Extra Life FAQ
Written by Doc on September 4th, 2008UPDATED: This page has been updated to reflect the answers to several questions that we are getting a lot.
When EXACTLY is Extra Life?
Extra Life begins at exactly 8:00 AM in your local timezone on Saturday, October 17th and ends at 8:00 AM in your local timezone on Sunday, October 18th. This gives people that have to work on Friday a chance to rest up and be fresh when it begins.
What if I can’t commit to that date or the entire time?
The idea and spirit of this is that everyone pulls together at the same time, but we know that’s not going to be possible. Don’t let a commitment on the 18th stop you from joining Extra Life. Just do what you can and make up the game time later on or in pieces. What matters most is the time you put in BEFORE the event to raise money for these kids.
Which countries may participate?
Cancer affects kids in every country therefore Extra Life is open to EVERY country on planet Earth. Martians accepted on a case by case basis.
Are donations from my country tax deductible?
Texas Children’s is 503(c) so donations are tax deductible in the U.S. If you live outside of the U.S., send an email togiving@texaschildrens.org and they should be able to help you figure out if the donation is tax deductible in your country.
What kind of games qualify for the Extra Life marathon?
All games. From PS3 to poker on your phone. Everything counts.
What if I can’t finish the full 24 hours due to commitments or exhaustion?
If you won’t be able to finish the whole thing, you can make up the hours you are missing anytime afterward. It’s all on the honor system, and what really matters is that we’re all raising money for a great cause. Your sponsors should know that they are supporting the cause whether you crash on hour 18 or not.
Can I start my own team?
Absolutely. Just be sure to do it when you create your profile. If you forget or think of it later, let us know and we can help you.
I joined the wrong team. How do I change it?
Send an email to giving@texaschildrens.org and they should be able to change your team for you.
How is the money collected?
All funds are colelcted by Texas Children’s Hospital on their end of Extra Life. There is an interface for your sponsors to make credit card or check card donations, as well as a way for you to register gifts that you personally collect in your local area.
Where is this money going?
100% of the money that your sponsors donate to you goes directly to Texas Children’s Cancer Center at Texas Children’s Hospital, one of the largest pediatric cancer and hematology centers on Earth.
Can I sponsor myself?
Of course. Or in the spirit of team work, you could also opt to sponsor a fellow participant.
How many sponsors do I need to get?
We are asking each gamer to find at least 4 people in their lives to sponsor them at 1 dollar per hour, to raise a minimum of 96 dollars. (So 1 sponsor at 4 dollars per hour works too!)
Is there a free t-shirt in this?
Yes! Everyone who raises at least $192 will receive an Extra Life t-shirt!
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Can Australians participate?
I’m from Podtacular and want to go in with the podtac team!
-thanks
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Yes! This is open to all gamers WORLDWIDE!
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I am very interested in joining this fund raising event, however, I have a few questions. How does the monitoring of playing video games for 24 hours work? Also, is it single player games or online games? Lastly, do we have to join with other people who are also doing this fundraiser while playing?
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It is all on the honor system in the spirit of the cause.
Any game you want. Single Multi… heck play bejeweled on your phone.
Nope you can do it yourself or with a team.
Thanks Josh
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Hey, I’d be interested. Just one thing: How do I get the money out to you guys? Would PayPal work or do you already have something in place?
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That’s pretty much my question, too. How exactly are we supposed to get money to you guys?
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The funds are collected on the Hospital’s side of things. there’s a place for credit/check card gifts, plus you can collect funds yourself and follow some easy instructions to have them sent in and credited.
It’s fast and easy.
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Do you have a link we could follow for the cash donations? Or will the hospital tell us about it through our pages?
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Im from england so if people are paying via credit card what about it being in english money, should they do 50p per hour or what?
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As above, do us people from the UK have to get at least $4 per hour at the current exchange rate?
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@Alex there is information on your personal dashboard when you join. You manually enter the info.
@Jamie you can accept a donation of any amount you wish. We reccomend a given amount per hour but in reality you can instead have people fill in any amount they like. We just ask that you try and raise the equivalent of 96 dollars.
@ Niall see above.
Thanks all.
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I’d be happy to participate but I doubt I will find sponsors, and for reasons I would rather not disclose, can not sponsor myself, If anyone would like to sponsor me I would be more than willing to participate as much as the human body could possibly endure sitting in front of flashing lights.
(of course for the children:))
and ill join any team, contact me sothparkkyle99@aol.com
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I really would love to participate, but in the event I’m not able to, is there a list of people/teams I can sponsor instead? I’d love to share that information with my audience, too, as they are mostly non-gamers, yet would greatly support the cause.
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I’d love to participate, as this is a good cause.
Due to my extraordinary sense of paranoia, I am inclined to ask:
May I be provided some form of breakdown for how my potential sponsors’ money would be used? I just want to make sure that the money I’ll raise/contribute is going to the right place. I fear there is little documentation on the site other than what is listed on this FAQ page.
For example, this is a tax-deductible charity? Is there a code available for donors to keep track of for tax purposes?
I’m just trying to make sure that I properly represent myself if/when I solicit donations for this wonderful cause.
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Also (and please forgive the double-post), this is a fantastic idea.
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Elise,
If you check out the forums there are a group of sticky posts at the top with donation links for various SG staff. People who can’t help out can sponsor one of them.
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JPSmee,
I’m not sure about getting breakdowns. Maybe Doc can ask the hospital for some things they are looking to spend the money on. One thing you can be sure of is that Extra Life doesn’t see any of the money. The donation site is actually the Texas Children’s site and the money goes directly to them. 100% of the donation goes directly to the hospital as there is no middle-man. You are donating direct.
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the hospital is a 501c3 and your donation is totally tax-deductible
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Doc and Saccia,
Thank you kindly for your information. I greatly appreciate it.
I’ve done some homework, and found some information that should prove helpful if anyone wants to know more about this hospital (with regards to how it has historically handled charities):
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3346
Now of course, this is the page for the main hospital and not this particular sub-section, but it should help to inform anyone looking to contribute.
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this is regarding the fundraising page… so how do I get the URL for my funraising page?? lol
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hey ok i really really wanna do this, but i need some things to be cleared up-
first, we need sponsors? so people that are willing to pay us money to play games a whole day right??
second, will the sponsors need to ship this money themselves to the hospital via mail?
third – how will they know we played all our hours? is it just a trust system?
fourth – if there are t-shirts involved, will everyone on our team get a shirt, or will we just get one? or will we need to find 4 sponsors who will pay 1$ an hour for each team player?
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Hey how do i join a team and if i joined this from a site am i automatticly on their team?
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The gamestop that i go to wanted to know if they can put ads up for this site, would that be okay with you guys? YOU might get gamestop as a sponser!
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You might want to get in contact with some gaming companies, and businesses in general who would perhaps like to give to charity.
One i could think of is , the developer of Runescape, they do charity.
Another one would be , they have contributed to various charities around the world.
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I would love to do this only thing is my sponsors want to pay in cash is there a way I can just mail the money in? If not I may just sponsor someone else.
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I have a friend in Canada that would like to donate, but he wants to know if he gets a slip for tax deductions up there (I’m in the US). I don’t know how that works.
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me and my freinds are starting a team and i have some questions
1:can we game anywhere
2:can people sponser the team,not it’s members
3:if we raise $192,who will get the shirt?
thats it for now,thank you
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Is there a way to donate using a debit card since I just turned 18 and I have no need for one.
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how do i get the switchbucks
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@Geekboy2424: Playswitch will email everyone a code for the switchbucks.
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@Justin MacDonnell, if all you have is a checking account, you might look into linking that to PayPal. Texas Children’s donation site takes PayPal payments now. They set it up with the intention of aiding international donations but it should work just fine domestically.
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I just signed up last night, and sent out emails to folks this morning. My brother wants to donate, but by going to my page and clicking on Donate Now, there is no mention of me anywhere on that screen, and he wants to make sure I get credit for his donation. Will I?
Thanks for your time.
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How often does this even take place?
Is it specific to a certain date or is it all year round?
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@zac319, this is the first time we’ve run this event but judging from the amazing response I’m sure we’ll do this again next year. This year it’s taking place from 9am on October 18th to 9am on October 19th. There is an “official” makeup day on the following weekend. However, if you absolutely cannot do it on either of those days, do whenever you can before October 28th as that’s the official close of donations for this effort.
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Can people start playing earlier than 9 am? I was thinking about starting at midnight.
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Even though i missed it can i still donate money?
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Thank you for sharing. I came to this site to read how things really are
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I would want to help, but I can’t sponsor at the moment.I’ll try to find and look for some sponsors for this,hope to find more.
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Who, where, and how do I send the money I raise? I have a lot of people wanting to give me cash what are the steps I need to take to make sure that it gets to the charity?
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I am reposting a question that I don’t think was answered because I have the same question(s):ryan garner me and my freinds are starting a team and i have some questions
1:can we game anywhere
2:can people sponser the team,not it’s members.
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yes, you can game anywhere!!
If you want people to sponsor the team and not the members, you need to just have a team page and not individual pages.
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I work for Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, MD. and head up their video game project for the children here. I love this idea and would love to participate. Any chance of getting Extra Life to do an event like this for my Hospital?
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hello after we get sponsors…where do we send or have them send the money to? im living in nevada so im pretty sure i can get a few casino’s to sponsor me and my team… so can i get an address or email for further details?
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I’m just reiterating a question that wasn’t answered above. Considering this company is 501c3, does this mean that Canadians can file for a tax deduction for their donation on their canadian income tax return?
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Is there any limit to the number of people on each team?
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When is the deadline for the donations?
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Do we have to play video games, or can other ‘real life’ games like poker or tabletop RPGs count?
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Sorry if this question has already been asked before, but 2 things:
If we are raising euros, do we have to convert it or do we just give it in as it is?
I heard about a make-up date, when is that?
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For those who are interested in doing this but can’t, you’re welcome to visit my website and watch me stream my game playing live over the internet while I do this 24-hour challenge.
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Is there a widget that we can embed on our page? We’ll be broadcasting our gaming live and it’s cool to have the widget on the same page showing the progress.
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Any Houston teams please give us a shout so we can travel to see you, would love to cover this event!
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How are we supposed to prove that we have actually done 24-hours of game playing?
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I won’t be able to do the 17th its my brothers 30th b-day, is this only once a year or whne will next event be? Or should I just make up the time
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For how long will the Cancer Centre be accepting donations for this? Can I transfer the money next week after I have collected cash from people?
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Will this be an annual event or will it be done multiple times a year because the game i know i can play for 24 hours isn’t out yet.