Jacob Roth, 11, says playing video games keeps him busy when he has nothing to do.
On Sunday afternoon, Roth, a sixth-grader at Dubuque's Jefferson Middle School, as well as about 50 other young people, had plenty to do. The Carnegie-Stout Public Library conducted the first session of its "Super Smash Brothers" and "Mario Kart" dual-action gaming tournament in the third-floor auditorium. Gray Dale, Carnegie-Stout's youth-services manager, designed the tournament in the style of a March Madness bracket, with the winner collecting an iPod Nano and a $25 gift certificate to Video Games Etc. Each session is held on the first Sunday of the month through April.
Dale sees the video game tournaments as a way to draw young people to the library. "We offer them something that they normally don't expect from the library," he said.
What they also received were free pizza and soda pop. In front of a large projection screen with the games, young people lined up to play.
Dale shouted, "Who hasn't played yet?" sparking boisterous response from several youngsters awaiting
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"Verb" Clark, 9, noted he has his own PlayStation at home, but likes to come to the library to play the video games. So does Shavarstine Pease, 14, a ninth-grader at Dubuque Senior High School.
"They're fun and challenging," Pease said. "Especially the football games. They have a lot of fun activities here."
Dale pointed out video games are a multibillion dollar industry that cuts across all of the country's socio-economic levels.
"The library isn't just dusty books," he said. "We're more than willing to reach out to people. And when you put pizza out there with video games, you're got a recipe for something."
Ivan Divino Sr., of Dubuque, brought his five children to the library for the action. He embraced the atmosphere enthusiastically.
"It's great to see this happening in the community," Divino said.
He disagrees with critics who say young people spend too much time playing video games.
"They're as good as sports are for kids," he said. "It's just as competitive and skill-required. Practice does make perfect. The evidence is the professional video game players. It's not a waste of time, like some people think."
Roth said he likes to compete.
"I like playing video games with my friends to see who's better," he said.
