Wake up! Look, I know the couches are comfortable, and it’s usually pretty quiet up there, but the Fun Room isn’t for napping anymore. The consoles are in, and the gamers are coming. So pack up your pillow and pick up a controller.

Last semester, the Fun Room didn’t quite live up to its name. It was more common to see students curled up with a textbook or watching the news with the volume turned down than doing anything one could call “fun.” However, Assistant Director of Programming and Marketing for the Danforth University Center (DUC) Leslie Heusted, hopes that with the recent installation of an Xbox 360 and a Wii, students will start using the Fun Room for its intended purpose.

“[It’s] much like many of the other places in the building that are all meant to drive community on campus, but in different ways, and the Fun Room is just a really specific way of doing that.”

Heusted was especially proud of the gaming tournament, hosted by the Wash. U. Game Developers Society (WUGS) student group, that took place last December to celebrate the grand opening of the Fun Room. “[It] was a wonderful use of the space as it was intended, and I hope to see more consistent use of the space in that way,” she said, adding that more events like the December tournament would be welcome, though that would be up to WUGS or another group to organize.

When asked if the DUC Student Assistants could orchestrate such events, Heusted said, “Ultimately, I would love to see some students who are interested in programming in the building to be part of that population, and we’ll be able to build that as we go along.”

While the Fun Room isn’t exclusively for videogames—there were several political debates and movie showings last semester, alongside a Locks of Love-hosted hair-donation event in November—Heusted encourages students to take advantage of the consoles installed there. A “Madden” tournament took place on Saturday, with the final match played right before the Super Bowl.

While the Cardinals/Steelers match-up dominated all three screens in the Fun Room, students could still play on the “X-Arcade” cabinet during breaks in the football game. You may have seen the retro machine last semester and dismissed it for its apparently limited selection, but the system is actually connected to a PlayStation 2, which can play over 300 games collected on thirteen different discs. These arcade classics range from revered fighters like “Samurai Showdown” and three different versions of “Street Fighter II” to cult hits “Bionic Commando” and “Ecco the Dolphin,” and from the timeless “Sonic the Hedgehog” series to venerated twitch games “Robotron 2084” and “Smash TV.” Students need only ask the on-duty Student Assistant if they want to change discs in the cabinet.

Assistants are also in charge of access to the Wii and Xbox 360. However, the Fun Room’s choice of more recent games is somewhat limited right now. The Xbox 360 is only equipped with “Halo 3,” while the Wii offers “Mario Kart,” “Super Smash Bros. Brawl,” “Tiger Woods PGA Tour ‘08,” and “Wii Sports.” Heusted noted that students are more than welcome to bring their own games to play in the Fun Room, and the consoles are also set up for online play. She’s aware of the sparse selection and hopes to add to the library at least once a semester.

“We want people to help shape what [the Fun Room] is, and so the fact that we’re building it gradually is a good opportunity for that.”

If you want to take part in defining the Fun Room, e-mail your game suggestions to [email protected] with the subject “Fun Room games.” And yes, “Rock Band” or “Guitar Hero” are already in the works. If that doesn’t rouse the nappers to their feet, I don’t know what will.