Suzanne Humphries
What could be better than a Nintendo Switch? How about the Starlight Nintendo Switch Gaming Station, which is specially designed to be used by kids stuck in hospitals and healthcare centers. The colorful station comes with 25 amazing games, and can be wheeled from room to room.
Starlight has maintained a partnership with Nintendo of America for 28 years and has delivered 7,200 Starlight Gaming Stations to over 800 hospitals and healthcare facilities across the nation. The latest version of the station was announced last year at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma, Washington. It was also the first to receive the console.
“Gaming delivers happiness to kids stuck in the hospital by providing entertainment and much-needed distraction from stressful situations. It can even provide emotional support, resulting in reduced anxiety and improved mood,” Starlight stated in its announcement.
The station comes in four designs—Mario, Donkey Kong, Princess Peach, and Yoshi—and has a contained design that makes it easy to disinfect and clean. The 25-game lineup is pretty impressive as well. It includes a solid variety of indie and AAA game titles, like Super Mario Maker 2, Minecraft, Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Cuphead, Super Mario Odyssey, and Super Mario Party.
The games provide not only a distraction, but a sense of adventure and a way for the kids to exercise problem solving, strategy, and creativity. This is especially important, since COVID-19 has closed down hospital playrooms, which used to be a great way for hospitalized kids to stay entertained and distracted during their stay.
If you’re interested, you can make a donation to Starlight, which will help the foundation be able to bring toys, crafts, and other fun items to hospitalized kids.
Source: Starlight
