GILBERT, AZ — What began as a well-intentioned attempt at mother-son bonding has resulted in Laura Calloway, 41, a dental hygienist and mother of two, becoming the top-ranked Fortnite player in the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, a distinction she neither sought nor fully understands.

Calloway first logged on to the game three weeks ago after reading an article about “meeting your kids where they are.” She asked her son, Ethan, 12, to teach her the basics. Within forty-eight hours, she had surpassed his ranking. Within two weeks, she was competing in regional tournaments under the username “MomOf2AZ,” which she chose because “it was available and accurate.”

“She doesn’t even know what she’s doing,” said Ethan, who has since stopped playing with her. “She just walks around the map picking things up and somehow wins. She calls the shotgun ‘the big one.’ She doesn’t know what a Victory Royale is. She thinks it’s called ‘the crown thing.’”

“I treat it exactly like couponing. Gather your resources, stay patient, let everyone else exhaust themselves, and then strike. The boys online get very upset. I don’t understand why.”

Calloway’s Twitch stream, which she started “because Ethan said that’s what you do,” has accumulated 43,000 followers. She streams for exactly ninety minutes each evening after the dishes are done and signs off by saying “Okay, that’s enough screen time.”

A peripherals company has offered her a sponsorship deal. She asked her husband, Rob, 43, if she should accept, and he said, “I don’t know what’s happening anymore.”

Ethan told reporters he now plays Minecraft alone in his room and has asked his mother to “please stop waving at other players before eliminating them.”

At press time, Calloway had won three consecutive matches while simultaneously folding laundry and was asking Ethan what “GG” means.