“Smash o’clock,” Seth utters through a giant grin as he closes his laptop and reaches for the Wii U GamePad.
The dorm has an unspoken rule that whenever someone says that it’s “Smash o’clock,” we all have to drop whatever we’re doing to play the glorious game that is Super Smash Bros., a multiplayer fighting-based game that includes all of Nintendo’s greatest characters from years past (plus Olimar, who is dumb). So, Joel and I drop our physics homework that we have already procrastinated on and pick up our Wii Remotes.
Within ten minutes, Michael Horton has dropped his own studies and emerged from his room, Clark Hubbard has gotten back from barista-ing at one of the on-campus coffee shops, and Korey Adams has shown up (we’re still not sure how he got in) and we’re all playing king-of-the-hill style, where loser gives up his controller. That physics homework that’s due tomorrow is a distant memory.
Needless to say, this is a problem, especially since it is a daily occurrence.
“[Smash Bros.] is something we do way too often,” Clark said. “On a weekend it might be four or five hours, on a weekday it might be an hour, couple hours.”
As soon as Clark said this, Michael chimed in and said that however much Clark plays, the rest of the dorm probably plays triple. He’s not wrong. All the while Seth was behind us playing Smash Bros. on single player mode.
Clark was the first one to admit just how much of a problem this is. On February 25, he walked into the living room and announced that he would be giving up Smash Bros. for 40 days to observe Lent.
Lent is a 40-day period before Easter in which Christians either fast or give up some other luxury to spend more time with God. My family gave up TV for Lent once or twice when I was in grade school, but to be honest I sort of forgot it was a thing.
I was not there when Clark asked if anyone wanted to join him, but according to Joel, there was a sense of both “obligation” yet “reluctance.” Despite the tension, though, all of the roommates agreed.
“We work democratically,” said Seth, the reluctant one. “If half of us want to do something the other half has to.”
All of the roommates agreed to give up Smash Bros. for Lent, but Korey, who technically commutes but basically lives there, isn’t so convinced yet.
“Korey thinks he’s still gonna play,” Seth said. “Little does he know that we’re splitting up the pieces of the Wii.”
As of midnight on March 1, the start of Lent, The Wii U was disconnected and its various pieces distributed between all the roommates. As sad yet necessary as it is, there will be no Smash Bros. in the dorm until April 17.
“This is definitely something that we need to do,” Joel said. “And none of us are happy about it.”
