By Sarah Carlson, Staff Writer

During winter break Campus Center officials installed four televisions and four Xbox video game systems in the bowling alley to try to bring in more business.

Joel Swedlund, manager of the Campus Center, has made plans to have an open house from 5 to 11 p.m. Friday with free pool, video games and bowling. He is also trying to set up a tournament to take place later in the semester with an entry fee and prizes going to the winners.

Swedlund started these activities to help increase activity in the bowling alley area. He said the alley’s business has declined since the placement of pool tables in some of the residence halls on campus.

“We just wanted to offer something new, something else students might not have free access to,” Swedlund said.

The price for one person to play Xbox is 7 cents per minute per machine, or $4.20 an hour. Each Xbox has four controllers, and a router connects the systems allowing up to 16 people to participate in one multiplayer game such as “Halo.” With four players to a machine it costs $1.05 per person per hour, and so on.

Swedlund said right now there is a library of about 13 games, and new games will be added as they are released. Workers will also take requests for games and will purchase the ones most asked for, Swedlund said.

He said he intends to start advertising the new equipment to bring in business.

“We just want to get the word out that it’s available and is hopefully something the students can use and enjoy,” Swedlund said.

Kristen Saunders, senior English major from Nashville, Tenn., is a student worker in the bowling alley and said when she works “it is normally not very busy.”

Saunders said it is hard to tell whether the new equipment will be a hit because right now no one knows about it.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Saunders said. “It’s just a matter of getting the word out and luring people in, so to speak.”