TVNZ\u2019s new competition series Ready Gamer Mum is an original format developed by South Pacific Pictures from an idea by Tom Hutchison, which sees 10 expert gamers and their \u201cnot so tech-savvy\u201d mothers play video games to win $50,000. The catch? The mums are the only ones allowed to touch the controller. \u201cWe take ten gamers\u2019 mums out of the home and into the hot seat,\u201d the show\u2019s trailer promises<\/a>. Hosted by Yorwarth, episode one challenges the teams to play Tony Hawk Skater Pro, which is why these mothers are standing in that car park, ready to prove their skating prowess in the real world.\u00a0<\/p>\n Moments earlier, the 10 teams had entered the Ready Gamer Mum arena for the first time. The show began with an upbeat Lego Masters NZ-type vibe, with lots of energy and enthusiasm from the players and plenty of good-natured ribbing between the generations. These mums have come on the show to spend time with their adult children, with 73-year-old Sandra the oldest mother to compete, having first picked up a game controller just two weeks earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ready Gamer Mum wants to flip the family dynamic by showing how kids can teach their parent new tricks. Nine of the 10 expert gamers are men, and while we don\u2019t learn much about their mothers in the first two episodes, the show\u2019s official bios hint at accomplished lives lived far beyond the gaming chair. Sandra is a retired interpreter originally from Burma. Rebekah, 56, raised six children, while dairy farmer Rachel homeschooled her son Romy and his four siblings. Lisa, 52, spends zero time gaming. \u201cI\u2019m the mum who unplugged the internet. I thought it would be better for them to be outside,\u201d she says.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The mums get a few hours to practice the new game, in the hope they\u2019ll become \u201cmildly competent\u201d, as Yorwarth puts it. While these maternal legends should probably be relaxing in the nearest five-star hotel ordering room service and counting all the sleepless nights their kids have given them over the years, they\u2019ll do anything to avoid disappointing their offspring by getting a low score and being eliminated. That includes throwing themselves down a pink skate ramp in front of old mate Nek Minnit. \u201cOne last hug before she slides to what I can only imagine is her untimely demise,\u201d pipes up Tony Lyall, who along with fellow comedian Brynley Stent, provides some hilarious whip-smart commentary of the side quest challenges.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Ready Gamer Mum has all the hallmarks of wholesome family entertainment, apart from one important thing. There\u2019s an underlying joke here about older mothers that the show won\u2019t admit to making. This show isn\u2019t called Ready Gamer Dad, or Ready Gamer Boomer, or Ready Gamer Someone Who\u2019s Never Gamed Before. It\u2019s Ready Gamer Mum, and its success relies on tired stereotypes about how uncool and incompetent mothers are. They can\u2019t work technology, they look funny sliding down a ramp, look how much they love crafts. Into the foam pit you go, ladies!\u00a0<\/p>\n Mostly, it\u2019s hard to know what Ready Gamer Mum is saying. It\u2019s no surprise that women who have dedicated the past few decades of their lives to raising families, building careers and performing endless unpaid domestic work aren\u2019t immediately good at gaming, given they\u2019ve had neither the time or freedom to sit in a chair for hours, grinding and ollie-ing or whatever the fork it is you do on Tony Hawk Skater Pro. Taking these mums \u201cout of the home\u201d to play video games is a bold claim in 2026, and the fact that in episode one, the show chooses to dress them in costumes that will give them \u201cmain character energy\u201d shows how wonky this concept is. These wonderful mothers already have main character energy. Ready Gamer Mum just doesn\u2019t want to see it.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s rare to have so many women of an older generation on one TV show, so kudos to Ready Gamer Mum for that \u2013 it\u2019s just a shame they\u2019ve diminished these interesting, intelligent women to what they can\u2019t do, then made them compete against each other. Perhaps as the season unfolds, these women will take on their children and show them how it\u2019s really done, or perhaps Ready Gamer Mum will find some mature women who are already expert gamers and celebrate their skills too. Or maybe, instead of telling their mothers what to do, the sons could try out some new things that mums are really good at, like enduring the gender pay gap<\/a>, navigating the health challenges of perimenopause, or being shamed for having the audacity to age naturally<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Either way, this uncool old mother is ready to come out of the home and tip her backwards skater cap at Ready Gamer Mum in thanks. Aren\u2019t I lucky to live in a world where men know how to make machine go beep?<\/p>\n Ready Gamer Mum screens on Thursdays on TVNZ2 at 7.30pm and streams on TVNZ+.<\/p>\nNek minnit, it\u2019s the Nek Minnit guy<\/p>\n
Rachel and Romy compete in Ready Gamer Mum (Photo: TVNZ)<\/p>\n
Bon voyage<\/p>\n