By Staff Writer Tighe Ratcliffe.

On Saturday November 17th from 12pm-12am, the Gaming Society held a 12 hour gaming marathon in Woodland Commons. It was a $10 entry fee, but all proceeds went towards Toys for Tots. As soon as you entered woodland commons the main foyer had tables brimming with board and card games, one of the side rooms was set up for D&D and other RPG’s, but the auditorium was were it was at; a multitude of tv screens with every game system you could imagine. There was even a VR system. 

Throughout the day there were various tournaments that were going on, and you could either sit back, relax and watch, or be a part of them. The best part about the marathon was that you had so many different options to choose from, and you could do a little bit of everything over the course of the day. 

By far, the two most popular games were different versions of Nintendo’s Smash and Mario Kart, there were multiple tv’s with these two fan favorite games going at the same time. All the consoles at the event were the personal consoles of various students, and you could see all the achievements that they had unlocked. Special skins for characters, bonus levels, even the occasional hacked games and consoles.  

But the achievements weren’t only limited to those in the games. A pamphlet of various different achievements was given to you as you entered the event. Some were easy to accomplish, like if you had bathed that day, some were a little odd like standing in a corner until an e-board member noticed you. Others were goofy like doing a fortnight dance, while some were based on group events. And towards the end of the night, you would compile all the “achievements” you unlocked and someone from the eboard would give you a set number of raffle tickets that depended on the amount of points you achieved. It was all fun and games (*buddum-tss*) for the whole event.  

At around 7pm there was a “side-quest” where people separated into teams (Yours truly was part of team “Magnum-Zucc”), and we played a game of “guess that tune.” The songs were all from either anime’s or video games. I would say the competition was fierce, but every team just seemed to be having fun playing the game and trying to guess songs from their favorite anime’s and games. Some of the songs were easy, like the Skyrim and Sword Art Online theme songs, while others were hard (don’t expect me to give examples because I can’t remember the hard ones!). 

At around 9 pm, prizes were raffled off to people who earned achievement points, as well as prizes for those who donated the most. In total, about $2138.05 were collected from ticket sales and donations, and after the costs of the event were determined, $1709.47 will be donated to Toys for Tots. Not to bad for a day of playing video games. The amounts of donations raised in itself is an achievement. This was the Gaming Society’s largest grossing PowerUp event in 12 years, with the largest amount of money they received to donate to charity. Hopefully next year will be even bigger. 

In this season of giving, it was incredible to see so many passionate fans get together in support of a good cause.