By JORDAN GREEN, Editor-in-Chief
What can a university do with $65,000?
Students in Northwestern’s residence halls are about to find out.
Northwestern officials have purchased a number of arcade-style video games for the university’s dormitory buildings, and the first of the games have already arrived. They’ll be assembled and put into operation throughout the semester.
That means one thing, officials say: For boring days in the dorms, it’s game over.
“We want to create an atmosphere in our lobbies that has more fun, more entertainment, more options for students to come down and bond together,” said Matt Adair, the university’s housing director. “We really felt it’s important that we provide opportunities for our students to reconnect with each other.”
So far, the university has purchased two Mario Kart consoles, one of which will be placed in Coronado Hall, and another that will be placed in South Hall. The consoles are two-player setups, allowing players to race with each other.
Adair picked those games up in Oklahoma City on Monday and said he expects them to be operational by the start of next week.
The university is waiting on other gaming consoles to arrive, including NBA Jam/NFL Blitz bundles and Golden Tee, Adair said. Manufacturing backlogs brought on by the coronavirus pandemic have delayed production of gaming consoles, but Adair said he expects the games to arrive this semester.
“There’ll be, I believe, four different arcade-style consoles that come in with those, and there’ll be one put in each of the four dorms,” Adair said. “As of right now, that’s what we’ve got ordered, but we are hoping to be able to introduce more in the very near future.”
Arcade games aren’t the only ones coming to campus. The university also plans to delve into high-end gaming PCs this semester, Adair said. Those systems, featuring advanced graphics cards, would be placed in dormitory hall lobbies as well.
“It should be really fun,” Adair said. “I’m excited about it.”
The university purchased the arcade-style gaming consoles from Amini’s Galleria in Oklahoma City, Adair said. So far, the university has spent $65,284.89 on gaming systems, according to financial documents.
To purchase the consoles, the university used leftover funds from a 2020 project that upgraded WiFi infrastructure in residence halls, Northwestern President Dr. Janet Cunningham said.