Extra Life raises more than $150,000 for sick kids

24-hour gaming marathons around the world generated thousands of dollars in donations to the Texas Children's Cancer Center this month.

Charity gaming marathon Extra Life announced this morning that more than $150,000 in donations were collected worldwide during the 2009 event, topping last year's $115,000 record.

Extra Life is a joint effort of Jeromy Adams (creator of the Sarcastic Gamer website) and the Texas Children's Hospital. Participating teams were expected to secure financial backers for a 24-hour gaming marathon, and all funds were donated to the Texas Children's Cancer Center. Most of the seventy teams from multiple countries teams began their gaming marathon at 8 a.m. local time on October 17th, but the drive was so successful that Extra Life is keeping the fundraising page open until the end of October.

Extra Life raises more than $150,000 for sick kids

Teams around the world came together to play games, cram junk food and heal kids.

This was only the second annual Extra Life event, which was thrown together in a few months last year after Adams lost a friend to pediatric cancer. The rules are simple: every team must secure at least four dollars an hour (whether from one donor or several) and, starting at 8 a.m. local time they must play video games for at least 24 hours to support sick kids. Teams can play any mix of games they like, and participants are not required to put in their hours consecutively (thus allowing for the demands of work, school and bathroom breaks.)

Extra Life raises more than $150,000 for sick kids

Every team that raised $192 or more ($8 an hour) received a complimentary Extra Life 2009 shirt.

While we didn?t have to train, we probably won?t get hurt, and some of our games have foul language, our contribution towards the fight against pediatric cancer is no less noble than any other," wrote Adams on the day of the event. "This morning, we put kids first."

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goldberg_evan

Glad to see gamers raising money for cancer patients. I'm a cancer survivor myself, and being stuck in the hospital when I was a kid, playing video games greatly passed time. It's what got me majorly into video games actually.

JDizzleNO1

good for all who did this. we all argue about what system is better and our fanboyish tendencies are nothing compared to the hell these kids go through. good job everyone!!!

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