Last month, the TRUSU Gaming Club hosted its semi-annual Extra Life charity streaming event live from Thompson Rivers University with support from some incredible, and perhaps even surprising, sponsors.
“It went well,” said Gavin Edwards, president of the Gaming Club. “We had roughly one hundred and fifty viewers, [with a maximum] of eleven at a time and an average of 5 [people continuously watching].
“Thanks to the prizes from our sponsors, Tumbleweed Toys, Imperial Hobbies, Chibi’s Anime Goods & Collectibles, Mr. Mikes, Apex Adventure Plex, and Magpie Games, we managed to raise roughly $900 CAD.”
Among the prizes offered to individuals who provided a minimum US$20 donation was something very special for gamers: a set of “core handbooks” donated to TRUSUGC by Magpie Games, a publisher of tabletop roleplaying games and books, including those featuring characters from the widely popular anime, Avatar: The Last Airbender.
“Magpie games, the people who [publish] the Avatar tabletop roleplaying game […] sent us three core books to give away,” Edwards said.
In addition to streaming the weekend’s festivities live on Twitch, YouTube, X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook and Kick, TRUSU Gaming also welcomed people to join them in person, with roughly twenty people attending to either observe or take part in various games, such as Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer 40k, and the previously mentioned Avatar Legends Tabletop Roleplaying Game.
Asked why running charity events was important to the club, Edwards’ reply was straightforward.
“[All of our club members] love playing video games, board games and tabletop games, [things] like that, so, [it was just] a good opportunity to give back.”
Regarding the future, Edwards said that the Gaming Club intends to host its next charity event in early November with a video game marathon.
“We plan to do 2 [events] per year,” Edwards said. “[A] tabletop event [every] August and a video game event in early November.”
This January, the TRUSU Gaming Club will celebrate its third anniversary, founded in 2021 by Edwards — a third-year Computer Science major — and company. Since its founding, the club has attracted more than four hundred members, per a recent tally from the Discord server. In addition to running the two charity events each August and November, the club also hosts semi-regular “game nights” in partnership with other TRU clubs, with the next three tentatively scheduled for the last three Friday nights in October.
For more information on TRUSU Gaming, interested parties can visit the club’s website.