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Opponents of Scouting America’s new Competitive Gaming merit badge say kids should be outside instead of playing videogames. After all, how much learning can happen while a Scout is sitting in front of a screen?
Quite a lot, it turns out.
The requirements for the new badge make clear that Scouts won’t earn it by spending hundreds of hours with a controller in their hands. Instead, gaming is the hook for lessons about health, balance, online safety, teamwork, communication, technology, leadership and careers.
That’s what Ryan Moon, Scouting America’s director of new programs, says surprised some of the adults who encountered the badge during its development.
“The badge requires Scouts to examine how gaming fits into their lives,” Moon says. “It doesn’t encourage them to do more of it.”
The Competitive Gaming merit badge and its digital resource guide launched last month at the 2026 National Jamboree. This badge and the requirements take Scouts through the history of videogames and esports, digital citizenship, and gamer health. Conducting research on gaming and examining toxic gaming behavior in online spaces are required.
Then there’s the health-and-balance component. Scouts must track gaming, physical activity and sleep for two weeks. They compare their physical activity and sleep with recommended levels, then follow a one-week schedule balancing sleep, exercise and gaming.
That requirement is particularly important because research on gaming doesn’t support a “videogames are good” or “videogames are bad” conclusion.
Research published in the academic journal Acta Psychologica in July 2026 examined 133 studies involving 14,245 participants related to gaming. Authors of “The Association Between Video Game Play and Cognitive Ability: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis” concluded that a small but statistically significant positive association exists between videogame play and cognitive abilities across memory, spatial ability, visual attention, cognitive control and intelligence.
And in the article “Are Video Games Good for You? Your Brain Thinks So” published by the Cleveland Clinic, pediatric behavioral health specialist Michael Manos, Ph.D., says videogaming can increase gray matter in the brain. Your brain’s gray matter — the outermost layer — is responsible for controlling your movement, retaining your memories and regulating your emotions. Essentially, the more you learn, the more your brain can grow and adapt.
That doesn’t mean Scouts should replace exercise, sleep or other activities with gaming. In fact, the study’s findings make the merit badge’s emphasis on balance especially relevant.
The badge also recognizes that gaming is a social activity.
Scouts must play a favorite game with a parent or guardian for at least 30 minutes, demonstrate privacy and safety settings, and let the parent participate. They also must play a cooperative or team-based game with another Scout, friend or community member while demonstrating positive communication and sportsmanship.
Sarah Magwire, Scouting America’s program curriculum director, helped develop the badge and its digital resource guide. She says that connection to real-world gaming is important. At the Jamboree, she and Moon discovered that many Scouts were already participating in esports programs at school.
“What a great way to give them tools and resources they can use to make it safer and more meaningful,” says Magwire.
The goal isn’t to convince Scouts that unlimited gaming is healthy. It’s to help them become informed gamers who understand how gaming fits into a healthy life and how to behave responsibly in digital communities.
The badge even moves well beyond the games themselves. Scouts who earn the badge can:
- design a gaming PC and learn about its components;
- compare console and PC gaming;
- explore colleges with varsity esports programs;
- investigate gaming-related careers; and
- examine jobs at major game publishers.
They can also teach others about online safety or digital citizenship. Moon says that’s the point.
“I think we are teaching all of the competencies and the character development in a badge like Competitive Gaming,” he says. “And kids are going to walk away better for it.”
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