Literal Charity Drive Involves Penn & Teller Title Desert Bus

For the third year in a row, a comedy troupe is playing a marathon session of the world’s worst videogame to benefit charity.

LoadingReadyRun is playing Desert Bus, an all too realistic bus driving simulator from an old Penn & Teller unreleased videogame compilation, for 120 hours straight to benefit Penny Arcade’s Child’s Play charity. So far, the event, which is being streamed live, has raised over $84,000, already eclipsing 2008’s $70,423 figure.

Desert Bus has players pilot a bus from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas in real time at a maximum speed of 45 MPH. The trip takes a full eight hours and the game cannot be paused. Additionally, any incidents or accidents result in the bus being towed back to Tucson and the trip starting over from the beginning. Penn & Teller commissioned the game as a response to the mid-1990s political furor over violent games.

This year’s charity event partners include Rock Band creators Harmonix, Antec, Braid developer Hothead Games and The Escapist, which is hosting a portal for the charity drive on its website.

The event is revenue driven, and in theory endless. As long as donations are increased 7% each hour, the drive will continue.