So you just finished a delicious $4 bowl of gourmet macaroni and cheese down at the Campus Center Sodexho cafeteria and since that poetry reading by some obscure British author that you’ve been looking forward to isn’t until next week, you’re left with nothing but time to kill after classes. Since UMass Boston is a commuter school, it can often be difficult to find a suitable area that has a strong sense of community on campus. Now, you could socialize with your fellow students and bum cigarettes off each other on the grassy knoll in between Wheatley and McCormack, or maybe chat with some nice people over a cup of coffee over at the Wit’s End Café, but surely there must be more options on campus than that? And there is, but I’m not referring to checking your eBay account in the computer lab. I’m talking about the Game Room, baby! That’s right, the UMB Game Room is conveniently located at the bottom of the Campus Center upper level, comfortable tucked away in a corner directly across from that other on-campus social hangout: the One Stop Bill Payment Office.

Within the spacious four walls of the Game Room one will be able to find not only an arcade containing a hefty collection of video games, but several other between-class distractions. Here you can safely kick you best friend’s virtual derrière in a game of Tekken Tag or try to top some anonymous person’s high score in Star Wars digital pinball. There are also several other two fighting games, such as Tekken 4, Soul Caliber, and Gauntlet Dark Legacy, but I have to admit that my personal favorites are the first-person shooters with actual gun-toting action like Police 911. Where exactly the 911-ing comes into play, I have yet to discover, but it does have plenty proverbial cap-busting into digital criminals’ asses. I must warn you many of these games do contain “life like violence” so if you are easily offended then I suggest you take a crack at some of the more mom-friendly titles like, World Class Bowling Delux, World Series 99, Hydro Thunder, and the only non-digital game in the arcade – also my personal favorit – Hoop It Up World Tour. Just try to play this game of smash-the-rubber-thing-and-get-balls-into-the-hoops against your friends and see if you can refrain from yelling “Hoop it up!” over and over again during the really intense parts. And here’s a little tip, sometimes if your lucky you can “hoop it up” a couple of times with out even putting in any money. If you don’t feel like tapping into your inner-nerd, than try playing a game on one of the five pool, ping-pong, or air hockey tables. I know you all love these games, so, guys, come down and try to impress the ladies; ladies, come on down and try to embarrass the guys, and if you don’t fall neatly into either of these categories, show off to whoever you want with your unrivaled skillz. Yes, “skillz” must be spelt with a “Z” because that’s X-Treemer. There is always something fun happening down at the UMB Game Room. People are always playing card games, or watching movies, playing X-Box, or rocking out to the jukebox. That’s where I’ll be – standing next to the jukebox playing Disk 5, Track 01 on infinite loop. It’s Boston’s “More Than a Feeling.” I can hear it now. Can you hear it? No, wait, that’s just the sound of me giving you the beat-down of your life at a game of Hoop It Up. Boo-yah!

The UMB Game Room is open Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. – 6:45 p.m.; Friday 9 a.m. – 4:45 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.