Imagine waking up for the best field trip a student could ever picture. For the entire first year cohort of Game Design students that is exactly what they had in store a week ago when all of them packed in to buses and traveled to The American Classic Arcade Museum (ACAM) in Laconia, NH.  This is an annual trip that Jonathan Ferguson, assistant professor of Game Design in The Game Studio, organizes as a way to jump-start the students’ interest in game history.

Each year they organize a panel of professionals in the game industry to talk with the students. This year, the staff and students were especially excited because they would all be meeting Warren Davis, the creator of the popular 1982 Q*bert arcade game. Q*bert has become a beloved character and classic arcade game over the years because of its 2D action elements that give it a pseudo-3D effect. For a gamer, this accomplishment was mind-blowing and has been replicated many times since.

The students were excited to ask him where his inspiration came from and how he feels about the game industry today. They were also excited to be spending the whole day at an Arcade. Past Game Design student Austen London had this to say about his trip two years ago, “First year classes all pretty much blend together in my mind at this point, but the trip to ACAM is a day I’ll never forget. In high school I would have done anything to get a field trip to the arcade. That experience made me appreciate Champlain and my program even more.”

This year the trip took place the first week of October and, as always, the students had a blast.

Julia A. Rodriguez