The ageless and undefeated Champs of Tulsa’s Wii Bowling League

The team shuffles onto a bus outside their Tulsa, Okla., senior living community wearing American flag jerseys with white pins and a red bowling ball. They are the UV Okies, the local sensation.

Just a half-mile down the road await the underdogs, the Burgundy Place Strikers, who are trying to snap the team’s 8-0 streak.

At this Tulsa-wide senior league, athletes have traded hardwood floors and smooth gutters for digital Nintendo Wii Sports bowling lanes.

The Okies — residents of the University Village senior living community — have finished five seasons clean and are on another winning streak. Would they win this away game against the Strikers, then their final game next week to complete the top six?

On this recent Thursday in June, their hopes are pinned on Phyllis Wimer, known as Phyllis Killer or Phyllis the GOAT for the many hits she takes; Charlene “The Grasshopper” Giles, whose hop gives her a little extra oomph when she runs the ball; “Amazing” Marcia Ness, who describes herself as a “tough old wide man”, ready to bowl after recovering from a broken wrist and back; and “Rollin'” Ron Demaree, who holds onto the lower left handlebar of his motorized wheelchair to propel himself up and forward to gain more power in motion.

If the Okies are nervous about a potential upset, they’re not showing it.

“We’ll go in there and smoke them out,” says “Dandy” Don Alcorn, 73, another teammate.

Seniors and video games may seem as natural a pairing as Gen Z and paper phone books. But in introducing Wii bowling to its residents nearly 20 years ago, staff at Tulsa Senior Communities saw an opportunity to create a league that would bring people together.

When the Okies first joined the city league more than a decade ago, they didn’t win a single game, said Cecelia Basarich, 83, a former University Village resident and player. They began studying the techniques of more successful teams and practiced on dusty Wii consoles resurrected from some of their children’s garages. Residents organized their own league to compete for 100 Grand sticks.

The team now has 40 players competing internally for eight spots in each week of the league in some seasons.

And while the Okies have become fierce competitors, they play for other reasons as well.

“There are things I do where I feel ageless,” Ms Giles, 75, said. She added: “It’s like I might as well be 13 up there. It’s fun to have things like that.”

Wii bowling helps them socialize and make friends, manage the aches and pains, grief and loss of aging, and encourages them to try new things. “That’s how old people survive,” said Pat Winkle, known as “Nana Pat,” 87.

Some players also said that their bowling triumphs made their children and grandchildren proud.

At Burgundy Place for the penultimate league game, the home team wore gray team shirts and “Love Love Bowling” posters were plastered on the doors and walls of the recreation room, which served as an electronic alley.

Mr. Alcorn put his shot into the Okies’ virtual lane. His teammates waved blue and red pom-poms and shouted, “Show them where you’re from!”

He extended his right arm, hand wrapped around the Wii Remote, and leaned slightly to the right. He swung his right arm back, then forward, and his left hand rose to the sky with it.

The synthesized clatter of skittles against wood filled the room and the word “Strike” flashed across the television screen.

When he first started playing, Mr. Alcorn had to unlearn the techniques and stances he knew from actual bowling.

“That won’t work,” he said. “You have to go up and out to get a strike.

In front of the second TV screen, Mrs. Wimer let the ball rip. Eight skittles strewn across the digital track so that two stood next to each other in the corner.

“As soon as I dropped the ball, I knew it wasn’t going to do what I wanted it to do,” said Mrs Wimer, 95, before smashing the last two pins to leave her only game.

While they can be dominant on screen, Okies are also good sports. They offered advice to their Burgundian rivals during the game and each team cheered on the other.

Still, the Okies were ahead and needed to keep the lead going into the final round of the game to stay undefeated.

In one runway, Ron Pogue, 82, held the remote control in front of him with both hands to stop the gunfire. He took a deep breath before bending his knees, swinging his right arm back and forcefully driving it forward.

“Good ball!” his teammates cheered when he struck out.

The Okies secured another win.

The players congratulated each other and then Phyllis Killer and Charlene the Grasshopper and Marvelous Marcia and Rollin’ Ron and the rest of the Okies boarded the bus back to University Village.

On Thursday afternoon, the Okies won their final game of the season and finished with a 10-0 record.

Next year, the aging Wii consoles will be retired and the league will switch to a different video game system. For now, the UV Okies will soak up the glory and pride of another season as the unbeatable senior Wii pitchers from Tulsa.