WILLIAM LOUISON 

A few of the tabletop games that were played.

On Nov. 2 at 8a.m., nearly 100 University of Saskatchewan students belonging to it’s Gamers Club began a 24-hour gaming marathon called Extra Life to raise money for the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan.

Extra Life was created in 2008 as a way to raise money for the Texas Children’s Hospital, honouring a young girl named Victoria Enmon who passed away from leukemia that same year. Over the years, Extra Life has evolved into an international phenomenon that gets participation from tens of thousands of gamers around the world, raising millions of dollars each year in support of hundreds of children’s hospitals.

Extra Life is a unique event that uses video and table top games to create an interest in children’s hospitals and the assistance that they require. It allows these participants to have fun doing what they love and simultaneously raise a lot of money for a good cause through participants getting sponsored for the gaming marathon.

The Extra Life event put on by the U of S Gamers Club saw participants playing board games, card games and video games for a 24 hour period. After sponsorships were tallied up with sales from baking, silent auctions and raffle tickets sold throughout the day, the Gamers Club managed to raise nearly $3, 500 for the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan — just a small piece of the more than $3.5 million raised in total this year by similar Extra Life events.

The event and the club itself was sponsored by a variety of local businesses, including Amazing Stories, Bell Island Pizza, Collector’s Lane, Dragon’s Den, Hi-tech Gametraders and Play N Trade.

When not gaming for charity, the U of S Gamers Club works to “promote group activities in a safe and positive space on campus,” said organizer Tyler Neyedly. The student run club has a membership fee of $10 and meets monthly to play video games, board games such as Risk and Settlers of Catan and card games like Yu-Gi-Oh and Magic, the Gathering. Memberships also include a number of different benefits from the clubs sponsors.

The Gamers Club is always welcoming new members. All U of S students, staff and faculty are eligible to sign up. Anyone interested in joining can either get in contact with the group through its Facebook page or purchase a membership at any club event.

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Photo: Tyler Neyedly