The only thing faster than these gamers is the speed with which they're raising money for cancer research.
Awesome Games Done Quick, a charity drive run annually since 2010, sees some of the world's fastest gamers blasting through the classics in non-stop, marathon-length sessions. This year, anyone watching the livestream of the event is encouraged to donate to the Prevent Cancer Foundation.
This year's event, which started January 5 and runs through the 11th, has raised over $80,000 so far.
The over 140 games being played during the course of the week are a mix of old and new, from Super Mario Bros. to Borderlands 2. "We always try to see that they're a good, entertaining watch, that they have entertaining speedrun tricks, they're fast-paced, that sort of thing," says event organizer Mike Uyama, who runs Awesome Games Done Quick under the banner of his website Speed Demos Archive.
Since 2011, Awesome Games has partnered with the Prevent Cancer Foundation. "I think I contacted three or four charities, and Prevent Cancer was the only one who responded," Uyama says.
"They're doing a tremendous amount of work for us," says Jan Bresch, executive vice president and COO of Prevent Cancer. Awesome Games' efforts this year will likely fund a new research grant, says Bresch. Last year's event raised over $450,000 for the charity, a 24-person organization that funds research, education, and free cancer screenings.
Less than 4 percent of Americans diagnosed with cancer each year are under the age of 34, but Bresch says that the attendees of Awesome Games often tell her stories about their own battles with cancer. "It's really very powerful," she says. "We didn't think that these young men and women would have a cancer history. You just don't think you'll hear it."
