Several Streamers Injured at TwitchCon
Sometimes fun ideas go terribly wrong and that is what happened to the foam pit sponsored by Intel and Lenovo, which has claimed several victims this past weekend at TwitchCon. Several different streamers were offered the opportunity to battle gladiator-style on raised platforms in the foam pit. The actual injuries occurred when streamers fell or leapt into the pit from those raised platforms. There have been reports of sprained ankles, dislocated knees, and the worst injury was to streamer Adriana Checik, who broke her back in two places.
As you can see from the video she bounces almost immediately upon landing. One streamer reported that the foam pit’s depth only went up to their knee (3 cubes deep, so I’m guessing a little less than 1.5 feet). If this is the actual depth that is WAY too shallow. The pit should at least be 3 and a half feet deep or more. The thing that further pissed off attendees and streamers alike was the fact that she knows something is wrong and the announcer tells her she’ll be fine. Here’s the thing even after the EMTs took her away they opened the area back up for a bit.
Here’s a statement from Lenovo about the multiple injury incidents that took place:
We are aware of the incidents of TwitchCon visitors who sustained injuries in the gladiator game soft foam pit at the Lenovo booth. The area has since been closed for any further use while we work with event organizers to look into the incidents.
All I can say is that there is going to be some money coming out of this screw up, and it will be interesting to see how many different pockets that money will be coming from.