If you think seniors are sedate and don't like a challenge, drop by the Duxbury Senior Center on a Tuesday afternoon.
Wii rules. The hot new Nintendo video game system was recently introduced and shows promise of becoming a big hit -- as it has at senior centers in Chicago, California and other states.
Wii is a video game that lets people play virtual baseball, bowling, boxing, golf and tennis. It has an easy-to-use wireless hand controller which senses and translates a player's real life arm and body motions onto the screen -- as if they are playing an opponent.
Stand in front of the sensor on the console, swing your arm as if serving a tennis ball, and watch the figure on the video screen miss -- or return -- your serve.
In the past year, Wii's sports game has become a phenomenon at retirement communities around the country, inspiring descriptions such as "granny- approved gaming."
"It is a way for the seniors to come out of their comfort zone and enjoy themselves -- and it may bring out the kid in them," said Linda Hayes, activities director at the Duxbury center. "(It's) a great way to get a little exercise and have some fun with friends," agreed Joanne Moore, center director.
At a recent demonstration, a handful of seniors were a bit hesitant at first -- taking the hand control and approaching the console gingerly -- but that didn't last long. They were soon having a blast.
Within a minute of picking up the remote, Roberta MacNab was punching the air with gusto as she boxed her video-screen opponent. Longtime golfer John Wright, 58, worked on his golf swing and bowler Gil MacNab, 77, smoothed out his delivery.
So far, the local seniors haven't slipped into over- zealous arm motions or "power throws." At some Wii competitions elsewhere, players have swung their arms so hard the remote controllers have flown from their hands like unguided missiles.
Online chat has featured "real man" banter that would have you believe only wusses (wimps) use the Wii wrist straps to avoid losing the controls.
For Wright, it was the first time he had layed played any kind of video game. "There we go -- we got on the green!" he said with a smile.
The seniors had help from two Wii "veterans" -- 12-year-old Jack Moore and 13-year-old Ben Hayes, the sons of Joanne Moore and Linda Hayes.
Gil MacNab, 77, patiently tried to match his bowling swing with that of the Nintendo figure on the screen. "You have to wait until that guy's arm is about right here with the ball," Ben Hayes, an eighth-grader, advised him. "Now, look up at the screen," suggested Linda Hayes, adding her tip for better hand- eye coordination.
When bowler Louise Franzosa, 63, of Kingston swung her arm, the pins on the screen flew, "Strike!" flashed forward in large letters on the screen and the small group around her burst into cheers.
"It's fun, if you can just catch on to what you're doing," observed Barbara Walsh, 75, who said the last time she bowled was in the late 1960s.
It had to be boxer Roberta MacNab who brought the most body English to her video game. Smiling, eyes glued to the screen, she jabbed the air, murmuring, "Get in there! Get in there! I like knocking them out. That is fun."
Hayes said Dixbury's Duxbury's Wii system was donated by a benefactor with connections at Nintendo, after the Japanese company turned dow down the center's application for a grant.
The Wii sports system costs $250, with additional costs for other software and hand controllers so two or more can play a game.
Wii was introduced in this country about a year ago and interest quickly grew. Last January, the Chicago Tribune reported that at the Sedgebrook retirement home in Lincolnshire, Ill., Wii Sports Bowling was taking the place by storm. Residents were teaching their grandchildren how to play and there was a 20-person tournament.
According to other published reports, Japan's Nintendo has been on a mission to expand the $30 billion global video game market beyond children and younger males who make up its core consumers. Nintendo is has courting the boomers and had a booth last month in Boston at AARP's Life@ at 50-plus National Event & Expo.
In Duxbury, the senior center staff hope the latest video game will be another link between the generations.
And who knows -- there may soon be tournaments.
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