Benton County libraries provide space to rock out and score big

CORVALLIS - Crescent Valley High School sophomore Theo Meskimen had no problem chatting while his fingers worked furiously over the two Nintendo Wii controllers in his hands.

"You've just got to learn how to pay attention," Meskimen said as his on-screen counterpart Donkey Kong deftly dispatched another character in "Super Mario Smash Brothers Brawl" during a recent Teen Game Night at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library.

Meskimen considers himself an expert in the game. He even won a tournament at local shop Game Crazy in the very first week "Smash Brothers" was released.

"I'm probably the best in Corvallis," he said, "But, I'll go easy on someone if they want me to."

But he needn't worry about not finding a challenge at the library's monthly events, where there are many other games with their own masters.

Josh Peck is a 12-year-old sixth-grader at Linus Pauling Middle School. His favorite game, even though he's only been playing for about a year, is "Dance Dance Revolution."

As Peck jumped energetically on the control pad to the song "Shake That Thing," he figured that if he wasn't at the library for game night, he would probably be spending time with his grandparents or at the Boys & Girls Club.

It was a nice change of pace to hang out with high-schoolers, and sure enough after a while Meskimen took a break from "Smash Brothers" and joined Peck mid-song.

When the final arrows cleared the screen at the end of the song, a breathless Peck looked up at the score in disbelief.

"I just owned a high-schooler," he said with a big grin.

Extension services librarian Andrew Cherbas hosts teen game nights in Corvallis, Philomath, Alsea and Monroe throughout the year.

He tries to tailor the events to each library and the teens, even setting up large projector screens for multiple-player games and providing snacks.

"The mainstays are Halo 3 and Guitar Hero," said Cherbas, who is game enthusiast himself.

However, while the games and snacks may be the initial draw for teens, the atmosphere seems to be what draws them back, even those who have their own gaming systems at home.

"I used to come here a lot with friends, but most of them are busy with jobs and stuff," said Bryan McCown, a 16-year-old sophomore at Crescent Valley High School who owns an XBox 360. "But, now I just come because it's fun to talk to Andy."

McCown has tried pretty much every game available.

"If you've played instruments you might catch on to 'Rock Band' and 'Guitar Hero,' faster," McCown said.

On the other hand, the Wii is more interactive and "Halo 3" is probably the least beginner-friendly game at Teen Game Night, according to McCown.

"It can be frustrating, sitting there getting shot at, while trying to figure out how to pick up a gun," he said.

Ben Thompson was fully immersed in the complicated first-person shooter game, sitting only about five feet away from the monster projection screen.

"With a big screen like this, it's hard to resist," he said.

But not all the games were about cutthroat competition. The newer musical games, such as "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero," are more about group success than singular glory.

The controls can be set so that some players are on the expert setting, while others take on beginner melodies. In some cases, better players can even "save" their band mates by playing well themselves.

One particular gamer, Chase Perfetti, who attended College Hill High School, is particularly well-known for his amazing guitar antics in "Guitar Hero."

So impressive, in fact, that the librarians recorded video of him playing the guitar behind his head - while never missing a note - and posted it on the library's YouTube Web site, according to Youth Services Librarian Kristin Starnes.

Starnes, who was assisting Cherbas with the event, also helps coordinate other library activities for teens, including the Animanga Book Club, a group of teens that meets to discuss a certain manga each month.

"We also host special teen nights with rotating activities where the library stays open for a couple of extra hours so teens can have their space," said Starnes.

Investing in video game equipment for the county libraries has been a great way to draw teenagers in.

Not that the librarians didn't try other activities.

"We used to bring board games, too," said Starnes.

"No one ever used them, so we just sort of stopped bringing them."