Usually, having to call for a wellness check on an elderly family member is a terrifying experience. But last week, a police check-in on a 91-year-old Ohio woman led to an unexpectedly amusing find: the woman had missed several phone calls and the sound of the cops knocking on the door because she was just really, really locked in on gaming.
The unnamed elderly gamer was found in the zone last Thursday in Westlake, Ohio, according to a report by News 5 Cleveland (thanks, GamesRadar). She had signed up for a city program called Are You Okay? via which elderly residents can receive a daily check-in call over the phone. When she didn’t answer her daily call, dispatchers as well as the woman’s daughter called her to follow up, but she still didn’t pick up. Things got especially concerning when police officers were sent to her house, and she didn’t answer the door for them, either.
But when the officers entered her home using a door code, they found out that she was entirely okay and was just busy hanging out in her bedroom “trying to beat her record” in a game.
“Everyone got a good laugh out of it,” Westlake Police Captain Jerry Vogel told News 5 Cleveland.
Vogel said the woman was thankful they’d checked in on her (although I can only hope they didn’t interrupt her record attempt, which was apparently very important).
Unfortunately for us, the report didn’t clarify what game she was so immersed in. It’s easy to assume she was busy playing Candy Crush or something on the casual side, but you never know. She could just as easily be the next elderly gamer phenomenon to join the ranks of the 91-year-old who beat Resident Evil Requiem without help and the 95-year-old legally blind grandmother who’s kind of a beast in the FPS training program Aimlabs.