Students took a break from their studies and instead came together to play new and old style video games Wednesday night.

The University Board hosted a video game night in the Grand Ballroom in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.  There were four stations where four different systems were plugged in, ready for people to play games on them.

Aaliyah Stephen, the special events coordinator, said the night was based off what a previous special events coordinator wanted to do.

“Before I was initiated as the coordinator, we had a video game event already planned.  It was actually supposed to be a tournament for Call of Duty,” she said.  “I did not like that idea, so I switched it up and went a different route.”

She said she tried to incorporate “old school” games and “new school” games together.

“Having only one game available to play would have limited the players that could come out and actually have fun,” Stephen said.

Students were able to play games on consoles such as Xbox 360, Nintendo Gamecube, Xbox One and Nintendo 64.

She said she chose these consoles because she wants students to go “back to the past” and have fun with childhood toys, at the same time still keeping in touch with current consoles.

“We do have the Gamecube and the 64, because people who want to play those consoles and games aren’t really out anymore, so they are not as easy to have access to,” Stephen said.

She said the event is meant to get students to come out and enjoy each other’s company.

“I think it helped people from different diversities come together and did something that everyone had an interest in,” she said.

Blake Berenz, concert coordinator for the UB, said the event is not something the UB does often.

“This is not a demographic we hit every often, and it had a really nice turn out so it was definitely worth hitting,” he said.

Berenz said he would love the UB to have this event again in the future, not only because it was fun, but also because of how well the turn out was.

The UB gave out games during the event for three different systems: the Xbox One, the Wii and the Wii U.

Stephen said she would love to do this event again next year and for it to be bigger.  “We will have more consoles like the PlayStation 4 and different varieties because a lot of people were asking for the PlayStation 4 and other games,” she said.  “We will provide even more variety of games and consoles so a lot more people will be able to come.”

Stephanie White can be reached at 581-2812 or at sewhite2@eiu.edu.