At Cohen’s Children’s Medical Center, the sounds coming from a playroom weren’t cries — they were cheers: a child laughing and whooping as they sped through Mario Kart 8.
Polygon visited to see how the Starlight Children’s Foundation’s mobile Gaming Stations brighten hospital stays. In partnership with TheGamer and GameRant, we’ve joined Starlight to expand that same joy across North America through our initiative, Gaming 4 Good.
The Starlight stations include a Nintendo Switch with a Pro Controller and two Joy‑Cons mounted on a colorful upright cart. When we arrived, five carts sat side by side in the playroom; by day’s end they were being wheeled between rooms so children who can’t leave their beds can still play, connect, and smile.
More than 3 million children are hospitalized in the United States each year. Some stays are brief; others stretch for weeks or months. Hospitalization pulls kids away from friends, school, and everyday routines — leaving many feeling isolated, anxious, and disconnected from normal childhood experiences.
Gaming 4 Good exists to soften that experience by bringing the familiar comforts of play to kids in medical care. The Starlight Gaming Stations are designed to be mobile, hospital-safe, and easy to sanitize, and each unit comes with 25 preloaded titles — from Nintendo classics like Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario Party to indie favorites such as Stardew Valley and Cuphead.
We’re aiming to raise $25,000, and Valnet has pledged to match donations dollar-for-dollar, doubling the impact to $50,000. Every $5,000 raised places an additional station in a hospital, so your contribution goes twice as far during the match.
We’re launching Gaming 4 Good with a generous $5,000 gift from Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP (MSK) and $2,500 from Index Exchange, which already covers roughly one and a half hospital‑safe gaming stations.
Throughout the Gaming 4 Good campaign we’ll also run a series of giveaways made possible by our sponsors, further supporting children and families during their hospital journeys.
Together we can return a piece of normalcy to kids who need it most — helping them feel connected, comforted, and like themselves again, even during difficult times.
Source: Polygon
