Published May 7, 2026, 12:08 PM EDT

Watch Polygon’s new documentary Battle of the Boroughs: The Kids Who Build New York City in Minecraft

These kids are using Minecraft to fix New York City

IMAGE: Polygon

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It can be easy to feel hopeless about the state of the world right now. But every time I walked out of a practice or competitive session of Battle of the Boroughs, I felt like things might be OK.

Battle of the Boroughs is New York City’s public school Minecraft tournament. Teams of kids across the city compete to create builds that reflect and address real problems that the city is facing. What would the city look like if everyone had equal access to healthy food? To renewable energy? What if the Q train connected to Randall’s Island?…