Daring game day No. 10

Well, it’s here! Our 10th annual Extra Life game day starts Saturday, Nov. 5 at 8 a.m. in Ballroom D at Medicine Hat Lodge. Once again we’re ready to play games for 25 hours straight in support of the Alberta Children’s Hospital.

To say it’s been a crazy ride leading up to this one would be an understatement. We hadn’t done a public game day since 2017, and needless to say a lot has changed in that time.

We have sponsors (Schwab and Co., City Auto Parts) who have allowed us to do a much better job getting things together. We’re in a proper location, with special guests (501st Legion, Miss Teen Personality Western Canada, members of Medicine Hat city council), prizes, and a dedicated group of friends helping it all come together.

When Dominic got sick we immediately wanted to give back to the hospital, and finding Extra Life was a game changer - literally. I wasn’t about to start running marathons, so a gaming marathon was much more doable. Then we added in fun things like head shaves, stunts, dares and more. It’s fun and it’s for a good cause.

What I didn’t expect was that others in the community would want to do it too. While many of them will host their own marathons this weekend, we know of many who either found about Extra Life from us or were inspired by Dominic’s story. We might not see them this weekend but their efforts are just as important. If you see someone you know supporting their local hospital, please consider donating!

Our game day will begin at 8 a.m. and the plan is to live-stream the whole thing (www.twitch.tv/gomerstraw). We’ll be playing video and board games and once again the dice roll challenge is back: If you donate at least $10 to any team member’s page (www.extra-life.org/team/Dominicstrong) we will roll two dice. One to decide who’s doing the challenge, and the other to pick what they’ll have to do.

Feel free to come down to the Lodge and play with us, or choose from the dozens of games on hand! We’ll also have a crokinole table, a foosball table, and some giant games to try.

From 3-7 p.m. you can take part in a MarioKart fastest lap competition, with $50 gift cards to be won in three age categories!

Also don’t miss out on the awesome silent auction prizes, ranging from hand-made cards to autographed pucks and hats from members of the Calgary Flames! We have some door prizes to hand out as well.

Our main event hour starts at 6 p.m. and aside from some speeches and a special video, a few of us are going to complete the Toe of Satan challenge, sucking on a candy that’s 1,800 times hotter than a jalapeño for five minutes. Want to sponsor me for every 30 seconds I last? Send me a message and let me know how much you’re in for.

It’s going to be a long, long 25 hours, but kids in hospital have it so much worse. One of the kids we know who threw out the first pitch at Superhero Night one year is hospitalized right now and we are thinking of him. He’d have loved to see the Stormtroopers from the 501st and probably dressed up alongside them, but instead he needs all of our support.

Thanks to all of the local media who have helped raise the profile of this event. Chris from CHAT News Today is one of our team members and wrote this story. David with Shaw TV did this fantastic video. Kendall from the Medicine Hat News wrote a story too! And we’ve had radio appearances on both Wild 94.5 and My96.

Hope to see lots of friendly faces this weekend! We made sure to get our flu and COVID booster shots just to be extra safe. Grandma is coming to help babysit (because our 5-year-old isn’t about to stay up all 25 hours… yet!).

Game on!