05/19/2026
On May 17, teams from across the games industry and tabletop community gathered for The Gauntlet 2026: Animalia, a full day of games, giving, friendly competition, and delightfully wild energy in support of Gamers Engaged and our Play-it-Forward Fund.
This year’s teams entered the arena ready to claw, crawl, leap, and strategize their way through the tournament, taking on tabletop game rounds, trivia, and a surprise finale designed to test teamwork, creativity, and nerves of steel. From the first roll to the final showdown, the day was packed with big laughs, clever plays, dramatic comebacks, and plenty of creature-feature chaos.
As of today, our incredible community raised $71,100 toward Gamers Engaged’s work to build a stronger culture of giving across the games industry and support programs like the Play-it-Forward Fund, workforce development, volunteer engagement, and other social impact initiatives.
We have extended the deadline to donate to Sunday, May 24th: https://givebutter.com/gauntlet26/fast-and-furry-ous
A huge congratulations to Fast and Furry-ous, our 2026 Gauntlet champions! We’re also sending a giant roar of appreciation to our top fundraising team, Bungie. Your generosity gave your teams some serious power-ups and helped make this year’s impact possible.
To every player, donor, volunteer, judge, sponsor, streamer, supporter, and spectator: thank you for joining the herd, flock, pack, swarm, pod, pride, and party! The Gauntlet 2026 proved once again that when gamers come together, we can do more than play—we can create real, lasting impact.
