This weekend, a group of gamers banded together for the fourth time to host the Mario Marathon 4, in which all of the major Mario platformer adventures were played constantly for a mind-warping 110 hours straight. The aim of the marathon was to raise money for the Child’s Play charity, which provides video games and other distractions to children in long-term care in children’s hospitals. By the time the marathon was finished, the group had managed to raise $112,176.73, which averages to $709.32 per hour and $47.88 per unique donor. The money will be divided evenly among the hundred or so hospitals participating in Child’s Play 2011. For more information, visit the marathon’s website, or its statistics tracker.
These marathon streams are getting more and more popular, and they’re a surprisingly effective way of raising money for charity. It turns out I’ve given over $400 to these myself this year, and I barely even noticed.
