KIDS AND NOW, CYBERTROY

Imagine a child confined to a hospital, yet able to play tic-tac-toe with a friend in another state. Pretty cool, huh? Troy Aikman thought so, and the Cowboys star is scoring points for disadvantaged children by donating $250,000 toward Children’s Medical Center’s construction of “Aikman’s End Zone,” a high-tech playroom. Using at least 12 Power Macintosh multimedia computer systems and sophisticated technology created by UB Networks, CMC patients can enter other hospital playrooms and communicate via teleconference while seeing other children in live, 3-D images. Kids can also “travel” into real toy stores and inspect each toy from every angle.

“We want to provide hospitalized children the opportunity to see new places, meet new people and explore worlds most children would think unimaginable,” says Aikman, who will fund similar playrooms in other children’s hospitals throughout Texas and Oklahoma.