By David Herbold, April 27, 2021
The ASI Board of Directors discussed plans for an upgraded Games Room during its April 22 meeting which would include upgraded furniture layouts, new gaming consoles and the addition of day lockers. If approved, the changes would be implemented throughout the 2021-2022 semester.
Cal Poly Pomona’s Games Room is located in the Bronco Student Center and features a variety of games like pool, air hockey and ping pong. It also contains the official campus lost and found and casual seating arrangements. Though currently closed, it is expected to reopen in the coming fall and spring semesters.
Sandra Solano, the ASI interim poly pantry coordinator and the ASI commercial service coordinator, shared with the board the current vision for the future of the Games Room. She outlined a timeline and overview of renovations and changes in pricing policy to be made to the Games Room.
“The vision is to not charge our students for any of our services,” said Solano. “We have, in the past, charged $4 an hour for our services, but we don’t want to do that anymore. Instead, we will charge only people that are not students.”
The Games Room also serves as the campus’ lost and found and holds occasional auctions where students can bid on items that were never claimed. The plan is to add a permanent thrift shop to the layout of the Games Room to sell the unclaimed items. The box office that is currently located in the Games Room will be moved mostly online, with bus passes still available in-person.
After removing the bowling alley as well as all the arcade machines from the Games Room, numerous day lockers, like the ones in the BRIC will be added in their place. Some of the consoles in the Games Room will be updated to their most recent versions including the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and a retro console is planned as well.
The approved fall hours are from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, with the facility opened exclusively for reservations on the weekend. The current reopening plan for the Games Room will take place in staggered phases to follow COVID-19 guidelines. ASI President Lucy Yu said, “I was just thinking about memories, about how we’ve had crazy dance parties in the Games Room before, when you hire a DJ for Welcome Week or March Madness. Some of my best college memories are having crazy dance parties in there.”
In other business, the ASI Board of Directors discussed and unanimously approved the organization’s 2021-2022 budget. In the April 8 ASI Board of Directors meeting, the details of the budget were discussed. The budget is designed, according to Krista Smith, ASI associate executive director, to facilitate the return to in-person for staff and give first dibs for returning to furloughed staff when the opportunity arises. The next step for the budget is approval from University President Soraya Coley.
Congratulating his cabinet on a job well done, ASI Vice President Manshaan Singh said, “Being a part of this massive budget process, although it could be a little difficult at times, it definitely is really something great that students get to take part in at Cal Poly Pomona.”
The board of directors is next scheduled to meet on April 29. The agenda, minutes and Zoom link for previous and upcoming board meetings can be found here.