Hospital Helpers for parents: what the game is like

Hospital Helpers is a calm hospital game in the browser for kids from about 8 to 12. The player follows one patient at a time through a short story, taking turns as the nurse, the doctor and the surgeon. There is no blood, there are no needles, there is no timer and there is no way to fail, and there are no ads. This page lists the facts a grown-up may want before their child plays.

What does the player do?

• Greets a patient, cleans their hands with hand gel at the start of a shift and asks what would help the patient feel better.
• Does simple checks with hospital tools: a thermometer, a stethoscope, a finger clip, an arm cuff and a height marker.
• As the doctor, reads the clues, chooses the test that answers the question (X-ray, blood test, ultrasound or MRI) and reads the result.
• Explains the plan to the patient by putting three picture cards in order.
• In three stories, does a team check of the patient's name band and then a "repair" as the surgeon, by fitting smooth shapes into an outline.
• Gives the patient a bravery sticker at the end.

There are 15 stories in five shifts, plus a Teddy Clinic for practice and a Body Lab with three lessons, where the player builds a teaching model's organs, learns what each one does and follows an apple from the mouth to the gut and a breath of air from the nose to the blood. The last shift takes place at night: the hospital lamps are dimmed, but faces and tools stay easy to see. Every story is listed on all 15 stories.

Content notes

• Illness and injury, kept gentle. The patients have everyday problems: a checkup, an itchy rash from long grass, a small break in the wrist after a scooter fall, tiredness from skipping lunch, a splinter, a sore appendix, a strained band in the knee, a wrist hurt after slipping on ice, a night cough that started when a kitten began sleeping on the bed, a swallowed coin and a twisted ankle. Patients look worried at first and happy at the end.
• No blood, needles, wounds or cutting. A blood sample is taken "behind the curtain" and never shown. The surgery is shown as fitting two to four smooth shapes into an outline on a covered patient. The patient sleeps, and "the sleep doctor stays with you".
• Organs are shown like a children's anatomy book. In the Body Lab, and through the "tiny camera" in one story, organs are clean, friendly drawings with no blood. In the Body Lab they have their real shapes, with soft shading. The sore appendix is lifted to a tray as a shape; how it is removed is not shown.
• Real feelings, handled kindly. One patient keeps a secret, one first says something untrue about how the injury happened, one has a coach who thought the knee ache was made up, and one is afraid of having to give away a kitten (the kitten stays, in its own basket). In each case the kind, honest answer is the right one, and nobody is told off.
• Safety habits. The team checks the name band before every operation, and in one story a near mix-up of names is caught by that check. In another, the player must decide who to help first, and a child who struggles to breathe comes before a sore ankle.
• A swallowed coin. The child tells the team at once. The game says a coin is smooth, while a battery or a magnet would be urgent, and the plan is to wait until the coin comes out by itself. Its curiosity card ends: "Always tell a grown-up."
• No violence. Mistakes never hurt anyone.
• The game reminds players on the home screen and pause screen: "This is pretend play. If you feel unwell yourself, tell a grown-up." It is not medical information.

How much reading is there?

All talk is written on cards, with short sentences and everyday words, and there is no voice acting. The player presses Next to go on, so the reading pace is their own. A younger child may need help with reading. The jobs themselves are shown with pictures and outlines.

How long is a session?

Each story takes a few minutes, and the game can be paused at any time. A shift of three stories ends with a "What a team!" screen, which makes a natural stopping point.

Help built into the game

• A Hint button shows where things go. A second press, Help me finish, lets a colleague complete the step, and the story goes on.
• The game offers a hint by itself after a short wait or one or two wrong tries.
• Nothing needs a held button, two fingers or fast tapping. Buttons are large enough for small fingers.
• The patient's mood is shown with a face and a word, not by colour alone.
• Moving effects can be set to Calm, which stops people walking around and fidgeting on screen.

Details are on tips for new helpers and the controls page.

Where is progress saved?

The game saves by itself in the browser on the device being used, after every finished step. There are three separate save slots, so siblings can each have their own game. Badges are only ever added, never taken away. If the browser blocks saving, for example in a private window, the game says so.

Ads, purchases and data

• There are no ads in the game.
• There is nothing to buy inside the game. The Join button leads to the Contenta Games membership on the portal.
• The game sends a few play events to the Contenta Games portal's own statistics, for example that a story was started.

Devices, controls and languages

• Plays in a web browser on computers, phones and tablets, with no download. It shows a 3D hospital, so it needs a browser that can show 3D graphics.
• Touch, mouse, keyboard or game controller.
• On phones and tablets, the stories are played in landscape. Held upright, the game shows "Turn your phone sideways" and waits; the menus work both ways.
• English and Swedish. Other browser languages see English.

Early access

Hospital Helpers is in early access: all 15 stories are playable, and the studio is still polishing the game.

How to get the game

Hospital Helpers can be tried in a demo. The full game is part of the Contenta Games membership, which opens every game on the portal. See what a membership includes, or browse the guides to all our games.

See also

• The guide's front page: what the game is about.
• FAQ: quick answers to common questions.
• Your first shift, step by step: what the first stories look like.
• The Body Lab and the Teddy Clinic: the organ model up close.
• Play Hospital Helpers together.

• About Hospital Helpers
• All game guides