Playing games fast is a popular trend, and it’s one that’s helping good causes in a big way.
Awesome Games Done Quick, an annual winter event in which speedrunners try to finish games as quickly as they can for charity, raised over $1,545,000 for Prevent Cancer during the past eight days. The event, which is in its fifth year and took place at the Hilton Washington Dulles airport hotel in Herndon, Va., also got over 81 million views on game livestreaming site Twitch.
The total donated is even more impressive when compared to the $53,000 raised during by the first Awesome Games Done Quick event back in 2011. It’s a pretty clear demonstration of the rapid growth of the speedrunning community over the past few years.
Highlights from the Awesome Games Done Quick event included a live marriage proposal during a playthrough of the little-known Nintendo 64 platformer Mischief Makers. Speedrunner Runnerguy2489 also played The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time while blindfolded.
The summer version of the event — Summer Games Done Quick — is set for July.