Cath Bowie has been named the oldest female Fortnite streamer by Guinness World Records at the age of 78. The Scottish grandmother regularly broadcasts on Twitch as grumpygran1948, where more than 24,000 people have followed her adventures in Epic Games’ battle royale.

Her achievement appears in Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition 2027, which is now available. The book also recognizes Max Baker, a 10-year-old self-taught coder from Wales who has become the youngest male game developer.

Gaming records have become increasingly broad, which is probably inevitable when millions of people spend their free time fighting, building and occasionally shouting at digital furniture.

How Cath Bowie started streaming Fortnite

Bowie discovered Fortnite through her grandson in September 2017. She arrived unusually early, just two months after the game first launched and before its battle royale mode became an international phenomenon.

Although she has experimented with other titles, none has held her attention in quite the same way.

“Although I have tried several other games, I have never found the excitement that I get from Fortnite,” Bowie said in a statement. “I call myself a Fortniter more than a gamer.”

Her grandson initially doubted that anyone would watch his grandmother play. Bowie treated that skepticism as motivation and began streaming anyway. More than 24,000 followers later, his early forecast has not aged especially well.

“He just couldn’t believe that his grandma would do such a thing and suggested that nobody would join me or watch me,” she said. “24,000+ followers later and he doesn’t mention it. I wonder why.”

Bowie is part of a growing group of older players attracting online audiences. Other recent examples include a 92-year-old Tekken 8 competitor and an 81-year-old Minecraft streamer who raised money for her grandson’s cancer treatment.

What the Guinness record means to Bowie

Bowie said inclusion in the 2027 gaming edition had once seemed like a remote ambition. The recognition matters particularly because older women remain less visible in gaming and livestreaming, despite the audience extending well beyond the young men usually placed at the center of both industries.

“Being recognised as an older female player and streamer in Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition 2027 always felt like a distant goal,” she said. “So to have achieved this honour means a great deal.”

Her advice was suitably direct: “You are never too old to start gaming. Do it.”

Guinness has not identified the oldest male Fortnite streamer. Yang Binglin of China, however, is known as an 89-year-old player who covers various single-player games rather than focusing on Fortnite.

The distinction leaves room for another record attempt, should anyone’s grandfather have a Twitch account and an unexpected talent for surviving the storm.

How Max Baker became the youngest male game developer

At the opposite end of the age range, Max Baker earned his place in the same book after creating Gravity Parkour 2.0 with the Python programming language.

Baker began teaching himself coding at seven. For the official attempt, he built the game in four hours without generative artificial intelligence or “vibe coding,” a detail likely included to prevent the software from receiving an honorary certificate of its own.

The free game asks players to guide a ball across platforms and reach a goal. It contains five levels, with later stages introducing moving and spinning platforms.

“It was also quite fun working with the time pressure for the record attempt,” Baker said. “I was trying to get as many features in as possible with the four hours that I had.”

Guinness World Records also selected Baker to write the book’s foreword. He described the experience as a dream come true and said events had moved quickly since his record attempt.

“It’s absolutely amazing,” he said. “It’s been such a whirlwind since I first did the attempt, and I can’t thank everyone over at Guinness World Records enough.”

Together, Bowie and Baker give the latest edition two convenient endpoints for gaming achievement: one record holder started coding before reaching secondary school, while the other built a substantial streaming audience in her seventies. The acceptable age for playing games remains, inconveniently for the skeptics, any age at all.