Grandmother Creates New Guinness Gaming Record

[youtube]http://youtu.be/8bD6TWPzVz8[/youtube]

A couple of weeks ago I opened my most unusual GeekMom email yet: Would I want to help PopCap Games create a new Guinness World Record by playing 30 straight hours of Solitaire Blitz on-camera at the Roger Smith Hotel in Manhattan on June 26th in order to promote the game and raise money for Charity: Water? (For those who don't play, Solitaire Blitz is a minute-long version of the classic solitaire game that you can play for free on Facebook, competing with friends in weekly competitions.)

Unique as the request was, my immediate response had to be no. Sleep deprivation and I do not get on well together, at all.

However, a week later, a second request came through: Would I want to witness a 4-hour portion of someone else going for the record? At this point I was intrigued. What exactly would it take to create a Guinness Record?

On the day of the Guinness Record effort, I witnessed 68-year-old, New Jersey grandmother Kathleen Henkel's record attempt in Manhattan while a second, simultaneous effort was spearheaded by Laura Rich in London. The requirements for witnesses were fairly straight-forward:

• Support and observe our record-contender,
• Track her breaks (each player was eligible for ten minutes of break-time for each hour of completed game-play), and
• While on the clock, make sure that my player never ceased Solitaire Blitz game-play for more than 20 seconds at a time.
• Additionally: provide falafel and lattes, as needed. (Though this last was a request more than a requirement...)

As she played, I was able to ask Henkel a couple of questions, including what originally made her interested in participating in the Guinness Record project. Between mouse clicks, Henkel explained that she has spent a portion of each of the last few years traveling to Africa and believed that Charity: Water did important work providing safe drinking water in the regions she'd visited.

Having previously participated in CROP Walks within my own community, I was already aware of the way that water-access can specifically impact women's lives and abilities to access education in the developing world. According to the Charity: Water website:

In Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every year just walking for water. Women and children usually bear the burden of water collection, walking miles to the nearest source, which is unprotected and likely to make them sick.

Time spent walking and resulting diseases keep them from school, work and taking care of their families.

Along their long walk, they're subjected to a greater risk of harassment and sexual assault. Hauling cans of water for long distances takes a toll on the spine and many women experience back pain early in life.

With safe water nearby, women are free to pursue new opportunities and improve their families’ lives. Kids can earn their education and build the future of their communities.

Ultimately, both Henkel and Rich lasted the 30 required hours to achieve their goal. The Guinness Record organization approved both record bids and so the two women will now share the title for "Longest Video Games Marathon Playing a Card Game." Even better, the two women were able to jointly raise over $93,000 for Charity: Water, money that will go toward building 18 new wells!

(Now if someone could only tell me how to beat GeekMom Amy Kraft's Solitaire Blitz score–700,000? Really, Amy??? IT'S ON!)