A TwitchCon booth had to be shut down after more than one attendee suffered significant injuries.
TwitchCon took place in San Diego over the weekend, bringing together streamers and fans from across the world. Unfortunately for Twitch, one of the most notable events of the convention came from a string of injuries stemming from a single booth.
Organised by hardware providers Intel and Lenovo, the booth consisted of two pillars, from which players would attempt to push their opponents into a pit filled with foam blocks (similar to the kind seen in places like trampoline parks to cushion people falling from a notable height).
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Probably the most painful thing I’ve seen in awhile. Twitch streamer Adriana Chechik has confirmed broken her back in two separate places following this jump at TwitchCon pic.twitter.com/QdojGn5UtGOctober 9, 2022
According to The Washingtom Post's Nathan Grayson, however, the pit was notably shallower than expected in many places. That seems to have lead directly to at least two significant injuries; celebrating a victory, streamer Adriana Chechik bombed into the blocks, coming to an abrupt stop; elsewhere, streamer LochVaness dislocated her knee in the pit.
Chechik has since confirmed the extent of her injuries, saying "I broke my back in two places and am getting surgery to put a meter rod in for support today." She also acknowledged the medical worker who "got the workers at the booth to realize how bad I was injured and to make them keep me still and calm me down until others got there." In a clip of her injury shared widely on Twitter, commentators can be heard making light of the incident as Chechik attempts to remove herself from the blocks.
The streamer has also called out Lenovo, alleging that attendants told performers that they could dive into the pit, should do so "booty first," and that the booth was kept open despite multiple other injuries. LochVaness says that she's currently unable to take action over her injuries because booth attendees were required to sign a waiver before they were allowed to take part.
We've reached out to representatives for Lenovo and Twitch for more information about the incident. In a statement to Rolling Stone, Lenovo said that it would be working with event organisers to "look into the incidents."
