Last year around this time, three friends plopped down in front of a TV, hooked up an live video stream and played all of through ALL of the Super Mario Brothers without taking a single break.
While it may sound like the geekiest thing you could possibly think of, the three gamers were attempting to raise money for the charitable group, Child’s Play – an organization that raises money to buy toys and games for children in hospitals.
During last year’s event, the three played for 55 hours straight, streamed it all live through UStream.tv and earned thousands upon thousands of dollars for the great cause…not to mention the ridiculous amount of new and traditional media coverage they received for the event and its cause.
Well, the charitable gamers are back it again. This morning, at 9:00AM, the three friends started all over again with the original Super Mario Brothers game for the Nintendo system.
It’s currently 4:20PM and they’ve completed four Super Mario games, raised more than $3,500, have nearly 1,000 viewers in their chat room, and just hit the front page of Digg.
The idea behind the event – while it may seem silly to some outsiders – certainly has hit a soft spot with many of the web’s users, many of whom have grown up with these iconic games. And the charity is certainly reaping the rewards because of their brilliant concept.
So, if you’re feeling nostalgic and have some extra free time this weekend, tune in to http://mariomarathon.com and watch/donate to join in on the fun.
