Boston’s First Charity Rocket League Tournament Raises over $4,000 #ForTheKids

At the beginning of July, Boston Children’s Hospital teamed up with Boston Rocket League to hold a massive Rocket League tournament. 162 gamers formed teams of three and battled it out in rocket-powered cars across multiple brackets. In total, the event brought in $4,150 USD for the Every Child Fund at Boston Children’s Hospital via Extra Life.

The tournament played out across all Rocket League platforms, making use of the game’s Cross-Play compatibility to ensure as many people as possible could play together. Steam, Xbox One, PSN, and Nintendo Switch players descended upon the double-elimination tournament on July 11 – 12 to score goals. One of the patients at Boston Children’s Hospital, Brody made an appearance on the tournament Livestream for an interview and spent time chatting with viewers and competitors.

Tournament winners received a slew of merchandise that consisted of duffel bags, Xbox One controllers, bags, sunglasses, specialized pens and notepads, and flair patches. The first-place winners, Apelike Tendencies, took home all of these. The team consisted of blaze. blaze., Vijal, and Imminent. Congratulations to all three of the winners and to the runner-up teams who came in second and third place, too.

In addition to Boston Rocket League, Boston Children’s Hospital worked with UpTime Esports, a company that runs a local esports arena to secure space for the physical needs of the tournament (though all competition occurred online). UpperEdge sponsored the tournament to secure prizes and donated $5 for every goal scored during each match. Between donations and sponsors, the tournament managed to reach its final total. However, with fundraising continuing through the end of the year, this collaboration between Boston Rocket League and Boston Children’s Hospital could continue to bring in more donations or leaves open the possibility of future tournaments.

If you’d like to see events like this in your area, do some digging. See if you can connect your local Children’s Miracle Network Hospital with a local esports organization. Connecting those two organizations will give them both all the support they need to organize an event. Get out there and see how you can help if you think tournaments in your area could become local fundraising traditions.

Don’t forget to sign up for Extra Life to help sick and injured kids in hospitals around the US and Canada by playing games!