World’s oldest gaming YouTuber, 90-year-old Japanese grandma, Hamako Mori, kills the monsters of the virtual world
- 07 Jun 2020
Every day, 90-year-old Japanese grandma Hamako Mori flexes her fingers to keep them nimble. Not for knitting or needlepoint, but to keep them in shape for playing video games.
The pensioner known as "Gamer Grandma" spends three or more hours a day battling monsters and going on missions in the virtual worlds of her favourite games, and even has a popular YouTube channel for her fans.
"I'm passionate about playing games every day," the white-haired widow told
in an interview conducted by videochat.
"Every day is an enjoyable day," she said, describing eviscerating on-screen foes as a fantastic stress reliever.
Mori cuts an elegant, mild-mannered figure, with her hair pulled back into a ponytail and a pair of large glasses perched on her nose.
She begins the videos she posts on her YouTube channel with a friendly "Konnichiwa" and a bow.
But her grandmotherly demeanour disappears when she plays, transformed into a gun-toting character in Call of Duty or a sword-wielding android in NieR: Automata.
Mori, who lives in Chiba, southeast of Tokyo with her family, holds a Guinness World Record certifying her as the world's oldest gaming YouTuber.
300,000 YouTube fans
Mori isn't new to the gaming world, and has played some 200 titles since she took up the hobby some four decades ago.
Her first console was a Cassette Vision, which she bought in 1981 after being intrigued by her children's obsession with gaming.
"I discovered that there was this fascinating thing that existed in the world," she said.
She has played most of the gaming world's smash hits including "Super Mario Brothers", "Dragon Quest", "Final Fantasy" and "Call of Duty", and admits to sometimes staying up until 2am when she is sucked into a session.
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Her favourite games include action-adventure series "Grand Theft Auto" and popular fantasy role-playing game "Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim".
Mori usually plays alone at home, but launched a YouTube channel in 2014 to connect with other gamers.
She posts new videos filmed by her grandson three or four times a month and has attracted 300,000 subscribers and millions of views with content featuring her gaming but also showing her daily life.
Among her videos is one showing her blowing out candles on a cake to celebrate her 90th birthday with her family. Another features her "unboxing" a brand-new PlayStation console.
At 90, Mori is fighting fit, but she says some state-of-the-art games require agile hand motions that can prove challenging.
'Better than doing nothing!'
But she has no intention of giving up gaming.
"I won't put it down just because it's difficult... It's better than doing nothing!"
And she hopes with practice she can improve further.
"I want to play well no matter how old I am," she said. "I want to continue as long as possible."
