Gamer Profile: Carrie Swidecki
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There was something cute about those twin dragons Bub and Bob that hooked me into the game. Plus I loved the simplicity of the graphics and the background music. This was the 1st game that I became obsess with getting both a high score and trying to complete the game. I would blow bubbles against the wall in between moving up levels and killing enemies to get max points. I would restart the game if I missed any bonus food items on a level to max my score. Bubble Bobble is also the 1st game that I stayed up all night long, so I could make it to the 100th level to complete the game. It is the only game that I have fully completed on Nintendo and I was 10 years old!! I like to say it’s the game that made me a hardcore gamer!! ~Carrie Swidecki
Favorite Classic Game: Bubble Bobble
Current working on: In training for The Summer of 2014 World Record attempt:
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My Gaming History:
It’s no wonder I had an instant connection with exergaming, because I’ve been a gamer my whole life. I started gaming when I was 5 years old with Atari 2600, Nintendo, and Tetris on the original Gameboy! My mom put a couch in my brother’s room, because every day the neighborhood kids would come over to challenge me. Every weekend my mom took us to Toys R Us to walk the Nintendo aisle. There was something magical walking down the large aisles, seeing all the graphics on the cover of the Nintendo boxes, and pulling the ticket to get the game at the counter.
As a result I’m currently trying to collect all the Nintendo games in mint condition boxes as well as Atari games. I still have all my Atari and Nintendo games from my childhood! On the weekends I grew up playing Canasta, Dominos, and board games with my family. Every Sunday morning I played pinball at the bowling alley when it was league time. My favorite pinball machine is Swamp Thing! On Sunday’s my family always went to pizza. When I was a kid all the pizza places had huge arcades. I couldn’t eat my slice of pizza fast enough to play my favorite classic arcade games!
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I quit gaming for 6 years to focus on college. At 23 years old and obese, I came home to gaming. The arcade holds a special place in my heart. It is where I rediscovered myself. Little did I know the 1st 10 steps I took on Dance Dance Revolution would change my life. This is where my exergaming story begins!
My story:
Everyday I’m waiting for someone to wake me up from this dream. 13 years ago I was 210 pounds, plus size 18-20, and living my life in the past until I discovered exergaming! Within 6 years from graduating from high school I gained 90 pounds. I went from being a 125 pound athlete to being obese.
While chasing a dream I lost 75 pounds, went down 10 sizes, became an advocate to fight childhood obesity, and set 5 World Records! Every gamer dreams of being in the Guinness Book of World Records Gamer’s Edition and on January 3, 2014 my dream came true. Guinness featured me as 1 out 4 gamers in their 2014 Gamer’s Edition after Just Dancing over 49 hours to fight childhood obesity. It’s an honor and the greatest moment in my life to represent the healthy side of gaming after surviving obesity.
On June 15-17, 2013 at Otto’s Video Games and More in Bakersfield, CA I set two Guinness World Records at the same time by Just Dancing 49 hours 3 minutes 22 seconds for both the Longest Marathon on a Motion-Sensing Dance Game and the Longest Marathon on a Dance/Rhythm Game. I made history by becoming the only person in the world to hold a world record for marathon play on all three major dance games: Just Dance, Dance Central, and Dance Dance Revolution as well as the 1st female to set them. All to bring awareness to using exergaming in the schools to right childhood obesity.
Carrie’s Gamer Profile
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