Lucile "Suey" McLean eyes the three X's on the scoreboard.
"That's it, babe," she shouts. "That's a turkey."
Nina Finn then steps up, murmuring, "Kiss, kiss, kiss," as she coaxes her ball toward the pins. The last one falls, and Finn shimmies past her opponents, saying, "They want me to do my wiggle."
These might seem like moves made for the neighborhood bowling alley. But to these retirees, actually heaving a ball down a lane of polished wood is a pursuit that is, well, a bit behind the times.
At the Oak Crest Village retirement community, the Nintendo Wii is what's hot.
The video system, which allows gamers to simulate athletic moves and produce on-screen results, seems to have been designed for the young. But try telling that to McLean and Finn, along with Stryker, Little Sib and the other members of the Mighty Oaks video bowling team.
The Wii, one of the hottest holiday gifts this year, is a big hit with the seniors in Parkville and at other retirement communities across the country. At Oak Crest, the retirees like to stroke virtual tennis and golf balls - and, perhaps most of all, bowl a few games.
The Mighty Oaks, one of several video bowling teams at Oak Crest, don matching blue bowling shirts for competitions against teams miles away, with cameras capturing the matches and post-game interviews for the retirement community's television station and, eventually, YouTube.
Louise "Queen of Spares" Ross says her 13-year-old granddaughter is a little envious that she gets to play the hard-to-find game system.
"She got upset because granny beat her," the vivacious 65-year-old East Baltimore native says.
At Oak Crest, the video system is hooked up to a 60-inch, flat-screen TV to boot.
Erickson Retirement Communities first purchased a Wii about a year ago for residents at a campus in Illinois, said Kate Newton Schmelyun, a company spokeswoman. The company now has them in its 18 retirement communities, including Oak Crest and Charlestown in Catonsville. Nintendo donated some of the systems, the spokeswoman said.
Not that an actual bowling lane would be out of place at Oak Crest. Amenities at the 87-acre community include a bistro-style pub, two banks, three hair salons and an indoor swimming pool.
But the remote-controlled video system is easier on the joints. The retirees can bowl in their orthopedic shoes, and they don't have to worry about slipping on the waxed wood floor of a real bowling lane.
