Who knew playing videos games could be a selfless act? A group of seven men in the UK are playing Mario Brothers for 72 hours straight in order to raise money for the Starlight Children’s Foundation, which raises money for terminally ill children. During this Mario Brothers Marathon or “Mariothon” as the participants call it, they will play 13 different Mario games.
They are currently live-streaming the event if you want to see it for yourself. If you pony up some cash, you can make the members of the team sing, dance, do pushups, or act like Mario. They’re hoping to raise over 5,000 pounds this year, after raising under 2,500 last year.
Viewers can chat with the team as well.
Why did they choose to do this? Well, they admit themselves that they lack the physical prowess to run an actual marathon, so they reached into their own childhoods and picked something they felt a lot of people would connect to. It would be their own personal way of raising money for a great cause. Incidentally, On of the things Starlight, the charity they’re raising money for, does is give Wiis to sick children.
(h/t Mashable)