50 Hours: World's Longest Gaming Session

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I wonder what sort of time off breaks they got for bathroom, food, etc...

We love extended gaming sessions as much as the next guy, but we're not sure that we'd be able to give up sleep for more than two days just to set a record.

The event started as a competition to see who could last the longest, but as the competition progressed, the Dutch gamers’ solidarity grew and they decided to sit and end the competition together. The gamers made the unanimous decision to end the attempt after 50 hours for a new world record title.

"The contestants entered as rivals but left as friends," said Gaz Deaves, official adjudicator of Guinness World Records

The team of six champion gamers included brothers Edward and Maykel Leest from Boxmeer and Hengelo, Sven de Vries from Lelystad, Renzo Bos from Baarlo, Robbie van Eijkeren from Middelburg and Marcel van Waardenburg from Amsterdam.

The previous official world record for non-stop gaming was set in September 2009 by Chirantan Patnaik from India with a time of 40 hours and 20 minutes.

Now if only Guinness could monitor the sort of gaming that some players of World of Warcraft do in their private homes…

Marcus Yam

Marcus Yam is a technology evangelist for Intel Corporation, the latest in a long line of tech-focused roles spanning a more than 20-year career in the industry. As Executive Editor, News on Tom's Guide and Tom's Hardware, Marcus was responsible for shaping the sites' news output, and he also spent a period as Editor of Outdoors & Sports at Digital Trends.

82 Comments Comment from the forums
  • mavroxur
    Something tells me in the future, these same six guys will set the record for the "world's oldest virgins"
    Reply
  • LORD_ORION
    LOL! Seriously? I am betting 1/2 the people here have a pulled a drunken, energy drink fueled 72 hour game marathon at least once in their lives.

    Wha... I've been playing for 72 hours? Coulda swore it was 2.
    Reply
  • LORD_ORION
    Also,

    In October of 2002 a 24 year old South Korean man called Kim Kyung-jae collapsed at an internet café. He had been playing an MMORPG called Mu for 86 hours pausing only to buy cigarettes or visit the toilet. He died from a combination of exhaustion and deep vein thrombosis.

    Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/video-games/mmo/articles/28926.aspx#ixzz0uPkUYs1a

    These guys have nothing on that guy...
    Reply
  • rohitbaran
    That is crazy and probably stupid.
    Reply
  • Mark Heath
    Has to be verified to get a record though.
    Reply
  • damasvara
    That's just crazy... not stupid though, since they use their brain potentials to play the games...lol
    Reply
  • feeddagoat
    I guess gratz for the achievement. They're Dutch too, Any dutch gamer I've met seems to take things that extra mile, surely tho there's bound to have been some chinese grinder on WoW thats lasted longer?
    Reply
  • inquisitor03
    I bet I could beat that. Seriously 50 hours is only 2 nights without sleep and assuming they were allowed to eat and drink while playing and go to the toilet I do not see how that it can be that difficult. I've gone 2 nights without sleep before and although it's not nice, it's not difficult!

    How do I go about getting an official Guinness World Record official to come to my house?! :D
    Reply
  • igot1forya
    LORD_ORIONLOL! Seriously? I am betting 1/2 the people here have a pulled a drunken, energy drink fueled 72 hour game marathon at least once in their lives.Wha... I've been playing for 72 hours? Coulda swore it was 2.
    Back in the day, my brother and our school buddies used to rotated where we LAN each week... 50h really goes by VERY fast when you play some intense FPS or RTS'. I don't know if I've ever done 50h strait without a 30min nap, but we've played more than 10 days strait over the summer one year.
    Reply
  • xrodney
    76 hour is my record and almost 24 hours sleep session after :)
    Its not really hard to stay awake 2-3 day when you are hyperactive 18 old, but as you getting older its harder and harder.
    Reply