Stardew Valley is hosting a tournament with a $40 thousand prize pool

Stardew Valley, which I'll remind you is a farming simulator developed by one single person, is hosting an official tournament with a $40,000 prize pool, developer Concerned Ape has announced.

Streamer UnsurpassableZ, who's putting together the tournament alongside Concerned Ape's Eric Barone, says the first official Stardew Valley Cup will reward Stardew players with points for completing "over 100 different challenges that explore all different parts of Stardew Valley."

In collaboration with @UnsurpassableZ, I'm pleased to announce the 1st official Stardew Valley Cup! It's a competition of skill, knowledge, and teamwork, with a prize pool of over $40k. See some of Stardew's most dedicated players in their element! Main event is Sept. 4th 9am PST pic.twitter.com/qtDW5e5LvDAugust 21, 2021

Competitors will be able to tackle the challenges in any order they please, but different tasks are worth more points depending on the challenge level. For example, winning an ice fishing contest will earn you 15 points, while giving Pam a pale ale will get you just five points. Some other challenges include 'Start dating an NPC' (10 points), 'Give Harvey coffee while he's working' (5 points), and 'Dance with an NPC at the Flower Dance' (15 points). The tournament will take teams of four players and give each team their own beach island to take on challenges at the same time as other players.

The Stardew Valley Cup's main event kicks off at 9am PDT / 12pm EDT / 5pm BST. Both ConcernedApe and UnsurpassableZ will be providing commentary on the event, while the $40,000 prize pool is coming straight out of the developer's pockets. You can catch the event with commentary over on UnsurpassableZ's Twitch channel. It isn't clear when the next Stardew Valley Cup is taking place, but that'll likely depend on how successful this first outing is.