This author's favourite event of the summer has arrived! A group of friends will gather on a few comfy couches in a Lafayette, Indiana living room to do two things that deserve a heap of praise: raising money for charity and playing Mario games. Mario Marathon 5 kicks off tomorrow, June 22 at 11 AM Eastern Time. The event will be streamed live on their website through Twitch.TV. From then on, it is up to viewers to determine how long they will continue depriving themselves of sleep until their checklist of levels is complete. The more money that gets donated through their Paypal-enabled website, the longer they will keep stomping Goombas and gaining stars and Shines. They're not expert gamers by any stretch of the imagination, and you can join in the chat room through Facebook, Twitter and the website to cheer them on and/or hurl insults whenever Mario once again falls to his death. Throughout the event, the folks running it will be raffling off prizes both sent in to and created by them. The prizes this year include Mario Marathon t-shirts, a "?" Block clock, knit hats, pint glasses and more surprises that will be unveiled as the marathon continues. Oh, and there's a Couchdog. NEVER underestimate the power of Couchdog. The contests can be entered by Tweeting links to the website and donating to the charity. Remember - the more money that gets donated, the more levels unlocked, and the more games unlocked. At the time of this writing, $5,981.17 has already been donated without the show even starting. This means they have 481 of their 786 possible tasks already unlocked. The show will be kicking off with Super Mario Galaxy 2, followed by New SMB Wii, Mario Galaxy 1, Mario Sunshine, Mario 64, Mario World and SMB3. As more money gets donated, we'll see them play through SMB2, SMB1 and SMB: The Lost Levels before returning to Mario 64, Galaxy 1 and New SMB Wii to complete the most difficult levels. If donations get high enough - and they certainly did last year - we will get to see them go for either the Blue Coins of Sunshine or the Green Stars of Galaxy 2. No reason for you to wait anymore - go check out the show HERE