Extra Life 2021

Scott Hardie | September 5, 2021
After having a great time two years ago raising $619 for charity by gaming for 24 hours, and missing out last year, I'm back at it this year.

For health reasons, instead of playing for 24 hours straight, I'm breaking up the event across multiple Saturdays... and in the process, playing a longer campaign that should last around 36 hours total.

My friends Carl and Wes have agreed to join me in a tour of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the board game Marvel Legendary. We'll play 21 games representing all 45 major MCU titles that will be released as of the last game.

I would really appreciate any contributions that Funeratic members would like to make on our team's behalf! It's hard to think of a better cause: Every dollar supports Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, helping to pay for medical services, equipment, and research for children in need.

There are three main ways to donate:

1) Sponsor a game. Do you have a favorite MCU title? For $15, we'll name you as a sponsor of the corresponding game on the page, and send a message to thank you when we start playing that game. You can name your title right here in TC if you'd like.

2) Make a pledge. Promise to contribute $1 or more for every game that we win, giving us motivation to play harder. It certainly would feel more heroic that way. You can make your pledge right here in TC if you'd like.

3) Donate any amount that you'd like at any time. We're really grateful for any amount that you can give!

I didn't expect there to be interest in other options, but if there's some specific reward you'd like -- a shout-out on social media, a video thank-you message recorded at the event, et cetera -- please let me know and I can add more options to the list.

You can donate on our team's page. Every dollar is appreciated!

For everyone who donates, I'll repeat it again later, but let me say in advance that we're truly grateful for your contribution. This is a great cause and I'd be really glad if we could help them.

Some miscellaneous notes:

• If you would like to be included in the planning for future Extra Life events in 2022 or beyond, so that you can decide whether you'd like to fly down and play with us, please let me know. We didn't talk about outsiders joining us this year, for several reasons including the split across multiple weeks, but I'm sure that in the future, we can put together something that would work for all of us. And our team is not married to Marvel, either; we've talked about a number of other games for our annual marathon.

• I'm still cleaning up the Spotify playlists for the games -- they're done through Spider-Man: Homecoming, and I'll comment here when they're all done -- but there's some really great music in some of these if you're interested. I was already familiar with the fantastic soundtracks of Guardians of the Galaxy and Luke Cage, but I had no idea that the soundtracks of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Inhumans, Cloak & Dagger, or Runaways were so good. These music supervisors earned their pay. (The playlists are all real songs from the movies and shows, mixed with a few tracks of the orchestral music from the score, and if necessary to pad the running time, a few similar or thematically appropriate songs.)

• Here's going on the public record with my own pledge: $10 per victory in the game. I suppose that this technically incentivizes me to lose, but I'm doing it anyway. :-P

Matthew Preston | September 6, 2021
Heck yes! Glad you are back at it this year. Donation made, but I'm fine with just supporting the cause (option 3). All I ask is that you guys have fun!

Scott Hardie | September 6, 2021
Matthew, Erik, thank you both very much! Our team is now well on its way to our goal. I'm really grateful for your donations. :-)

Scott Hardie | September 8, 2021
The playlists are complete. The Defenders is my favorite; it's just electric.

Scott Hardie | December 4, 2021
We're almost there! Our three-month campaign wraps up with one last day today. It's going to be a hard one to play (we're up against Hela, Thanos, and Ultron, sheesh) but we're excited. And we'd like to meet our fund-raising goal, which is getting close! If you'd like to contribute, we'd really appreciate the help. Thank you all for your attention and support so far. I'll post the outcome asap afterwards.

Scott Hardie | December 7, 2021
The campaign is over. It was a huge success, thanks to donors here and elsewhere! We raised $780, surpassing our team goal and the 2019 total. I'm beyond grateful to everyone who contributed to the fundraising or just offered words of support. It means a lot.

The gaming itself was harder than I thought -- some unlucky shuffles and some awkward hero combinations led to 8 losses in 21 games. I personally won just a single game, but I was glad just to have at least one win to my name.

Here's looking forward to doing this again, likely with a different game, in a future year.