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FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- On a snowy Monday night recently, Northern Arizona University freshman Natalie Eickmeyer finished her studying and decided to go out and have some fun. So at 10 o'clock, after scouring a dormitory for participants, she and five friends headed to the Wal-Mart discount center.
The students had no intention of shopping. They were going to Wal-Mart to play games.
That night, she and her pal Amy Zimmerman, a college junior, decided the group would play "10 in 10." The captains of the two teams each spend 10 minutes putting 10 items in a shopping cart. The carts are turned over to the opposing teams which have to figure out where the items came from and return them to the shelves where they belong. That's no easy feat in a store stocked with more than 100,000 different items. The first team back to the checkout counters with an empty cart is declared the winner.
"It's big, it's the only thing open after 9 p.m., and you can get away with more," said Ms. Eickmeyer, explaining why she and her friends regularly use Wal-Mart for various challenges.
From scavenger hunts and aisle football to a relay race limbo under the shopping-cart stand, college students around the country -- particularly in rural areas -- have found Wal-Mart's endless aisles and 24-hour operations to be perfect for middle-of-the-night romps.
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