COLUMBUS, Ohio — If you think kids and teens are the only ones playing video games, think again.

Whether it’s on smartphones, computers or the latest console platform, three out of every five Americans is a gamer, according to the Entertainment Software Association.

What You Need To Know

  • LevelUpLand Ohio offers senior video game sessions Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Game Arena in Columbus

  • About a third of all American video game players are age 50 and up

  • LevelUpLand Ohio connects seniors with teens to improve digital literacy skills and provide connections

And a growing number of players is a little more experienced. Not with the technology, but with life, competing to win skills and beat loneliness.

LevelUpLand Ohio  is plugging seniors into the digital age through gaming, by connecting older adults with tech-savvy teens to gain confidence in navigating our increasingly cyber-centered world.

“She wants me to learn how to do this, then she’s going to be like, ‘Come on, Granny, I’m about to beat you good,’” Pamela Shields said with a laugh, while putting her hands on a Nintendo Switch controller for the first time.

At age 70, Shields was about to take on a veteran of the Mario Kart circuit at the Game Arena in Columbus.

“I played Mario Kart since, like, I had a Wii,” Violeta Monjares said. “I don’t know, I was like 6 or 7. I’m 18 now, so I played Mario Kart for a long time. I was always, like, arguing with my sisters and stuff.”

Shields calls Monjares her “gaming granddaughter.” Monjares helps Shields navigate the ins and outs of the race, and the electronic era in general.

“There’s this huge epidemic of loneliness with seniors, and this is really just to connect them to people their age and people younger than them,” Monjares said. “Get them online.”

“I live alone, I don’t even hear from my grandchildren now, they’re grown,” Sheilds said. “My son’s grown. So she is like, for real, my grandbaby in the gaming arena.”

Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. are set aside for older adults to strengthen digital literacy through play at the Game Arena. It’s free to seniors, funded through a grant.

Monjares, a lifelong gamer, said she’s living a dream.

“I have hundreds of hours playing multiple different games, but I never found myself. I never see myself actually working in the industry and now that I am, I love it,” she said. “I love the people I’m working with. I love working with my seniors.”

She’s helping Shields and her peers improve their own tech talents and win a healthier outlook, without even realizing they’re doing it. She said it helped her arthritis, visual acuity and hand-eye coordination.

“Life is really reflective of this experience,” she said. “We have to look and see what’s happening around us. We have to look to see what’s coming toward us. We have to watch the things that are set out to, to make us lose or go down. And we gotta know how to maneuver to get around.”

Gaining the confidence to take on challenges and gaining connections that will last long beyond the game’s over.