Extra Life Charity Site Hit By DDoS Attack – UPDATED

The Extra Life website has been brought down by a DDoS attack, meaning that donations to the game-based charity event for kids cannot be taken.

Extra Life is a simple but very cool idea: Gamers raise money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals by taking pledges and then playing games – videogames, board games, tabletop miniatures, whatever – marathon-style, for 25 solid hours. The event began at 8 am today, November 2, and ends at 8 am on November 3, a 25-hour stretch thanks to the end of Daylight Savings Time.

Unfortunately, the Extra Life site is not currently available, which means that pledges cannot be taken, because somebody saw fit to launch a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against it. “I am so sorry that you are going through this frustration today. Our entire team is purely heartbroken that someone would do this. But it has happened,” Jeremy “Doc” Adams wrote on the Extra Life Facebook page.

“As frustrating as this is for everyone involved, it pales in comparison to what the kids we’re trying to save go through. That reality, for me personally, is about the only thing keeping me somewhat calm right now,” he continued. “I am very angry and very sorry. You deserve better than this. The kids deserve better than this. Extra Life has given a lot of us some of the happiest moments in our lives. This is not one of those moments.”

Adams asked that supporters “please hang with us through this,” as they are working to get the site back up as quickly as possible. We’ll update as soon as we hear more, and you can also keep up to date with events on Twitter.

UPDATE: Extra Life is back. Do a solid for sick kids at extra-life.org.