The name of the game: Finding a Wii
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
May 9, 2008
WASHINGTON — Ward 3 D.C. Councilwoman Mary Cheh didn’t know that her idea to donate a Nintendo Wii to a senior center would send aide Asher Corson dashing through Northeast Washington in a robe and slippers.
But that’s what a Wii will do.
"He enjoyed the assignment," Cheh said Thursday of Corson, her spokesman. "It took him out of the usual routine."
Cheh will donate the Wii today to Iona Senior Services on Albermarle Street Northwest, bringing Wii Tennis and Wii Bowling to a new team of aging gamers. The moment will have special meaning for Corson, who was tasked with tracking down one of the most sought-after products anywhere.
The council member’s brainstorm arose some five months ago from an article on the growing popularity of the Wii among seniors. It would take Corson three months to find one at market price.
His strategy was simple — call everyone. About 120 phone calls were made to Best Buy, Target and GameStop. Local or out-of-town, it didn’t matter. There were no deals to be had, no donations from the bottom of a retailer’s heart.
The week of March 11, he learned that the GameStop at 817 H St. NE would have three Wii systems for sale that Sunday morning.
"They were holding them for a promotion, the release of Super Smash Bros.’," Corson said. "I woke up Sunday morning, called the GameStop and they told me they had one left. I literally was in slippers and a robe running for this thing."
The cost was $360 for the $249 system, three controllers and one additional game. Corson paid with his credit card and was reimbursed from Cheh’s constituent services fund.
"If it gets people to keep their brains active and their bodies active ,it’s absolutely worth it," he said.
The donation, Cheh said, is about "making growing older fun."
"There’s this whole sort of movement to make senior centers positive, and not just about people who are in need of help," she said. "We should think differently about aging. It’s a different phase of life but one not filled with incapacity."
mneibauer@dcexaminer.com
