Golden Tee, the most successful coin-operated video game in history, celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2014. The full size video game is played in tens of thousands of bars and pubs around the world, and has a devoted and passionate player base. Every month, thousands of players spend millions of dollars competing against each other in Internet enabled tournaments, and some players are good enough to earn their living playing the game they love!

It's this love of the game that has fueled the Players Charity Championships. Since 2006, over $150,000 has been raised for charity, and to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Golden Tee, the Players Charity Championship IV will be held June 6-8, 2014 in Algonquin, IL. 128 players are expected to compete and raise over $100,000 to support three local nonprofit organizations.

Video Golfers for UnderDogs

The Golden Tee player community founded Video Golfers 4 Underdogs (VG4U), a recognized 501c3 non-profit organization, in 2004 as its charitable arm. Leading up to the tournament, players will create personal 'crowd-funding' web pages that friends, family, co-workers and others can visit to pledge donations. Jon Biedermann, Vice President of Video Golfers for UnderDogs, believes this event will be the most successful yet.

“We’ve learned a great deal from our past three charity events,” Biedermann said. “This year we plan to use that knowledge and experience in a variety of ways. We’ll have fundraising goals for each contestant, a silent auction, raffles, a ‘real golf’ tournament, and several other ways for members of the Golden Tee community to participate. Every tournament attendee feels passionately about this cause and the game.”

Benefiting Charities

The organizations that will benefit from the tournament are The Nikolas Ritschel Foundation of Rockford, Illinois; Salute, Inc. of Palatine, Illinois; and Starlight Children's Foundation of Chicago, Illinois. Kelli Ritschel-Boehle, Nikolas's mother and Executive Director of the foundation that bears his name, was very appreciative in her praise.