Stardew Valley's creator is running a $40,000 esports tournament next month

Esports is most commonly associated with high-octane competitive games such as League of Legends, Rocket League and Call of Duty: Warzone. A chill farming sim might not immediately spring to mind, but very soon, some of the world's finest Stardew Valley players will face off for thousands of dollars.

Creator Eric Barone (aka ConcernedApe) said the first official Stardew Valley Cup event will take place at noon ET on September 4th. “It’s a competition of skill, knowledge and teamwork, with a prize pool of over $40k,” Barone wrote on Twitter.

Barone and Stardew Valley streamer Zach “UnsurpassableZ” Hartman have concocted more than 100 challenges for competitors to tackle, as Kotaku notes. Four teams of four players will each have three hours to complete as many of the tasks as they can. The challenges include things like giving someone a gift they love at the Feast of the Winter Star (worth 25 points), winning the ice fishing contest (15 points) and completing item bundles in the Community Center (10 points each).

Players will have to prioritize the tasks, since some might not be entirely worth the points at stake. For instance, unless players are able to craft a ton of staircases, it can take an hour or so to reach the bottom of the mines, which is worth 10 points. Hartman will also add five surprise challenges during the event, each of which are worth 50 points, so competitors might have to adjust their plans on the fly.

Barone and Hartman will be commentators for the event, which you can watch on Hartman's Twitch channel.

It's actually not the first competitive Stardew Valley event with cash at stake. A few Stardew Twitch Rivals competitions have taken place. One event in 2019 had $35,000 on the line, and included challenges like catching all five legendary fish as quickly as possible and obtaining the most gold.