Staff writer
Peabody Senior Center is making good use of a Nintendo Wii videogame console, on loan from Marion County Department on Aging.
The center had a Wii Sports bowling tournament after lunch Friday, with 11 patrons competing. Sharon Oursler was the champion. Judy Mellott and Sally Matz were the first and second runners-up, respectively. Betty Seibel had the best single-game score, with 205.
“The guys have just loved it,” center co-manager Ruth Lott said. “People play on it every day before lunch.”
The videogame that came with the console, Wii Sports, uses a motion-sensing controller to simulate five sports: baseball, bowling, boxing, golf, and tennis. Patrons have tried baseball and tennis, but there wasn’t as much interest in those sports.
“They just really like the bowling,” Lott said.
Matz had never played any video games before the center received the Wii, but she took to the game quickly. In her first-round game Friday, she posted a score of 163.
“Sometimes I can bowl, sometimes I can’t; just like I used to bowl,” Matz said. “I used to bowl on a Peabody bowling team years ago.”
Regardless of a player’s skill, the entire group cheered for every strike and spare.
“We’re rooting for everybody,” Matz said.
Patron Nellie Schmidt is a novice on two fronts, but enjoyed the tournament anyway. She said she had only played the video game twice before.
“And I’ve never bowled in my life,” Schmidt said.
She called the experience fun and good exercise. Because of the fun and activity senior center patrons are having with the game, Indian Guide Terrace is considering buying a Wii for the apartments, she added.
“We might need to get a league started,” Lott said after the competitors cheered a successful spare.