Extra Life: Most everyone has heard of it, but not many people actually know what it’s about. What is Extra Life, and why is it so important to the Esports Association at OU?
Extra Life, a charity movement started in 2008 to help the Children’s Miracle Network of hospitals, is an annual event where gamers across the world raise funds for the CMN during a 24-hour live stream of all sorts of games. But this year, the Esports Association at OU and the Tom Love Innovation Hub are joining the fray and taking it one step further. On November 2nd and 3rd, the Innovation Hub will be abuzz with events. The Esports Association at OU will be hosting all sorts of games and tournaments to raise money for Extra Life, so let’s run down what’s going on.
On Friday, Super Smash Bros is taking over the iHub. From 5 pm to 11 pm, the Smash community of the Esports Association will be hosting Smash tournaments for Melee and Smash 4. And while the Innovation Hub is asking for a $10 donation to participate in the weekend’s activities, the Smash tournaments are available at no extra cost. Meanwhile, there will be four charity DnD games running during the night. All experience levels are encouraged to come and play for a short 2.5-hour session. A $5 donation is recommended to participate due to the limited availability of player slots. Pre-generated characters will be available, so all you need to bring is your imagination.
The excitement continues early Saturday morning with a League of Legends 1v1 tournament bracket kicking off at 7:00 am. There will be live shoutcasting during the tournament for the viewer’s pleasure, and if you lose early, worry not. A small donation will get you into the loser’s bracket so you can fight your way back into contention for the final. Meanwhile, starting at the same time, there will be an Overwatch Hammond-ball tournament, racing across payload maps to take first place. After the conclusion of those tournaments, there will be two more. A Rocket League 2v2 tournament with live shoutcasting will start at 11:00 am after the conclusion of the League of Legends tournament, and a Pokemon Showdown tournament will start after the Overwatch tournament is finished. Both of these tournaments will have the option to enter a loser’s bracket with a donation. All these tournaments will not only feature custom-made trophies and commemorative plaques from the iHub’s own Fabrication Lab, but many of them also feature participation prizes! These will be distributed on a first come, first serve basis, so make sure to sign up early! 100% of the proceeds from these tournaments will go to the Children’s Miracle Network.
At 6:00 pm on Saturday, the Overwatch World Cup Finals begin, so the Esports Association will be hosting a watch party for the World Cup at that time. Then, at 8:00, there’s going to be a Rock Band concert to round off the night. But by no means is this all that’s going on at the Innovation Hub.
For those who are less inclined to go head-to-head against other competitors in the tournaments, there are some more casual events. Just Dance will be available to play from 7:00 am to 8:00 pm, organized Hearthstone casual games start at 9:00 am, and Jackbox Party Pack games will be open from 12:30 pm to 8:00 pm.
There will also be silent auctions running Friday night from 5:00 to 9:00 pm and Saturday from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm. These silent auctions will take tickets that can be earned by participating in any of the tournaments on Friday and Saturday. Winning a tournament will give you a big payout of tickets as well! Tickets can be spent on smaller items like snacks or used as currency for the auctions that will feature all sorts of gaming and nerd paraphernalia. And if you’re not inclined to enter the tournaments, but you still want to enter the auctions, tickets can be purchased for $1 per ticket. 100% of the ticket proceeds will go to the Children’s Miracle Network.
And after all the excitement on Sunday, we’re giving back to the community. A number of vendors will be at the Innovation Hub on Saturday, including The Escape Room, who are bringing an escape trailer, where 50% of the admission price will go to the Children’s Miracle Network. So on Sunday from noon to 5:00 pm, we’re continuing the fundraising at Loot & XP in Norman and the Sooner Mall, where more fundraising activities will take place.
Extra Life is a great cause and the events at the Innovation Hub will be second to none, so come and join our team and donate with us at bit.ly/SoonerExtraLife
