{"id":80959,"date":"2026-04-09T16:22:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T22:22:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/?p=80959"},"modified":"2026-04-21T13:27:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T19:27:51","slug":"bci-jam-opens-the-world-of-video-games-to-children-of-all-abilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2026\/04\/09\/bci-jam-opens-the-world-of-video-games-to-children-of-all-abilities\/","title":{"rendered":"BCI Jam opens the world of video games to children of all abilities"},"content":{"rendered":"
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BCI volunteer Hope Giardina holding up a Neuro Pawn Headset at the BCI jam series in Calgary on March 7, 2026. Giardina is studying neuroscience with a focus on the implementation of BCI devices into the homes of paediatric patients with Cerebral Palsy. (Photo by photo by Alicia\/ SAIT)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eli Kinney-Lang<\/a>\u00a0launched the BCI (brain-computer interface)<\/a> Jam series in 2019 as a hobby \u2014 a way to help children play video games regardless of any challenges they face.<\/p>\n

“I started working at the children’s hospital and the No. 1 thing requested by all of the kids was to play games,\u201d said Kinney-Lang, who took inspiration from his wife \u2014 a kindergarten teacher who works with children who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD).<\/p>\n

BCI uses patterns or electric activity in the brain to control the computer. Sixty-six per cent of gamers with disabilities say they face barriers or issues related to gaming, according to a study conducted by the United Kingdom charity, Scope<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over time, the BCI Jam grew into something Kinney-Lang never thought possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a long-time video games were seen as not serious or important,\u201d says Kinney-Lang, an assistant professor in biomedical engineering at the University of Calgary. \u201cBut they’re such a fundamentally great place for people to explore being different identities, to explore being able to interact in new ways \u2014 to really explore and understand themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BCI Game Jam 2026 took place from Feb. 27 to March 7 at the University of Calgary. This year, 81 developers from across Canada, the U.S., Italy and the United Kingdom took part in person or online.<\/p>\n

They came together to create new games and experiences that are accessible to most everyone.<\/p>\n

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BCI Jam series contestants Illa Yamovyi and Olga Shaboshnyk finishing up their BCI game. in Calgary on March 7, 2026. (Photo by photo by Alicia Dean-Grant\/ SAIT)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The games are judged by a panel of BCI experts but most importantly, children, families and other gamers who use BCI regularly for play and entertainment.<\/p>\n

Participants compete for prizes worth more than $4,000 in cash, experiences and computer hardware.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had no clue if people would show up or not but people did which was great,\u201d Kinney-Lang said. \u201cI’m always excited anytime people show up. I always get worried no one’s going to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teams participating virtually are sent a headset and, thanks to partnerships with local companies, these teams have access to local tech support.<\/p>\n

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BCI Jam series participants at the University of in Calgary on March 7, 2026. (Photo by photo by Alicia Dean-Grant\/ SAIT)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The headsets provided have little sensors. These sensors are placed on the scalp, sometimes attached with gel, and read the brain’s electric activity.<\/p>\n

Through coding, they connect to visuals on the screen.<\/p>\n

Dani Jourdain and her team developed a tower defence style game designed for endless play \u2014 or at least as long the gamer likes. Other games include eye tracing as a control mechanism, along with brain activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been able to see firsthand these kids using this technology,\u201d Jourdain says. \u201cSomething really important is play for kids.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eli Kinney-Lang\u00a0launched the BCI (brain-computer interface) Jam series in 2019 as a hobby \u2014 a way to help children play video games regardless of any challenges they face. “I started working at the children’s hospital [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":994,"featured_media":81022,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"BCI Jam Series","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,1106],"tags":[40,1657,110],"class_list":{"0":"post-80959","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-life","8":"category-physical-health-and-wellness","9":"tag-alberta","10":"tag-awareness","11":"tag-calgary"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/994"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80959"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81176,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80959\/revisions\/81176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}