Gamer granny breaks record as world’s oldest female Fortnite streamer

This year’s Guinness World Records Gamer Edition book is available to buy now and includes a Fortnite loving grandma and the world’s youngest game developer.

There are plenty of grandmas who have gone viral and made headlines thanks to their love of video games. More recent examples include a 92-year-old Tekken 8 champion and an 81-year-old who took to Minecraft streaming to raise funds for her grandson’s cancer treatments.

Now, one of these gamer grannies has been recognised by Guinness World Records as the oldest female Fortnite streamer in the world, at 78 years old.

Named Cath Bowie, she hails from Scotland, where she regularly streams Fortnite on Twitch under the username grumpygran1948. It’s not clear who the oldest male Fortnite streamer is but Yang Binglin of China is 89 and covers a range of single-player games.

Even if you’re not familiar with the name, Bowie has built a not insubstantial audience of more than 24,000 followers, having been introduced to the game through her grandson.

This happened in September 2017, so Bowie jumped on the Fortnite train very early, as the game was still in its infancy at that point, having only launched two months prior, which was long before its battle royale mode became the cultural juggernaut it is today.

‘Although I have tried several other games, I have never found the excitement that I get from Fortnite. I call myself a Fortniter more than a gamer,’ says Bowie in an official statement.

She also takes a moment to mention how her grandson doubted anyone would want to watch her play Fortnite; something she no doubt loves to rub in his face nowadays: ‘As a young guy, he just couldn’t believe that his grandma would do such a thing and suggested that nobody would join me or watch me.

‘Saying that was like a red rag to a bull to me. I would show him that I could do it. 24,000+ followers later and he doesn’t mention it. I wonder why.’

Bowie’s achievement is acknowledged in this year’s Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition book, which is currently available for purchase, and something that Bowie is very proud of.

‘Being recognised as an older female player and streamer in Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition 2027 always felt like a distant goal. … So to have achieved this honour means a great deal,’ says Bowie, adding, ‘You are never too old to start gaming. Do it.’

Alongside Bowie is one Max Baker, who hails from Wales and is on the other side of the age spectrum, at 10 years old. He’s made it into the book for being the youngest male game developer, having created a game called Gravity Parkour 2.0 using the programming language Python.

He’s a self-taught coder and has been learning how to build games since he was seven years old. You can play Gravity Parkour 2.0 yourself for free via itch.io, which Baker made in four hours. He also insists he made it without any generative AI assistance or ‘vibe coding.’

The game involves making a ball jump across a series of platforms to reach a goal. There are only five levels, although the platforms start to move and spin as you progress.

‘It was also quite fun working with the time pressure for the record attempt – I was trying to get as many features in as possible with the four hours that I had,’ says Baker, who was also chosen to write the foreword for the book.

‘It’s absolutely amazing!’ says Baker when asked about his achievement. ‘It’s been such a whirlwind since I first did the attempt, and I can’t thank everyone over at Guinness World Records enough. It’s a dream come true.’

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