According to Home Instead Senior Care in Palm Desert,
people past their prime are turning to electronic
gadgets typically reserved for younger generations
in order to keep their minds active. A survey last
year by PopCap Games of Seattle revealed that 47 percent
of those who downloaded its video games were older
than 50.
Lansing says one of the reasons for the increased
popularity of electronic games among older people
is touch-screen technology. He has sold Game Time
— a portable, flat-screen device — to folks in their
80s. Game Time offers some 125 games: everything from
crossword puzzles and Sudoku, card and word games,
chess, trivia (80,000 questions), and tennis to something
called Monkey Bash that Lansing indicates is addictive.
It also includes a Kid’s Club with such child-friendly
delights as electronic finger painting. So 2-year-olds,
their parents, and their grandparents can share the
same “toy.” In fact, up to four can play miniature
golf together on one Game Time. When customers have
exhausted the hundreds of game options, they can get
a new set uploaded through the Internet.
Lansing says producer Jerry Weintraub gave Game Times
to the actors in his films Ocean’s Eleven and Ocean’s
Twelve. Hey, if it’s good enough for Brad Pitt and
George Clooney … Another Gameroom Gallery top seller
for people from their 40s to 80s is the Rock-Ola Nostalgia
Music System. Even at $7,000, Lansing can’t keep the
multicolored, bubblersided, touch-screen jukebox on
the floor. The jukebox is styled after Wurlitzer’s
1940s-era Rock-Ola, but is all new technology inside.
Owners can load up to 3,000 CDs into the jukebox and
create a dozen play lists. “I have had up to 16 hours
on a play list,” Lansing says.
To upload music into the Rock-Ola, you connect the
jukebox to a computer, slide in a CD, and the jukebox
finds the original album artwork and play list. But,
Lansing says, the jukebox connects more than CDs and
album covers.
“The kids come over and hook up their iPod in the
docking station and now think, ‘Grandpa’s really cool,
because I can play my music on his jukebox.’” — Janice
Kleinschmidt
