It was a dream come true for some students as an NIU parking lot became a free video arcade.

More than 80 Nintendo games were set up in the parking lot south of Neptune Hall East and could be played for free. Students were coaxed to compete against 12 others for spots in today’s championship round.

The grand prize for the top male and top female score is a trip to Disney World to compete in the national championships for a Geo Storm.

Geo also sponsored free five-minute test drives in the Geo Storm, Geo Metro, Geo Metro Convertible and Geo Tracker models.

Springfest worker Terry Powell said drivers can choose which model they want to drive, but the most popular model was the Geo Tracker.

Pete Adrian, Springfest coordinator for the Campus Activities Board, said he received a call two months ago from McCann Erickson Marketing Company, which was hired by Nintendo to promote its video games. The St. Louis-based firm plans to tour 50 campuses this year.

“NIU does not pay a dime,” Adrian said. “Nintendo pays for all of the advertising, the rental fee for the parking lot and for all wages for the Springfest workers.”

Adrian said he met representatives from McCann Erickson at a conference for the National Association for Campus Activities more than two months ago.

“They called me because they were going to be in the area and they apparently liked what they saw of NIU,” he said.

Randy Halsing, an event-marketing worker for McCann Erickson, said the company just got back from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind.

“Purdue was pretty busy—NIU is a medium turnout,” he said.

Melissa Matthews, account coordinator for McCann Erickson, said Nintendo began the project in January and there has been no research to see if the $3 million marketing strategy works.

“We chose to advertise on college campuses because we wanted to get a different market, rather than the 8- to 16-year-old age group,” she said.

Overall, most students enjoyed themselves. Bradley Howard, a junior political science major, said he loved the event.

“There should be more events like this on campus that divert my attention away from my studies,” he said.

Luke Vanis, a junior electronic media major, seemed to have the same thoughts in mind.

“It’s better than class,” he said.