Extra Life is a joint effort of Jeromy Adams (creator of the website) and the Texas Children's Hospital. Participating teams were expected to secure financial backers for a 24-hour gaming marathon, and all funds were donated to the Texas Children's Cancer Center. Most of the seventy teams from multiple countries teams began their gaming marathon at 8 a.m. local time on October 17th, but the drive was so successful that Extra Life is keeping the fundraising open until the end of October.

This was only the second annual Extra Life event, which was thrown together in a few months last year after Adams lost a friend to pediatric cancer. The rules are simple: every team must secure at least four dollars an hour (whether from one donor or several) and, starting at 8 a.m. local time they must play video games for at least 24 hours to support sick kids. Teams can play any mix of games they like, and participants are not required to put in their hours consecutively (thus allowing for the demands of work, school and bathroom breaks.)

While we didn't have to train, we probably won't get hurt, and some of our games have foul language, our contribution towards the fight against pediatric cancer is no less noble than any other," wrote Adams on the day of the event. "This morning, we put kids first."