Have you ever thought your favourite weekend pastime could earn a charity thousands? Through some ingenuity a group of video gamers will this week be able to immerse themselves in a video gaming marathon yet at the same time make a large bucket of cash for charity.

The group known as GametoAid are made up of eight first year university students and are embarking on their fifth marathon in 18 months.

Prior marathons have collectively raised $26,000 for several charities.

The gaming is streamed online with others around the world watching the action then pledging donations throughout.

GametoAid founder Toby Zerner says he's been surprised by the amount of money their gaming has raised.

"Our first marathon we raised $4,000 and we were not expecting to get that much, we were expecting maybe $500 or maybe $1000 if we were lucky.

"There's more to it than just playing games because we do commentary as well and we need to be interacting with the audience to keep them entertained, so we've discussed ways to make it more entertaining.

"Every $100 that gets donated, we let the computer select a random challenge that we have to do or someone in the room will have to do - so that could be anything from singing a song, to making a cocktail and drinking it on the webcam," he says.

Toby says while video gaming is a favourite pastime, after 72 hours they are expecting to feel a little worse for wear.

"It's pretty horrible, it takes a lot out of you because you do get less sleep than normal, you probably eat less than normal because you are so invested being in the room and being involved," he says

Fellow gamer Brodie Syrus has donated the upstairs of his home for the charitable weekend and expects there to be some serious recovery time after the marathon gaming session.

"Well, I am usually sick for about a week afterward I reckon that's been happening every time, I do have a rule during the marathon that if it's not sweet or greasy - I'm not going to eat it.

"We do have a roster for who's playing the games and basically you have to sleep during that time, if you don't sleep bad luck you need to just keep playing when rostered on," he says.

While most video games come with a health warning on not over playing Brodie says the group has been well conditioned to cope with the intense game play.

"I think we are just desensitized to that to be honest, you get into this zombie like state and that's the state you want to be in.

"You achieve higher when you've been playing for at least three or four hours or even 40 hours straight as happened last marathon," he says.

The sacrifice is worth it though says Brodie especially when the reality of their fundraising hits home.

"When someone donates $500 just in one hit, the excitement in the room - everyone just gets so excited and that's a great feeling that comes out of a marathon.

"Every time we're just surprised how generous everyone is in the community," he says.