The Desert Bus Busses Out, But It’s Not Outbussed Yet

If you’ve been following videogaming/charity news on the Internet lately then you’ve probably heard of the Desert Bus.  The Desert Bus is a yearly charity event, which started out as a somewhat small project back in 2007, where the comedy group from Loading Ready Run decided that it would be funny to raise money for “Child’s Play” by torturing themselves.

The torture itself was in the form of the videogame “Desert Bus”, a title released for Sega CD, where you have to drive a bus through the desert from Tucson in Arizona to Las Vegas.  This challenge takes about 8 hours, but the fun doesn’t stop there.  You get one point for each time you manage to drive for the aforementioned time period and you can’t really cheat because the damn bus always veers just a little bit to the right with its wonky steering, so you’ll have to press left on the controller every once in a while.  Also, it’s not possible to pause the game when you’ve started driving and there is no scenery besides a bus stop, a sign, and a bug on the windscreen.

Insane or not, Loading Ready Run have been returning every year to test their abilities with the game and this year they trampled over their old record and went a lot farther than that.  Everyone from the LRR crew was on the Desert Bus live stream for the 5 days and 16 hours it drove through the desert and all sorts of weird challenges were to be found while it was driving.  From getting a double Mohawk to dressing up as a glitter-vampire and watching New Moon between tons of squealing 14-year olds, these guys braved fires for the children they supported.

With a total donation of $132,107.94 and a game score of 14 points (ruined by Bill, ironic enough when he was singing “Don’t stop me now” by Queen), they beat their own records for money donated and distance without crashing. His punishment was to go watch New Moon with Matt, a second time.

The event is over now, but will be back next year “hopefully”. I’ve been following the bus all week and donated quite a bit as well.  I look forward to throwing more money after the bus next year and I hope it’ll be as much fun as it usually is. I hope that more nerds and gamers will join forces and help supporting the bus in LRR’s future attempts to Bus the Bus out of the Desert Bus game.

You can see the Desert Bus blog here or visit Loading Ready Run at their own website

I say to thee,

Bravo gentlemen, ladies, doctors, Rosco.