Interview with Randy Slaughter manager of Gunther’s Games

Randy Slaughter of Gunther’s Games 

You come into Gunther’s and download Gunther’s Games app, and for happy hour you buy a beer from 6 to 9 you get four free tokens and you get to scan this sheet here, and when you get earn ten of them you win different prizes.

How long have you all been able to serve alcohol?

About 3 months now.

Was it a long process to get your liquor license?

It was, It was a nightmare. We are gonna try to get our hard alcohol/liqour license.

Will you be in the future having a full bar?

We would like to, except if we do that we would have to add a sink up here and we would have to run water up here and all kinds of good stuff.

Would there be a change to your usual crowd if this happened? Do you regularly have children and families at Gunther’s?

Saturdays and Sundays we do, probably just until 3 o’clock and then it’s mostly students and adults. Yeah, I don’t think we should do it really. There is enough liquored up people that come in here already.

Have you inherited any of the games from the original Gunther’s Games?

We bought some of them yes, not too many. We go to auctions and stuff like that and buy them. We have a warehouse that we keep games in. We have about 150 games in a warehouse. So we have plenty of games.

What is your most popular game you have here right now?

Probably Mario Kart I’d say, a lot of people play that. That or pinballs.

What is the oldest game you have here?

Pacman 1982.

I was personally thrilled to see you had the Star Trek Voyager game, with Seven of Nine.

Oh yeah, I would have thought more people would play that. Every girl comes in here and knows her name, and I mean every girl.

Columbia, MO.

Gunther’s Games: Columbia, Missouri’s Local Arcade

From Broadway you can plainly see the neon green sign lit up with “Gunther’s Games” it has been open since March of 2013. The present Gunther’s bought out the name of the original Gunther’s Games which shut down in 2007. At Gunther’s you can grab a beer, and try your luck out on the Fancy Cutter in hopes of winning a fantastic prize. Some fancy the wall of pinball machines (who is ZED? and why has he beaten out all of my top scores?) Others kick it back with Pac-Man and Galaga. My personal favorite would be Tekken Tag where I can reign terror on my opponents using Eddie and Yoshimitsu. During this visit I was able to try my hands on the Star Trek Voyager game and fight off my all time favorite nemesis: the Borg, my phaser set to kill.

Randy Slaughter, manager of Gunther’s Games clued me in on the recent deals, happenings, and what to keep an eye out for in Gunther’s future. “Download an app, buy a beer during happy hour from 6 to 9pm and you get four free tokens!” Next time you visit use the barcode scanner app on your smartphone to scan the barcode at Gunther’s Games counter, when you have 10 scans on record you can win various prizes. Gunther’s Games has been serving beer for 3 months now, after a very long “nightmare” of a process to obtain the documentation. Gunther’s is pursuing efforts of obtaining the license to serve hard alcohol. However, the potential of having a full bar inside Gunther’s Games would be based on the ability to bring plumbing and water into the main arcade area which is presently unavailable. This would require further remodeling and plumbing work, Gunther’s Games may consider this work in the future. Randy does not believe that having a full bar would drive away any customers of a below 21 age or families, and in regards to families with small children coming in, Randy explained that the normal window for families to visit the arcade is much smaller than for adults “Saturdays and Sundays we do, just until 3 o’clock and then it is mostly students and adults.” Randy says about having a full bar at the arcade, “I don’t think we should do it really, there are enough liquored up people that come in here already.” followed by a good laugh.

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Randy Slaughter, manager at Gunther’s Games in Columbia, MO. April 14th, 2014.

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Seven of Nine featured on the side of the Star Trek Voyager arcade game at Gunther’s Games of Columbia, MO. April 14th, 2014.

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The crew of the Star Trek Voyager featured on the Star Trek Voyager arcade game at Gunther’s Games in Columbia, MO. Note also, the oldest game resident to Gunther’s Games appears in the reflection: Pac-Man! April 14th, 2014.

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Gunther’s Games is Columbia, MO’s local arcade located on 923 Broadway. April 14th, 2014.

Mizzou Journalism Majors

For Mizzou Journalism Majors, follow that link to find relatable signs that you are in fact, a journalism major at the University of Missouri!

Number 13, is entirely true. As a pre-journalism student, I have just experienced the pain of having to transcribe only a short 20 minute interview. It was dreadful, and as I tell myself that in the future I will give myself plenty of time ahead before due dates to complete this task, I don’t want to think about having to transcribe an even longer interview at this point.

Needless to say, this is something a journalist is going to have to do time and time again. So, it is best to go ahead and do it correctly right? I have had confusion as to what extent I must interpret the audio. Must it be word for word, including all “hum”s, “like”s, and fumbles? Or rather, do I simply convey the questions asked with an comprehendible sum of an answer? I find that it is somewhere in-between.

To transcribe is a verb meaning to put (thoughts, speech, or data) into written or printed form.

Or perhaps there is hope, take a look at speech recognition software, Dragon.

Thanks for reading,

Jordan C. Inman

Mizzou Dance Marathon

Mizzou Dance Marathon

Saturday, March 8th. Students brought out their neon attire and matching tutus to participate in a dance marathon charity event sponsored by Deja Vu Dance Club of Columbia. Here students wait for the instruction of the host on stage for unison dance instructions. The location of the photo is at Mizzou’s Rec Center. Visit Mizzou Dance Marathon website for details on how you can join this crowd and raise money for a greater cause.