Photo by Neidy Gutierrez / SOC Images.
Video games can get a bad rep.
But not everyone sees the different sides of the subculture. It’s a marriage of storytelling, science, problem solving and a warm welcome into the world of STEAM. John Robinson, CEO and founder of Gotta Go Gaming plus Gotta Go Gaming Hub and SciTech E-sports Center, emphasized to Slice of Culture how much scientists and thinkers are needed in today’s society, and how his community spaces are raising that generation through gaming.
“We have a[n illustration of a] pipeline [in our Hub] and the pipeline is supposed to go against the ‘school-to-prison’ pipeline. We show a child going into it with all the curiosity that a child should have… [And] on the other end of that pipeline, he’s coming out as a scientist, a doctor [or] an engineer,” Robinson told Slice of Culture.
“That pipeline was drawn because of [an] interaction with that child several years ago… It’s a constant reminder of the mission and the vision.”
Achievement Unlocked: Gotta Go Gaming’s Lore
Gotta Go Gaming Hub is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that works to promote and nurture STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) education in underserved communities. At 126 Linden Avenue in Jersey City, where the hub has been stationed since 2022, you can find traces of Robinson’s upbringings blended into the space’s overall design and details.
Walking in, you immediately enter a communal room, which is stocked with cold drinks, snacks and food where Robinson said no one should leave hungry. Going down the hallway, the walls are dressed with historical information on STEAM historical figures like:
- George Washington Carver who took research on southern crops and became known for his findings with peanuts. He persuaded “southerners to find new uses for neglected natural resources and alternative ones for underutilized crops.”
- Katherine G. Johnson, Mary W. Jackson and Dorothy Vaughn who were the three African American women who were “essential to the success of early spaceflight.”
- Gerald “Jerry” Lawson who was a Black video game engineer and is known as the father of modern gaming for creating the video game cartridge.
And Lawson’s revolutionary creation has led society to the modern day, allowing Robinson to find his passion for the subculture.
Robinson’s been gaming for “decades,” and his immersion into that world continues through his two children, who have spent much of their childhood ‘daddy-and-daughter and daddy-and-son time’ through gaming. His son is 20 years old now and his daughter is 18.
He said one day, he was watching Shark Tank—a show where entrepreneurs pitch their businesses to angel investors—and saw a mobile gaming company. He was inspired to replicate that in Jersey City and, in 2018, the Gotta Go Gaming mobile truck was born.
“I thought it would be great to teach them about entrepreneurship, about financial literacy, different aspects of business and spend some more bonding time together… I said, if I ever got the opportunity to do something like that, I definitely would do it…”
“Opportunity came about for me to be able to do something like that… And I did not expect for it to blow up and definitely the demand became really, really great,” Robinson smiled.
The gaming truck started off with his children and two godsons. Stepping inside is every kid’s fantasy, Robinson laughed; there’s large flat screen TVs inside and outside, consoles of every kind with seatings of your choice plus air conditioning and heating when needed. They’ve parked the truck outside different locations for community events, camps, school, personal parties—even one bachelor party—and people can still call or book online for that experience.
“[The name] Gotta Go Gaming, that’s the mobile aspect of it… we get on the road and we are going… We realized that kids and youth, they have difficulty traveling to one place. So we want to meet their needs where they are. And that means geographically as well…,” Robinson said.
“We provide them STEAM learning, but of course in our own style. The ‘Gotta Go’ is just mainly a sign that we’re an agile company, we are there to meet the needs of the communities, and of course, the children.”
Destination Unlocked: Gotta Go Gaming Hub
Continuing down the hallway of the Greenville location, on the left side, you’ll see different rooms for gaming, working and virtual reality experiences. When you reach the final room, the shining television screens, blinking console controllers and subtle hums of soundtracks from “Super Smash Bros. Ultimate” or “NBA 2K26” might teleport you to a different reality—one you could get lost in for hours.
And that’s where many of the youth do get lost in, but the playtime often comes as a reward. Gotta Go Gaming offers a number of programs, workshops and courses, including hands-on coding, robotics, science experiments and more. When kids complete assignments, tasks or testing, they’re awarded 3D printed coins, which are redeemable for time in the game room. There, they can choose from consoles like Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and even the VR room, which all have extensive video game libraries.
“This location is actually part of our mission and vision which is that we want to help to create the next generation of scientists from areas that have been historically excluded…
– John Robinson told Slice of Culture
We wanted to make sure that we were a lighthouse of the community, we understood that we had a lot of different socioeconomic issues that we were gonna need to deal with. And so that’s why we’ve been able to partner up with some different places to get food donations, hot meals and things like that, because we know that it’s not just the sciences that we’re working with children in. We have to service the whole person, which means food, which means safety, which means encouragement, which means a place that you can come in and you can actually laugh and you can be a kid, but you could also learn sciences as well.”
And Robinson saw the epitome of Gotta Go Gaming in one student from Lincoln High School who was part of a three-day block-based coding program. When Robinson saw the student and his mother, the student was more than excited to see him.
“He doesn’t know whether he wants to be a scientist or he wants to be an engineer or anything. [The student] started using some terminology, and I realized that, man, how he came in is different four or five days later than how he was. And I realized then that we can change the whole vernacular of a child, [and] possibly change the outcomes of that child.”
Gotta Go Gaming keeps their Instagram up to date weekly with what programs, workshops and courses they have available. They currently have a STEAM Possible Club, which includes Minecraft coding, 3D printing activities, daily snacks and more, running weekly 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. for $150, $30 or $7 a week.
The hub is open Monday to Friday and Saturday with limited hours; for a full schedule you can check their Instagram or message them. If you can’t make it to the space, they’ll be hosting a community block party on Aug. 1 in front of the space at 126 Linden Avenue from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
“What I’d like to say is to different corporations, community organizations and community members, [is to] tell the community about this place. We have, tons of different seats and programs and large flat screen TVs and robotics kits with solar power, energy waiting for children to make the connection. We’re working on internships. We work with the Liberty Science Center. We are working with other colleges and institutions so that we can help create a pipeline of high school to internship, to colleges, to other STEM programs. So, we’re here…,” Robinson said.
“There’s not enough youth that are coming here. We have the basic essentials of what a community needs. You have support when you come here. You’re gonna have food when you come here. You’re gonna have recreation when you come here, and you’re gonna have learning when you come here. So tell a friend to tell a friend.
“… The world needs problem solvers. The world needs sciences.”
