SMOKEY POINT — Seniors as old as 97 still compete in this bowling league.

It’s Wii bowling, on the computer.

“You get a certain amount of exercise, and you don’t have to lift that heavy ball,” Virginia Whitely said at the Stillaguamish Senior Center.

While it’s all in good fun, “There are some sharks in there,” joked Teresa Sharick, program manager at Grandview Village in Marysville.

“We’re all rowdy by nature,” Whitely added, cracking a smile.

Whitely said seniors there started playing the game about three years ago. They started with 10 players and now have 27. Along with these two teams there are squads in Granite Falls, Everett and Edmonds.

Whitely said the Stilly team isn’t the best.

“Our senior center is so busy we don’t have time to practice. Some of us can play at home, but it’s not the same as competing. Here we can’t say dirty words,” she joked.

Whitely said she used to compete in real bowling in the Edmonds area. She once won a most improve award by raising her average from 77 to 128. But in Wii bowling, she said almost everyone averages about 180, with a few even in the high 200s.

Sharick said Grandview has only been playing the Wii game for about 1 1/2 years.

“When we first got Wii, they didn’t think they could do it,” she said. “Now they love it.”

She laughed recalling how one woman found out about the team and asked, “Where’s the bowling alley?”

Sharick said most of the participants have been real bowlers in the past.

“Some of them would still love to go,” she said. “The problem is they can’t lift the ball. This is a great alternative. Some of the ladies take it pretty seriously.”

One woman was in a real league up until last year.

“But she can’t do it anymore,” Sharick said. “But she loves this.”

Another woman is 97, but she just started Wii bowling last year.

Whitely said all of the participants are good sports.

“We get just as happy when somebody else does well,” she said. “We cheer everybody on. We don’t trash talk. We love everybody. We have to, everybody beats us. We had a really good bowler, but we lost him last year.”

The competition is eight against eight, with each bowler rolling three or four games.

On this day, Gigi Gamble of the blue t-shirted Stilly team had the high score of 215. When a bowler gets three straight strikes it is called a “turkey,” and participants are supposed to do a dance to celebrate. She did the quickest one ever, then followed up with another strike.

Amy Cox of Grandview was all smiles after tossing a 167, after bowling a 51 the last time they were there.

Jamie Banks, bowling left-handed from his electric wheelchair, rolled a strike on his first throw. “Come on Bubba,” a fan said before the roll. After his strike, he told a teammate he almost had to go to the emergency room recently. He ended up bowling a 188, including a 7-10 split, which is nearly impossible to get even in Wii bowling.

“We’re going to have to work for it today,” Banks said as a green-clad opponent also scored a strike. “It sure beats sitting at home looking at four walls.”

Each bowler has their own form. Many stand and only move their arm, while others do a three- or five-step approach just like in real bowling.

Whitely said Wii bowling is a lot like real bowling.

“The five pin never falls, just like in regular bowling,” she said. “It’s my dream to strike out, but I never do.”