The Daily Campus

Issue date: 8/29/08 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Matt Lin Puja Arora, a 5th-semester economics major and Adam Bickford, an 8th-semester psychology major, play foosball in the new Game Room in the Student Union. The Game Room, located on the 'food end' of Union Street, is loaded with pool tables, arcade games and even a bowling alley.

Remember the old game room? No? That's not surprising - the place was incredibly forgettable. Dull beige walls, a few aging arcade games, a dance machine that nobody touched and Scrabble. Far from being a fun place to drop by with your friends on a Friday, the Student Union Game Room was just depressing to see.

SUBOG realized this, and made a few changes. The new game room, located on the "food end" of the main Student Union Mallway, is a stylish creature loaded with atmosphere and some genuinely fun games - and some of them are free.

"It's the best part of UConn," said Diego Perleche, a 1st-semester physiology and neurobiology major. "I text everybody to tell them to come here. I say, 'meet up at the U,' and when I say 'U' I mean this place."

Due to its low ceiling and quietly dim lighting, the new game room feels much more cozy and intimate than the cavern that held the older incarnation. The walls are a dark blue, and the pipes that might otherwise clutter the ceiling are painted an attractive red and black. Comfortable chairs and sofas are arranged to facilitate maximum enjoyment and the UConn-branded light fixtures keep a touch of Husky pride around.

In other words it looks like a place you'd want to hang out.

Perleche cited "Super Smash Brothers Melee" as his favorite activity in the game room, highlighting what might be the most interesting (and popular) addition: the big-screen TVs and game consoles, which include Wii, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

Students can sign out games and extra controllers from the desk, and while they generally can't bring their own titles, they can bring a version of a game the room already has for a different console - and they might want to, as the Xbox looked pretty busy with a crowd of players jostling for a try at "Soul Calibur 3."

Continued...

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