Goodbye to the eight-lane bowling alley, nine pool tables, table tennis, foosball, video arcade and more. The main games room on campus shut down with the 38-year old student union last month, doomed to meet the wrecking ball.
It was the second blow to mirth and merriment at UW-Madison last year. Memorial Union's arcade closed to make way for a coffee shop — frothy skim lattes winning out over the bright lights and sounds of Dance Dance Revolution.
So where, oh where, will students and staff be able to sink into gamesmanship on campus, to escape the pressures of exams and research deadlines?
Sure, the temporary Union South location on Breese Terrace will offer some games. And yes, the new south campus union will have a game room when it opens in two years — perhaps even a bigger and better one, with new bowling lanes, pool tables and a climbing wall.
But woe to the pinball players and bowlers, who will, for the moment, need to go elsewhere for fun.
At Memorial Union, the games room and arcade were already victim to changing student interests.
In 2006, administrators decided the pool hall could better be used for art storage, computer support and office space. Then, last summer, the arcade shut down to make room for a Peet's Coffee & Tea, which opened to the public this week.
"Arcade revenue has declined significantly over the past 10 years as home gaming consoles have become more popular and quality of games has improved dramatically," said Bob Wright, recreational services manager. "We had to say, OK, the arcade's making this much money, but a coffee shop will make a lot more. That means we can offer more programs to students."
That left only Union South as the mecca for gamers.
The eight bowling lanes there saw frequent use, about 8,528 games per lane per year, which, as Wright put it, "is an awful lot of bowling."
Mark Werner, who started bowling with a league at Union South in 1975, once hit a high game of 247, although that won't be his lasting memory of the lanes.
"I will be a bit sentimental about the bowling alley as it was through a bowling league at US (Union South) I met my wife," the electrical design engineer wrote in an e-mail.
No one knows the idiosyncrasies of a place like its frequent patrons. At the Union South games room, customers might fondly remember karaoke on Friday nights, "radioactive bowling" scrawled on the wall in glow-in-the-dark paint, and the homemade signs warning people not to kick the bowling score machines, posted after a student caused $500 in damage when he kicked one in frustration.
Kevin Baggett, who plays on the Space Science and Engineering Center League with Werner, said he managed to increase his game average from the 90s to the mid 120s over the seven years he played at Union South, and hopes he doesn't revert back when the league goes on hiatus until the new union opens.
"I will most miss the gobbling noises for turkeys (three strikes in a row) and the accompanying shot bird if the person chokes," he said nostalgically.
What to do with the equipment in the Union South games room caused much discussion among union administrators. Ultimately, they decided that trying to remove and store the aging bowling lanes and pool tables would be almost as costly as purchasing new equipment.
Removing and storing the pin setters alone would cost $50,000, Wright said.
The bowling lanes were auctioned off on the UW-Madison SWAP (Surplus with a Purpose) Web site last week to United Bowling in Florida for $17,503, who out-bid by $1 the next offer. Nine pool tables sold for about $400 each on the auction.
Air hockey, foosball, darts, and the video games all went back to a vendor.
They are keeping some things: a $20,000 lane dressing machine, a bright mural by former student Philip Salamone and high stools with the same design as the iconic Terrace chairs.
Union South has already locked its doors and demolition is scheduled to begin next month.
The interim location for most Union South programs, the old University Health Services building at 1552 University Ave., will have a coin-operated pool table, foosball, and possibly two video game stations with Nintendo Wii systems.
But no, Wright said, it won't offer the same expanse of games.
"It is going to be hard, long two years," he said.
The new south campus union will likely have a superior games room, one with natural light streaming in from a climbing wall that will reach up from the basement. And it could incorporate new approaches to gaming, like Wii or PlayStation systems to encourage a sense of community, or games that promote exercise.
But until then, most of the fun to be had on campus will depend on the creativity of students and staff.