In the first week of July, a month ahead of the start of its second season, the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) ‘The Hundred’ tournament linked up with a team of 10 kids to create an immersive stadium build in the world’s leading sandbox video game – Minecrafthttps://www.minecraft.net/en-us.
The project saw The Hundred challenge UK kids aged 7+ to design their ultimate cricket stadium – with no limits on what it could contain – through a social call-to-action.
Pitched to aspiring young Minecrafters, The Hundred’s ‘Every Block Counts’ competition invited UK kids to draw, paint, sketch or building their ultimate cricket stadium experience.
The shortlisted winners, chosen by a judging panel, including Birmingham Phoenix women’s team superstar and gamer Issy Wong and Minecraft expert and Founder of BlockWorks James Delaney.
The 10 winning designs were then factored into the final build in Minecraft which included a see-through wicket with changing room views, a rollercoaster, a rainbow arch, a sea creature moat flowing around the pitch’s boundary and a rooftop nature garden.
The creation of the virtual stadium, which continues The Hundred’s aim of engaging youngsters and pitching the competition as exciting entertainment rather than classic sport, was promoted through a digital-first campaign led by a flagship film.
The hero ‘Every Block Counts: Explore The Space Bowl’ spot, which dropped on 3 July, was deployed across The Hundred and Minecraft digital and social platforms and further amplified by inluencers and the team of 10 creators.
It was described as “a cricket stadium designed by kids and built in Minecraft’ and urges viewers to ‘Ready. Set. Explore. Get ready to fly-through The Space Bowl – a unique fan experience designed by kids and built in Minecraft’ and to both download The Space Bowl on Minecraft via www.thehundred.com/every-block-counts and sign-up at www.thehundred.com/signup to hear about offers, competition s, news, views, results and tickets.
“It’s been fantastic to see the levels of creativity from this competition. We’ve seen submissions beyond our wildest expectations and the final build truly is a blockbuster cricket stadium,” said Birmingham Phoenix’s Issy Wong. “It’s been incredible to be part of this initiative; another first for The Hundred as it continues to push the limits in sport and entertainment.”
Comment
This initiative claims to be the first ever sports stadium built in Minecraft through a kids’ competition.
Whilst it is officially pitched as a an all-ages gaming phenomenon appealing to both die-hards and to casual gamers, Minecraft is massively popular with kids – especially those in the 6-to-13 year old segment.
Indeed, with more than 6m children in the UK alone playing Minecraft every week, the ECB’s decision to promote itself in the game seems a sensible strategy when aiming to engage a new generation of fans.
In the real-world, The Hundred 2022 begins on 3 August and runs until 3 September, and the 100-ball competition emphasises action and entertainment and sees some of the world’s best short-form cricket stars compete for eight city-based teams.
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