In 2003, the guys over at Penny Arcade (the geniuses behind the Penny Arcade Webcomic and the biannual PAX Gaming Expo) set up a vision to expand their civic engagement to not only help make the world a better place, but to also help the world realize the positive impact that the gaming industry can have. Henceforth came the Child's Play Charity; a "community-based" organization that has partnered with over 70 different hospitals across the globe to donate money, toys, books, and most importantly, video games, to sick children. Thus far, according to www.childsplaycharity.org, partners have donated over 2.3 million dollars to help the cause.
Through the years, there have been many different ways to donate to the charity: Making text donations, donating at various expositions or through their online site, holiday gaming auctions, and most recently the first annual golf tournament in Pasadena, California. One unique way that Penny Arcade acquires donations for Child's Play is through events such as Rupeethon, and Mario Marathon.
Rupeethon is now going on their second year, while Mario Marathon is on it's fourth and slated for June 24th. What these two events are, are live online webcasts that gather donations while gamers, including celebrities, go on to finish every Mario and Zelda game in one sitting. Four guys, no showers, only the occasional bathroom break, irregular meal breaks, and lack of sleep for says all for the sake of charity. As many of us are hardcore gamers, this seems like a cinch right? Well this is not totally the case. The more donations that are gathered, the further these guys go on in the series. So, it is up to us to donate and watch them move on in the games we all grew up to love for these last 25 years.
So far, Mario Marathon 4 has gathered more than $8k dollars in donations with still four days until the live event. For those of whom that would like to donate to the cause, I have included a donation widget to the right where you can directly donate to the Mario Marathon event, and track how much Wired Gamers has helped to donate to Child's Play as a whole.
You may also stream the live event, starting Friday, June 24th @ 11am PST on Wired Gamers in the embedded video at the top of the page. Thanks for tuning in and donating to the cause!
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For more information about Child's Play and Mario Marathon, check out the links below:
http://www.mariomarathon.com/
http://www.childsplaycharity.org/
PATV Child's Play Episode
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