Current Poll
| Wii game bowls families over |
 |
 |
 |
| News | |||
| Written by Kristen Waggener | |||
| Wednesday, 07 January 2009 08:00 | |||
 Before the competition even started, a friendly rivalry was brewing. RJ Matney and his father, Bob, were practicing their bowling skills with Dave and Judy Maddax before Louisburg Library’s Nintendo Wii Family Bowling Tournament on Friday night. “Dad, get a turkey,” 7-year-old RJ told his father. “Try to get a six pack!” And just as Bob swung his arm backward and forward again to release the video game bowling ball, the friendly rivalry between the Matneys and the Maddaxes became evident. “I got seven in a row,” Dave tells RJ. “I can tell he’s my competition.” Fourteen teams of two — players ranging from those RJ’s age all the way to grandparents — gathered at the library Friday to compete in the single-elimination Wii tournament for bowling bragging rights, and gift certificates to local restaurants. The library set up three bowling “lanes,” where teams could compete each other while other duos watched in waiting. Soon, it became evident there were vastly different bowling styles. Tom Davin takes the laid-back approach: calm and collected, he slowly brings his arm back and forward again, releasing the ball in one graceful stroke. Caleb and Walter Wolanski, who were playing under the name Lego Builders, showed off their bowling styles. Walter used a typical approach most of the time, but when it came down to hitting a single pin, he has a specialty throw: granny bowling. Taking the Wii remote in both hands, both Caleb and Walter swing their arms between their legs and back upward in such a way as to get the ball rolling with perfect precision down the lane. Eight-year-old Timothy Smith does something a little different. Midway through his game, he discovered his talent for bowling with his eyes closed. Timothy stands in front of the television, closes his eyes tightly, aligns his ball and whips his arm forward, spinning his whole body around in the process. More times than not, he throws a strike or a spare. “He had no strategy at all,” Timothy’s mother, Elaine, said. Just as it had at the beginning of the evening, the final game of the evening came down to The Strikers (The Maddaxes) and Team Matney. Dave said, earlier in the evening RJ tried to intimidate his competition with a little fact about his bowling skills: his record is a 236. “When I hold the Wii remote and twist it around my back, it just curves a little bit and hits the pins,” RJ said. And the strategy must work. RJ threw a strike or a spare in every frame of his first game. The Strikers won out at the end of the night. The Maddaxes were named champions with a combined score of 407. They won two $10 gift cards to Alco. The Matneys came in a close second with a score of 378. RJ and Bob won two $5 gift cards to Sonic.
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email This
Hits: 894 Trackback(0)
Comments (0)
 Write comment
You must be logged in to post a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.
|
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
