In 2008, the event organizers also orchestrated a smaller Zelda marathon that managed to bring in an additional $2,477.00 for Child's Play Charity.

[2][3] Mario Marathon began in 2008 when Brian Brinegar, a 29-year-old web developer in Lafayette, Indiana, was inspired to start a Super Mario video game marathon after watching a group of college students who attempted to complete all four of the 3-D Zelda games in a 48-hour time period.

Over a period of 57 hours starting on June 27, Brian Brinegar, Dan May, and John Groth raised $11,767.00 for Child's Play Charity.

[11] The fourth Mario Marathon began on June 24, 2011, and raised $112,668.62 (as of July 18, 2011) over a period of 110 hours.

At 10:05 PM Eastern Time on June 24, 2014, the lifetime Child's Play Charity donation total crossed over the half-million dollars mark.

[14] After being idle during 2015, the eighth edition is named Mario Marathon '16 and began at 11:00 AM Eastern Time on June 24, 2016.

In 2018 the event was held later in the year than usual, commencing July 20 at 7:00 PM Eastern Time, and only featured one game, Super Mario Odyssey.

The supporting cast interacts with viewers in real time via an IRC chat room and Twitter (monitoring posts which include the "#MarioMarathon" hash tag) and acknowledges donations as they come in.

The list below are those who have appeared in two or more Mario Marathons:[2] To break up the monotony of playing games around the clock for several days, the participants started performing special dances for the viewers.

In 2012, the concept of "Gold Membership" was introduced –a supposed exclusive avenue to obtain special perks.

To keep the stream civil and child-safe, the Mario Marathon team conforms to a list of rules:[17]