. Air Force. He started off using his two-car garage to hold items he’d sell on Ebay. Shipping became so frequent—up to 30 boxes per day, he said—that it became exhausting. He had customers from all over the world, from Brazil to Saudi Arabia. He eventually rented out a space at the discount mall on North Broadway and Alvin.
“I had to start off small because I was afraid it wasn’t going to work out,” Ruiz said.
But it did work out. Ruiz kept on reinvesting the profits into his business and was eventually able to afford a space on the second story of the Santa Maria mall, where he moved about a month ago.
Inside of this store is a veritable gamer’s paradise. Everything from Sega Genesis to Xbox games, it’s filled with console games old and new—even going back as far as the Atari 2600 (which came out before the NES). Ruiz has dedicated portable console games like Gameboys and PSPs.
While the new games with their advanced graphics—and even now, with virtual and augmented reality games—it’s the old ones that fetch the most money. In particular, it’s the Nintendo games people want.
“Nintendo takes good care of their franchises,” Ruiz said, adding that the NES consoles are one of his biggest sellers. “That’s what makes them hold their value.”
Ruiz attributes the rise in popularity of old video games to the coming of YouTube and even the 2014 documentary Atari: Game Over. He believes the user-submitted videos of personal collections rekindled people’s interest.
Even Ruiz’s shop has a YouTube channel under the username of World 1-1.
As one of two video game stores in town, Ruiz not only sells, but buys and accepts trade-ins. He’ll beat any competitor’s price, usually by up to 50 percent.
Other than games, Ruiz sells video game memorabilia, toys, T-shirts, and offers game refurbishing and repair services.
World 1-1 Games doesn’t just simply sit in its own corner of the mall. Ruiz is active in the community. He wants to host game tournaments—in particular, the Nintendo game Super Smash Bros—in the mall each Saturday starting at noon. It’s still pending approval, but Ruiz expects the tournaments to get the green light soon.
Ruiz once held a tournament that became so popular, he had to rent out his brother’s boxing gym in Santa Maria to accommodate the 200-plus gamers, some of whom would drive as much as three hours to participate.
Where video games are simply pastimes for many people, they’re a way of life for Ruiz.
“It’s just fun for a little while to be taken to an alternate universe,” Ruiz said.
World 1-1 Games is located at 371 Town Center East and is open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Sunday. For more information, call 757-9889 or email world1onegames@gmail.com.
Highlights
• As awareness of sexual assault and child abuse grows, the ability to be an advocate for victims is an invaluable skill in today’s world. The North County Rape Crisis and Child Protection Center is hosting training to be a rape crisis volunteer advocate on Aug. 17 from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Nonprofit Resource Center located at 120 E. Jones St. in Santa Maria. Helpful skills to have are knowledge and sensitivity of issues regarding sexual assault and child abuse. A $50 fee is required for a training manual and a background check. To apply, fill out an application at surveymonkey.com/r/Y638PSD. For more information, call Mandy Ebert at 736-8535.
Staff Writer David Minsky wrote this week’s Biz Spotlight. Information should be sent to the Sun via fax, email, or mail.
This article appears in Jul 21-28, 2016.