On November 4th, I'll play video games for 24 hours to raise funds for kids at my local children's hospital.
 

How It Works

• Starting at noon PST on Saturday, Nov. 4th, I will dedicate an entire day to playing video games and get donations from awesome folks like YOU!

• The entire event will be streamed live on this page and on my YouTube and Twitch channels.  Please stop by and say hello in the chat!

• 100% of the donations will go to San Diego's Rady Children's Hospital.

• Now, more than ever, local Children's Miracle Network Hospitals need our help.  You can learn how local children's hospitals are being impacted by COVID-19 at kidscantwait.org.

Your donation is tax-deductible and will make miracles happen for families who desperately need them. Simply click the "Donate" button at the top of this page to help. 

What Will I Be Playing?

Main Game

This year, the main game we'll be playing is The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails, a spinoff of The Legend of Heroes series of RPG games (Trails In the Sky, Trails of Cold Steel, etc.).

Additionally, I pledge to donate a nickel for every ellipsis in the game's localized script and if the main games are anything to go by, there will be a LOT!  Further, for every $100 we raise, I will donate an additional 5¢ per ellipsis!

Super Mario Maker 2

Super Mario Maker 2 is back but we're doing something a little different this year.  Every five hours we'll play a SMM2 level and it's either going to be a pleasant or PAINFUL.  You know, one of those troll stages with copious invisible blocks.

Your donations will dictate which type of level I'll play.  When it's time to play SMM2, I'll separately total all the donations of an even amount and all the donations of an odd amount.  If the sum of the even donations are greater, I'll play a Pleasant level; if odd wins, I'll play a PAINFUL level!

Check out the Super Mario Maker 2 - Pleasant or Painful? section below for more details!

Wario Ware: Move It!

Help me stay awake and keep the blood flowing! If we raise $1000, my sister and I will drag our lazy butts off the couch and play Wario Ware: Move It!, a game that asks its players to contort themselves into a variety of silly poses to complete hundreds of wacky minigames.

Get those donations in and watch us make utter fools of ourselves!

Vampire Survivors

If we raise $1500, we'll include the ever-popular After Dark block where we play something a bit more... adult.

This year, it's Vampire Survivors, a rogue-lite survival game where you build up your arsenal as quickly as you can to fend off the ever increasing hordes of encroaching undead!

How long will we survive?  Will we fight over resources?  Will we dance every time the treasure chest music plays?

Whodonut?

If we raise $2000, we'll take a break from the video games and play tabletop investigative mystery game, Whodonut?!

The beloved owner of the Do Not Not Donut shop has been murdered and the lead detective is hospitalized from eating too many pastries so it's up to us to literally put the pieces of the crime together by solving a jigsaw puzzle!

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

If we raise $2500, we'll tour my sister's new island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.  What's her island's name?

Knot Atoll.

Yeah, she's got a knack for naming, doesn't she?  Anyway, we'll publish her Dodo Code while we're playing so if you have the game, you can come visit!

Spicy Food Challenge!

I'm a lightweight when it comes to spice so for every $100 we raise, up to $3000, I will try a new spicy snack food!  I've got everything from spicy popcorn to spicy soda to spicy crickets.  Yum!

Oh, and if we hit our $3000 goal?  I'll torture myself and my sister with homemade spicy ice cream!

Special thanks to Rikku Pollendina for sending a huge variety of spicy snacks for the marathon as well as the hilarious art!

Super Mario Maker 2 – Pleasant or Painful?

Astrophysicist YouTuber Bryan Gillis (check out his edu-taining Let's Plays here) has curated a selection of Super Mario Maker 2 levels for me to play and they fall into one of two categories: Pleasant and Painful.

Every five hours, I'll play one of the levels and whether I play a Pleasant or Painful one is up to the donors!

Make an even-numbered donation ($20, $50, $100) and you're voting for a Pleasant level.

Make an odd-numbered donation ($25, $75, $101) and you're voting for a Painful level.

Can you change your vote?  So long as you're not donating anonymously, sure!

For example, if you donate $25, that's a vote for Painful.  If that's not what you intended, simply make another donation with the same name and email address in an odd amount to make it even (ex. $25 + $5 = $30).

Once a level is selected, only new donations will count towards the next one so don't worry if a super generous donor lopsides the totals with a giant donation.  This example pic may help clear up how I'm tallying donations for each round of SMM2 levels.

Also, if we reach our $3000 goal, I'll play the levels we don't get to during the marathon on a subsequent Sunday Stream.

Raffle

Say, would you like a custom digital illustration of your favorite fantasy, video game, or cartoon character?

Once your donations add up to $50, you will automatically be entered in a raffle (unless you request otherwise) to win a portrait illustration of a character of your choice from freelance illustrator Lynndy Lee, who drew the pictures surrounding this section's paragraphs for the previous years' winners!

Want to improve your odds of winning? Every additional $50 you donate will earn you an additional raffle ticket (ex. Donating $100 will net you 2 raffle tickets).

Good luck and super special thanks to Lynndy Lee once again donating her time and talent!

Milestones

The more money we raise for Rady Children’s, the more fun stuff will happen!

$500 - I'll go an extra hour.  That's 25 straight hours of charity goodness!

$1000 - We'll attempt to stave off sleep with Wario Ware: Move It! 

$1500 - Put the kids in bed, it's time to play Vampire Survivors! 

$2000 - We'll take a break from video games to Hunt-A-Killer!   

$2500 - We'll tour my sister's new island in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Visitors welcome!

$3000 - Can we stomach my homemade spicy ice cream?  We'll find out!  I'll also play any Super Mario Maker 2 levels we don't get to during the marathon on a subsequent Sunday Stream.

$3500 - I'll eat a MISfortune cookie!

Donation Incentives

The more you donate, the more fun things I'll do for you!

$Any - Every $100 we raise up to $1500, I'll try a new spicy snack.

$Any - Donate an even amount to vote for a Pleasant Super Mario Maker 2 level.  Donate an odd amount for Painful!

$Any - I pledge to donate 5¢ for every ellipsis while playing The Legend of Nayuta: Boundless Trails.  Every $100 we raise, I'll donate an additional nickel per ellipsis!

$25 - I will thank you by name every hour during the marathon!

$50 - Automatic entry in a raffle to win an original digital portrait of a character of your choice!  Each additional $50 donation nets you another entry!

Special Guests!

My sister, Keleigh, will be here for the entire marathon!  Her job is to keep me awake, manage the chat, and add some much needed class to the proceedings.

Also, SuperMetalDave64 will be dropping by for a bit at some point during the marathon, likely Saturday evening.  We always enjoy his company and are very glad to have him back!  (UPDATE: Sadly, Dave isn't going to be able to make it this year.  Super bummer but there's always next year!)

If you have any questions, feel free to hit me up on Twitter @AndrewEisen.

Not only does Rady Children's Hospital have 90 volunteer dogs that make bedside visits, but each dog has its own trading card the kids can collect!  How cool is that?

Learn about the Canine Care program and more in my chat with Carly Rickard, Associate Director of Philanthropy at the Rady Children's Foundation.  (This interview was recorded in 2018.)

Hope to see you on Game Day!