Focus + Reset + Repeat
Three days of speedruns, practical psychology and the communities that make gaming matter.
Level Up Psychology is proudly supporting the Speedrunning Stage at PAX Aus 2026, presented with AusSpeedruns.
Win one of four PAX Aus 2026 three-day passes.
Entries close at 11:59 pm AEST on Friday 25 September 2026.
Win one of four PAX Aus three-day badges
Competition extended: entries now close at 11:59 pm AEST on Friday 25 September 2026. Winners will be drawn and announced on Saturday 26 September 2026. Existing valid entries remain eligible.
For many people, gaming communities are where belonging actually happens. We want to hear about yours.
The competition is running now. To enter, comment or reply on either the original competition video or the new static giveaway post, published by Level Up Psychology on our Facebook page or Instagram account, and tell us:
What is a moment when a gaming community made you feel like you belonged?
There are four PAX Aus 2026 three-day badges to be won, drawn as two from the Facebook entries and two from the Instagram entries.
- Free entry
- Open to Australian residents aged 18 and over
- One entry per person per platform across all eligible competition posts, up to two entries in total
- Commenting on multiple posts on the same platform does not provide additional entries
- Entering on both platforms puts you in both draws
- Entries close at 11:59 pm AEST on Friday 25 September 2026
- Two winners will be drawn from each platform at 6:00 pm AEST on Saturday 26 September 2026 and announced the same day
- Maximum one prize per person
Cannot see the post? Look for the PAX Aus competition video or the giveaway post near the top of our feed and comment on either one.
Why is a psychology practice at PAX?
Because, for many of us, gaming communities are where we found our people.
They are places where a niche interest becomes shared language, where practice and persistence are understood, and where the thing you are obsessive about is suddenly the normal thing to be obsessive about.
That is not a small thing. Belonging, identity, competence and connection can all contribute to wellbeing.
We are not coming to PAX to tell anyone to touch grass. Level Up Psychology was built with gamers in mind. We take gaming seriously as a source of enjoyment, achievement, identity and community, while also recognising that players sometimes need support with pressure, motivation, balance or mental health.
Speedrunning makes many of these psychological processes unusually visible. Focus under pressure, recovering after a mistake, deliberate practice, managing frustration and continuing through attempt 400 are not abstract ideas on this stage. They are part of every run.
What we’re doing at PAX
Find the Level Up Psychology team at the Speedrunning Stage across all three days.
During selected changeovers, our clinicians will join the AusSpeedruns hosts for short, practical conversations about what happens in your head while you play.
Topics will include
- recovering attention after an error
- why automatic skills can become fragile under pressure
- managing nerves before going live
- anger, tilt and emotion regulation
- deliberate practice versus mindless repetition
- attention and fatigue during long runs
- perfectionism and chasing personal bests
- gaming nostalgia, recovery and restoration
- identity, community and belonging
- enjoying gaming while recognising when impairment matters
Full segment times will be added when the PAX Aus schedule is confirmed.
Come and say hello
Drop by the Level Up Psychology table beside the stage to meet the team and talk gaming, performance and psychology.
We are also planning:
- a Tilt Meter for a quick, light-hearted check-in
- Split Cards with practical strategies to take away
- limited-edition Level Up pins
Final activities are subject to production and event approval.
About Level Up Psychology
Level Up Psychology is an Australian psychology practice that takes gaming seriously.
Alongside clinical psychology, educational and developmental psychology and general mental health services, we provide specialist support for gamers, esports athletes, streamers, families and people who participate in gaming communities.
Our Psychology for Gamers work covers mental performance, focus, tilt, sustainable practice, problematic gaming, online identity, belonging and finding a healthy place for gaming alongside the rest of life.
Competition terms and conditions
1. Promoter
The promoter is Level Up Psychology Pty Ltd, ABN 40 654 820 167, of 2/15 Ricketts Road, Mount Waverley VIC 3149 (“Promoter”).
Questions about the promotion may be directed to admin@leveluppsychology.com.au.
2. Eligibility
Entry is open to Australian residents aged 18 years or older who can attend PAX Aus 2026 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 9 to 11 October 2026.
Directors, management and employees of the Promoter, RX/Reed Exhibitions, PAX Aus and AusSpeedruns, and their immediate families, are not eligible to enter.
No purchase or payment is required.
3. Promotion period
The promotion opens at 9:00 am AEST on Monday 14 September 2026, when the first competition posts are published on the Promoter’s Facebook page and Instagram account, and closes at 11:59 pm AEST on Friday 25 September 2026.
The promotion period was extended on 17 September 2026. Entries were originally due to close at 11:59 pm AEST on Friday 18 September 2026. Entries validly made before the extension remain eligible and do not need to be submitted again.
Entries received outside this period will not be accepted.
4. How to enter
During the promotion period, entrants must comment or reply on an eligible competition post published by Level Up Psychology on its Facebook page or Instagram account. The eligible competition posts are the original competition video and the static giveaway post published on each of those accounts. Posts on any other page or account are not eligible competition posts.
The comment must describe a moment when a gaming community made the entrant feel like they belonged.
The entry must remain visible to the Promoter until the draw has been completed.
5. Entry limits
One entry per person per platform across all eligible competition posts, up to two entries in total. Commenting on multiple posts on the same platform does not provide additional entries. Maximum one prize per person.
An entry is drawn only against the platform it was made on, so an entrant who enters on both platforms is included in both draws.
Additional comments on the same platform, duplicate entries and entries made using multiple accounts on the same platform may be disregarded.
6. Entry requirements
Entries must be the entrant’s own contribution and must not:
- contain unlawful, discriminatory, threatening or seriously offensive material
- identify another person or disclose their private information without permission
- infringe another person’s intellectual property or other rights
- breach the rules of the relevant social media platform
- be generated through automated, bulk or fraudulent activity.
The Promoter may disqualify an entry that does not meet these requirements.
7. Prizes
There are four prizes, allocated as two to entries made on the Promoter’s Facebook page and two to entries made on its Instagram account.
Each prize is one general-admission three-day badge to PAX Aus 2026, valued at approximately $185. The total prize pool is approximately $740.
The prize provides admission to PAX Aus on 9, 10 and 11 October 2026. Travel, accommodation, meals, insurance and other costs are not included.
Prizes are not transferable, exchangeable or redeemable for cash.
Attendance is subject to PAX Aus’s entry requirements and terms of participation.
8. Draw
The draw will take place at 6:00 pm AEST on Saturday 26 September 2026 at Level Up Psychology, 2/15 Ricketts Road, Mount Waverley VIC 3149.
A separate computerised random draw will be conducted for each participating platform, from the eligible entries made on that platform. Each eligible entry will have an equal chance of selection within its own draw.
Two winners will be drawn from the Facebook entries and two from the Instagram entries, for a total of four winners. The Facebook draw will be conducted first.
If the same person is selected more than once, whether in the same draw or the other one, the later selection will be disregarded and another entry drawn from that platform.
If a platform receives fewer eligible entries than the prizes allocated to it, the remaining prizes will be drawn from the eligible entries made on the other platform.
Entrants do not need to be present at the draw.
9. Winner notification and publication
Winners will be contacted in writing through the social media account used to enter, by direct message or a reply to their winning comment.
Winners’ first names and social media handles will also be announced on the competition posts and at leveluppsychology.com.au/pax on Saturday 26 September 2026.
Entrants should be cautious of impersonation accounts. Level Up Psychology will not ask a winner to provide payment or banking details to receive a prize.
10. Claiming the prize
A winner must respond by 11:59 pm AEST on Monday 28 September 2026 and provide the information reasonably required to verify eligibility and arrange the badge.
Badge issue or collection will be arranged by the Promoter at no cost to the winner. Photo identification may be required.
If a winner cannot be contacted after reasonable efforts, is ineligible or does not respond by the deadline, the prize will be forfeited and a replacement winner will be randomly drawn at 12:00 pm AEST on Tuesday 29 September 2026 from the remaining eligible entries made on the same platform, or from the other platform if none remain.
11. Privacy
Comments submitted as entries are public and remain subject to the privacy practices of the platform on which they are posted.
The Promoter will use an entrant’s profile name, social media handle and any winner contact information only to administer the promotion, verify eligibility, announce the result and deliver the prize.
Entry information will not be added to a marketing list. The Promoter will not reuse an entrant’s story in promotional material without separate permission.
Personal information will otherwise be managed under Level Up Psychology’s Privacy Policy.
12. Event and prize changes
If a prize becomes unavailable for reasons outside the Promoter’s reasonable control, the Promoter may provide a substitute of equal or greater value where permitted by law and, where required, with the winner’s agreement.
The Promoter is not responsible for changes to PAX Aus dates, programming, access arrangements or conditions of entry that are outside its control.
Nothing in these terms limits any rights that cannot lawfully be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law.
13. Social media disclaimer
This promotion is not sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Meta, Facebook or Instagram.
Entrants release those platforms from responsibility for the administration of the promotion to the extent permitted by law.
14. General
The Promoter’s decisions concerning eligibility and administration are final, subject to applicable law.
The Promoter may verify entries, disqualify fraudulent or automated entries and suspend or modify the promotion if circumstances outside its reasonable control prevent it from being conducted fairly.
Any material change will be published at leveluppsychology.com.au/pax.
By entering, entrants confirm that they have read and accepted these terms and conditions.