LoadingReadyRun’s annual charity drive has raised another $240,000 (and counting) for Child’s Play.
When sketch comedy group LoadingReadyRun started an impromptu broadcast of its members playing Desert Bus in 2007, it raised $23,000 for gaming-related charity Child’s Play. Since then, the Desert Bus playthrough has become an annual fundraising event, with special guests taking the wheel throughout the multi-day marathon–it goes on as long as people keep donating. LRR is 75 hours into its eighth annual bus-driving jaunt through the desert and has already raised over $240,000, bringing the event’s lifetime total to over $2 million in donations.
Each year of Desert Bus for Hope’s existence has brought in more money than the previous one, so if the trend continues, expect to see the 2013 total of $523,520 toppled. While gaming nonstop might sound like a fun time, keep in mind that Desert Bus is extremely tedious to play (but fun to watch other people play). Desert Bus is a mini-game from Penn & Teller’s Smoke and Mirrors, a Sega CD game that never actually made it to the market and is literally exactly what it sounds like: an eight-hour ride from Arizona to Las Vegas that puts the player in control of an unreliable virtual bus. Or, as the organization’s website puts it, “the worst video game ever made.”
The LoadingReadyRun crew and their guests have been driving for more than three days, with the donations required to keep the bus going increasing every hour and prizes given out throughout the run. The proceeds will support Child’s Play, which provides games and hardware to hospitalized children. There’s still time to tune in and donate to a good cause; you might even win something cool while you’re at it.
Source: Desert Bus
