72-Hour ‘Mario’ Marathon Will Put Wiis in Hospitals

Remember when you’d get home from school on Friday afternoon, switch on your favorite video game and the next thing you know it’s Sunday night? Oh, to be young again.

Well, a group of seven “adults” in the U.K. seem to have uncovered a compelling reason to rediscover the childhood dream of a weekend video game marathon, except this is no ordinary marathon â€" it’s a Mariothon. The gamers will be playing 13 different Mario games over 72 consecutive hours to benefit the Starlight Children’s Foundation, a charity that raises money for terminally ill children.

“We chose Mario because we all loved the original Nintendo Mario games, and we felt it was something many people would be able to recognize and identify with,” Andrew Tabner, 27, tells Mashable. “We felt it was something we could put our own stamp on.”

Tabner is one of three veterans of the original Mariothon in 2011, along with two brothers â€" Kevin and Mike Fowler, ages 29 and 31 respectively. Last year, they raised £2,500, a total they are hoping to double this year, especially since they more than doubled the size of the Mariothon team.

To increase intrigue and hopefully donations, the entire Mariothon is being live-streamed. This endurance test of gaming began Thursday and goes through Saturday.

Not only can viewers chat with the gamers and watch them play Mario, anyone who makes a donation receives “credits,” which can be traded for various entertainment perks. For instance, you can ask them sing, dance, do pushups, act like Mario or play blindfolded. They’re a lively group, and it’s obvious they enjoy engaging with viewers and being entertaining. The challenge for them will be to maintain their vigor throughout the entire weekend.

“If people are watching, chatting, interacting and having fun â€" it’s easy to be upbeat,” Tabner says.

One of the reasons the group chose the Starlight Foundation is because, among other projects, the charity is working to put a Nintendo Wii in every children’s ward and hospice in the U.K. It seems only appropriate for a group of video game nerds to play video games to support a charity that supports video games. The following description on the Mariothon website pretty much says it all:

“None of us are athletic enough to run a physical marathon, so we’re doing it by proxy and making Mario do all the running!”

Before going to Mariothon.org to check it out, leave a comment about your favorite childhood video game rituals. Which games would you sacrifice sleeeping, eating and bathrooming to play all weekend?

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