Extra Life, a 24 hour marathon of gaming supported by donations from friends and family, will be kicking off its events this week to raise money for Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) hospitals. The event, similar to Relay for Life or Dance Marathon, directly benefits the Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital.

SpartanTHON’s Extra Life team has raised over $200 so far through their Extra Life page, led by Melyssa Louwagie, who has herself raised $155. A nationwide effort, last year’s Extra Life raised over $2 million worldwide to benefit players’ local CMN hospitals.

This year at Case Western Reserve University, SpartanTHON will put on several events throughout next week to invite the campus to join in their mission and support the participants who have signed up to do the marathon.

“We would’ve done the full 25 hours at once, but that’s a bit too much to ask of any CWRU student,” said SpartanTHON’s Extra Life Captain Ellyssa Chinnaswamy. “So, we’ve decided to hold the marathon over the course of a week.”

This Wednesday, SpartanTHON will be holding a casual gaming night in the Jolly Scholar from 7-10 p.m., featuring Wii games, bingo, horse racing and other casual games. The Jolly Scholar will donate a portion of the proceeds from the night to Extra Life.

Following that, there will be a more intense gaming night in the Virtual Worlds Lab in the Olin Building on Friday, Nov. 8 from 7-10 p.m. As the Virtual Worlds Lab has all of this past generation’s consoles, this night is open to both PC and console gamers. Gamers are invited to bring their own games and will be provided with snacks and drinks.

The final event put on by SpartanTHON is a poker tournament in the Wade Pioneer Room from 2-5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9. The tournament costs $5 to enter and has a $50 grand prize. Drinks and desserts will be provided.

“Extra Life at CWRU began last year with a pilot program in a single residence hall,” said Chinnaswamy. “It was very successful and I hope for this to become a CWRU tradition.”