Mario Marathon
So beginning on Friday I noticed a trending topic on Twitter that read ‘Mario Marathon’, I figured it was probably something a little silly like someone going for a world record or maybe just a bunch of people across the internet playing Mario at the same time…I didn’t really give it much thought.
On Saturday I again saw it trending and decided to take a look at the tweets, they were all pointing to some video streaming website but I had heard about a lot of bad links on Twitter lately so I decided not to chance it.
Then on Sunday Wil Wheaton tweeted about it. Okay, it was time to check this bad boy out.
What I found was actually pretty amazing. It wasn’t just a marathon; it was for charity - Penny Arcade’s Child’s Play charity in fact. Child’s Play donates video games to children’s hospitals across North America.
So I watched for a bit and found it oddly entertaining. Eventually I closed the window and lay down to watch a movie from 1988 because I was home sick while my family was out having fun at Granville Island. After the movie ended I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted to watch next but I had been thinking about checking out Lethal Weapon on the new TV with DVD upconvert but I checked my messages first and again saw Mario Marathon trending so I checked back in, ostensibly for a few minutes. An hour later the family came home as the kid was due for a nap. I told Mindi all about it and was going to shut it off when she seemed to find it interesting as well.
We ended up watching it for most of the rest of the evening. I even donated $10.19 USD. Their total had included 81 cents for hours and it was driving my OCD round-number -loving brain a little nuts. Plus I wanted to make their Yoshi Level donor list although for some reason my name appears in ALL CAPS.
Eventually their Twitter-Reader, or TwitFace as we like to call him, Mac Guy had to leave and the show became much less interesting. I checked in one last time before going to bed shortly after midnight and they were at $22,500 and needed to reach $24,576 to continue beyond Mario Galaxy. I honestly didn’t think they would make it as donations had slowed significantly. This morning I discovered that they had passed $25,000 and were now on to Super Mario Sunshine. They had other goals set before, topping out around $96,000, but after reaching their Sunshine goal they eliminated most of those I suspect simply because they physically won’t be able to handle the strain and they would probably have to start missing massive amounts of work eventually.
So now they have a goal of $250,000 at which point their friend will fly in from Australia. I think it’s safe to say THAT won’t happen. Unless of course Bill Gates or Warren Buffet have a mean streak…a philanthropic mean streak to be sure.
As I write this they are at $25,557 with 1195 donors. I guess that makes the average donation $21.39. If they last until later tonight I may just consider making another donation.
It’s actually quite entertaining (particularly when MacGuy/TwitFace/TwitterReader is around) and it’s for a good cause and frankly it’s just so innovative I feel like I’m really taking part in an event. Not Torchwood level but still something special and unique.
So check out http://www.mariomarathon.com and make a donation if you can. Also feel free to follow MarioMarathon & FunnelFiasco on Twitter and tweet away with #mariomarathon tags. They also have a couple articles you can digg to show your support.
