Reporter
The Campus Gamers Club raised over $25,000 with its Extra Life gaming marathon on Saturday at the CSU Bakersfield Student Union and Dorothy Donahoe Hall.
All of the proceeds go to the Lauren Small Children’s Medical Center at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital.
“The games and contests were fun and all, but the most important thing of all was to raise money for the kids,” said Edward Webb, who is the student organization’s and RunnerSync’s coordinator.
Webb said last year the event goal was around $15,000 and raised $24,500 with 400 sign ups, 150 of which were walk ins and 250 of which were signed up prior to the event. This year the event goal was $30,000 and raised $25,423.
The cost to enter the event was a required minimum $20 donation, and food and drinks were provided free for attendees throughout the day.
This year there were over 1,000 video games, board games, card games, and table top games.
There were free sign-ups for many different tournaments, including sports tournaments, shooter tournaments, fighter tournaments, and racing tournaments.
Prizes for tournaments as well as the cosplay contest varied, and some were actual video games while others were game paraphernalia. The crowd was not limited to CSUB students, as some attendees were non-students.
The Student Union hosted board games, as well the shooter tournaments for both the Xbox 360 and Xbox One. They hosted tournaments for games such as Halo 4, Halo 5, Gears of War and Battlefield Hardline. Gaming consoles varied from older consoles such Nintendo 64’s and included new consoles such as Xbox Ones, as well as PC and Mac computers, which belonged to attendees.
Maynor Lopez, an event staff member, who was checking out the games noted that some of this year’s most popular checked out board and card games included Chess, Uno, Risk, Cards Against Humanity and Exploding Kittens.
Stacey Dalere, a 2015 CSUB alumna said that while she was too busy volunteering to enjoy participating some of the events throughout the day herself, her favorite part of the Extra Life marathon was the cosplay contest because of the creativity involved in some of the costumes, as well as the diversity in characters.
Christopher Rann, a current CSUB student, said he liked the dedication of the players.
“Some groups had more players than others, but it was cool to see that even in the smaller groups as long as there were two players they kept the game going, had fun, and showed commitment,” he said.
There were booths selling video game gear such as key chains and lanyards with popular characters, such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Pokemon. Paladins Game Castle had a booth in Dorothy Donohue Hall with different card game packs for sale, such as Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Magic the gathering. Dorothy Hall also hosted the card game for attendees such as Magic the Gathering and Yu-Gi-Oh, as well as the fighting, sports and racing games.
Extra Life donations continue until the end of the year, and students can still donate either by talking to Webb at his office in the CSUB Student Union, or by going to the Extra Life website at www.extra-life.org and searching for team Bakersfield. Campus Gamers will also be making an appearance at the GameStop on Rosedale for the Star Wars Battlefront release where donations can be made towards Extra Life. Campus Gamers will also be at the Maya Theater from Dec. 17 to Dec. 20 for the premier of the new Star Wars movie with playable Star Wars games and proceeds from any donations that day will also go towards Extra Life and benefit the Lauren Small Children’s Hospital.
