Mt. Hood Community College has a game room? When asked about it, that is the response that many students are likely to give. It would appear that many students are unaware of the fact that MHCC does indeed have a game room and that it is located downstairs in the College Center. For the students that know about it, however, it can be a place to hang out with friends and play games. Or, for students who are feeling the need to study and do homework, it can be a place to get important things done.

The game room is used the most in the morning hours of the day, and as the afternoon hours slip away, the number of people using it begins to decline.

Anywhere from 100-200 students come and go during the morning. The game room has Wi-Fi capability, which makes it a popular place for students who own laptops.

It’s been quite a few years since there were any significant improvements made to the game room. As a result of this, and because the game room sees enough use, the students of MHCC voted to allocate a $6,000 budget to improve and add-on to it. The students could have voted to spend the money in another area, but didn’t. So far, $3,000, of the allocated $6,000 has been spent.

The committee heading the project was formed by Kris Knutson, a former coordinator on the student programming board. The general consensus among the committee members, and the students, was that improvements made to the game room would attract even more people and make it an even more popular place to go. The project is now headed by Stephen Emery, the Associated Student Government president.

Some of the changes and additions have already been made while others are still to come. Over the course of the summer, new carpeting was added. Multi-cultural glass cases were another addition. One of them is filled, and for the second Emery wants to put MHCC related items into it.

Students who use the pool tables say that new ones would be a more than welcome addition to the game room. One of the current pool tables in the game room has an “out of order” sign on it that limits the number of tables that the students have available to them.
Another of the tables is at somewhat of a slant that makes the balls roll when they are placed on the surface. Whether these problems will be addressed remains to be seen.

On Tuesday, an air hockey table could be seen being carried down to the game room. The table is a product of Valley. This addition will expand the number of activities that MHCC students have available to them while they are down in the room.

Newer arcade games are going to be replacing some of the older ones.

Card playing is a popular activity down in the game room. Longer tables are going to be put in so more people can be accommodated. More furniture will also be added.

The walls of the game room are going to be painted in the near future. Stephen Emery indicated that the design could be of a wavelike fashion. After the walls are painted, inspirational pictures and posters are going to be put up to give the game room a better look and feel.

After all the improvements and additions have been made to the game room, the people involved plan on having a grand opening that will get the word out and advertise the changes made.

This should increase the usage that the game room sees as more people become aware of its presence.