Group of kids earn $15,000 scholarship by playing Minecraft

Five gamers aged 10 to 14 will now split a $15,000 scholarship, Engadget is reporting, after having proven themselves best in the nation during the four-week Super League Gaming Minecraft competition. The competitions take place in movie theaters across the U.S. and Canada. Team and individual points are recorded every week from competitors in 68 cities.

The winning team, which is based in Maryland and calls itself Live2Craft, beat out 450 other teams to claim the $15,000 scholarship. Split between five members, each gamer now has $3,000 in their college fund.

There are no prizes for the runner-up teams, although there was an individual prize. 10-year-old Julien Wiltshire, from California, won a $5,000 scholarship for having the highest individual scores. It’s the second time he’s won that prize, meaning he’s got a decent chunk of money ready for college at this point. Let’s hope he finds time to study.

The third season of this competition starts on April 30, and if the previous two competitions are any indication, more gamers than every will join this time around.

Despite a graphic style that looked outdated even in 2011, Minecraft continues to be the primary obsession for millions of young gamers. The central mechanic of building anything you want with 3D cubes surely has Lego kicking themselves to this day. Minecraft was sold to Microsoft in a deal worth $2.5 billion back in 2014.

Minecraft has been the main focus of Super League Gaming thus far, but the official website says there are plans for other games. There are also plans to expand to more cities, and potentially internationally.

Your kid probably won’t win a scholarship, even if she does sign up, but is playing Minecraft any more of a waste of time than watching television? Norms are going to keep evolving on this, and the chance of winning scholarships could be a part of that ongoing transition.