Interview with Hayden Kane about Cookie Brigade and supporting children’s hospitals with games and baked goods
Way back at Pax U 2025, I had the chance to talk with Hayden Kane from the organization about how the Cookie Brigade community bake sale turned into one of the largest charity supporting events in the gaming convention circuit and how the org they support, Child’s Play, is working to bring games to kids in need. Check out our chat here, and thank you Hayden for taking time to share!
Hello Hayden! You are part of the Cookie Brigade, can you tell me what the Cookie Brigade is?
Yeah, we are a community building and community focused organization that does “charity bake sales”.
At the show (Pax U), we give away free cookies, and while people are getting cookies, they can make a donation to charity. All donations go directly to Child’s Play Charity who puts games in children’s hospitals across the country.
The Cookie Brigade started by a couple people at the show giving away free cookies as a community initiative, and people kept wanting to give them money. They said, no no no… eventually, they agreed but only if they gave the money to charity.
That zip bag of cookies has since turned into one of our biggest booths yet at the show. We give away tens of thousands of cookies every year, all in the name of a good cause.
You have a game out now that is about baking cookies. Can you tell us a bit about that?
We’re so excited about this. It’s been so much fun to see this project grow.
Get Baked is a cookie baking game where you and your siblings are competing to be mom’s favorite and impress your mom with the cookie baking skills that you have. There’s a lot of mechanics, but it is ADHD and dyslexia friendly.
The game was designed with accessibility in mind, and we really couldn’t be happier with how the game turned out. We worked with Nomnivore Games on it, and they’re a fantastic partner.
Do all the proceeds from the game go to charity efforts?
They do!
The charity that you support, you said they bring games to children’s hospitals. What kind of games do they usually bring?
It’s primarily video games because they started with a presence at Pax East, but they also bring lots of tabletop games. They provide game technicians to the hospitals, so the burden isn’t on the hospital staff to have to learn the games to play with the kids. They provide that staff and do incredible work.
They’re founded by Gabe and Tycho, who created Pax, so it’s really cool to work so closely with them and be part of something that’s a major part of the Pax community.
What would be the best way that folks could support your organization? Where can they find you?
Cookiebridage.org is our website where you can find information about if you want to make a gift, volunteer your time at a show, or just find out more about what we do.
We also have a pretty big merch store that’s on there as well, which supports the group too.
On pretty much every other platform, you can find us by looking up Cookiebrigade as well.
Thank you for taking time out of Pax U to share with us about the org! I hope you have a good rest of your convention!
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