Retro Gaming Night deemed success by community

On Friday, Feb. 1, the Basler Center for Physical Activity was thrown back to earlier decades for Buctainment’s Retro Gaming Night. Student organizations were invited to set up activities and given the chance to network with the ETSU community, but the fun-filled night didn’t end there.

“There was honestly something for everyone,” said ETSU student Ashley Shelton. “I think it was a great opportunity to network with some campus organizations, and I feel like everyone probably found one they’re interested in. My favorite part, though, was all of the different activities they had going on outside of that.”

Typically, Buctainment hosts an event called Winter Cruise. With the Culp Center closed for renovations, the programming board place a little bit of a twist on the event, creating Retro Gaming Night.

With the event in another location, there was the opportunity to set up some unique activities. The night had everything from “Space Jam” featured as a dive-in movie to blacklight yoga to musical performances from ETSU musical groups to mentalist Mat Lavore.

“I think I really enjoyed tonight more than the typical Winter Cruise,” said Rebecca Eubanks, a student attending with the ETSU Tradition Keepers. “The only thing I think they could do differently is have all of the activities in the same area. Having glow yoga and the movie and the games all in a different place made it difficult to keep the community all together. There’s so much fun stuff to do, though, and Mat Lavore is definitely a reason to stick around.”

Mentalist Mat Lavore was one of the most popular aspects of the night. Students filled court 4 to see him combine magic, mentalism and hypnosis. Before his performance, Lavore promised the audience that he would bring out the imagination, amazement and wonder they felt as a child, and he certainly delivered.

Members of the audience were called on stage to put his skills to the test, resulting in student Darrius Akridge being so bewildered that he ran from the stage and out the door. Some students even described his performance as a mind-blowing and life-changing experience.

“I feel amazed!” said Akridge. “I did not believe in any of this. I’m still kind of iffy on the hypnosis part, but the other stuff? Oh my, he has me full throttle with this. I’m not sure what to think anymore, but I’m still amazed he could guess exactly what I was thinking.”

Many attendees have hopes that Buctainment will host a similar event in the future, deeming Retro Gaming Night as a greater experience than Winter Cruise has been in the past. Because this event is only held once a year, anyone hoping to participate in Buctainment programming will have to go to other events being held throughout the semester by the organization, such as Fun Movie Fridays.