The Smash community held their third consecutive Smash the Record event this past weekend in Kissimmee, Florida. The main goal of the event is to smash the previous year's donation record for St. Jude Children's Hospital with various donation incentives and interesting stretch goals. This year, both the Melee and Smash Wii U communities wanted to raise mat least $50,000 for St. Judge. Smash players from different parts of the world flew in to help out with the event. Along with the usual singles and doubles brackets, unique side events were included, like the Poke Ball tournament and the Bowser challenge. Some side events, such as the Rock Paper Scissors event, had nothing to do with Smash. These side events managed to help bring in thousands of dollars in donations.
Most Smash events are weekends of intense competition, but this event was more of a relaxing break for the Smash community to appreciate the games they love in a different light. As the weekend was drawing near, disappointment from not being able to potentially beat Last Year was on the rise. Despite it being past 3 AM, many players stayed at the venue and looked into what they could do. Longtime figures of the Smash Community, such as the VGBootCamp crew and The Crimson Blur offered new donation incentives.
At the start of the event, a second Smash the Record event was added as a stretch goal if $100,000 was raised. Due to the overwhelming fear of not breaking last year's record, the event organizers decided to host a second Smash the Record charity if the $50,000 mark was reached. This would incentive people to donate so more people could fly in at the event, and for more events for the Smash Community to grow and raise money for St. Jude Children's Hospital
Despite the stretch goal being moved down to $50,000, donations still weren't coming in quickly enough. The total amount raised was sitting around the $45,000 area, but that wouldn't be enough for the event organizers. Donations started popping in when the Accordion Player Jackson Parodi sat down at the commentator's setup and began taking song requests for $20 as a donation incentive. Parodi blew everyone away with his extensive library of songs he had memorized. Thanks to the efforts of Jackson Parodi, Raging Cherry, WFX Shroomed, VGBootCamp, The Crimson Blur, and everyone who helped to the event, over $51,000 was raised for St Jude Children's Hospital.
While no details for Smash the Record - Los Angeles have been announced yet, Follow the Smash the Record Twitter to see when they release information in regards to future events.
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