In case you missed it on the stream, our comrades-in-arms at Amateur Pixels — who produced the mobile Desert Bus game (available on the Apple Store and Google Play) — dropped a bus-sized donation on us to the tune of $10,602 — a sum which represents their entire proceeds from the game over the course of the past year! Wow!
Aaron wrote into us to tell us about their astounding donation:
Hey guys,
Just poking in with some info about the Android/iOS app proceeds as Kathleen mentioned… The total for this year was $10602 – better than last year and we hope to keep it up for future years! That’s about 15000 players which is just insane! Some links to the game are:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/desert-bus/id470288016
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tueidj. DesertBus Cheers, and congrats on another successful year,
– Aaron
– Amateur Pixels
Thanks Aaron! We’re infinitely grateful for your support!
OK, so it’s not quite numerically accurate, but, according to our live, real-time graph, with Paul expertly captaining the bus, we have just blasted past the final total for DB6, making this (unofficially) the most successful Desert Bus for Hope to date!!
Way to go!
We are so grateful to once again to have the support of Fangamer for Desert Bus for Hope 7.
Fangamer is supplying the official t-shirts for DB007 and all proceeds go to Child’s Play Charity through Desert Bus for Hope.
Fangamer creates hats and shirts, office swag, art, posters, pins, mugs—even an oven mitt designed after the Nintendo Power Glove. The stuff they sell is super cool, guys. But, they’re also about community. To that end, they host forums, podcasts and videos, hold Fanfests to celebrate classic games, attend cons and events, and contribute to charities like Desert Bus for Hope! In 2011, they actually embarked in a real life “desert van” to drive out of Tucson and race against the Desert Bus. How neat is that?
Remember that the Desert Bus for Hope 7 t-shirt is only available for pre-order until the end of the run. Check out these awesome shirts here: http://www.fangamer.net/products/desert-bus-7
If you thought we didn’t have time for another
DONATION DRIVE
Well, I guess you were wrong!
Until 4:18pm, donate in whole number multiples of $10.05* for a chance to win this ingenious Portal “99 Problems” lightbox. As chat has pointed out, because it comes with a dimmer switch, you can try a “lightbox intensifies” from the comfort of your own home.
*Oops! A previous version of this post said a different value. It’s definitely $10.05!
We have a lot of fun at Desert Bus, but we also like to reflect on the serious side of what we do here. Right now we’re sharing some of our personal stories of health and sickness, disease, recovery, and hope.
Scarcely was there a dry eye in the house when Liz shared with us her own anecdote of childhood illness, which you can read about here.
Fair warning: we’re getting pretty emotional up in here and burning through our kleenex supply like nobody’s business. We recommend having a tissue box within reach in the strongest possible terms.
So what did you miss if you’re tuning back in now?
Many fun challenges, dance parties and giveaways, the closing of several silent auctions including some amazing Craft-Along items, and…
Matt amassed a shift donation total of $53,823.58–making him the highest grossing driver so far.
He also crashed the bus a couple times. The latest, thanks to Alex, who unplugged the controller.
Max Temkin graced us with a video call to host the live auction of his Cards Against Humanity lot, in which the winning donor space bid several times, upping the final winning bid to $3000. The winner gets every card CAH has ever published, plus unique box art by Temkin, plus a custom card on a joke of their choice.
James ran another Vine challenge. This time we wanted your best six-second ad for Zombie University. The winning entrant gets the ZombiU prize pack!
Paul sang “The Chemical Worker’s Song (Process Man),” with Moonbase back-up, and then challenged viewers to rewrite the lyrics and make it about Desert Bus. One of our Craft-Along contributors happened to win! (Paul didn’t know whose the entry was.)
The artists of strip search lot went for $2,345.67 in its live auction. That was the last pre-scheduled live auction. We still have our super special Final Live Auction of DB007 coming up at a to-be-determined time within a couple hours of the end of the run: Mike Lunsford’s Desert Bus 7 poster (which is still in-progress and may only get better).
James got clubbed. It was hidden in a lobster puppet. Clever, that.
Paul crashed trying to catch a bus stop.
Also GIFs! Always GIFs…
Most of those are from ’10 challenges in 10 minutes’ bouts. You gotta watch Driver Cam not to miss them.
Thanks for reading. Keep watching,
-Shandi
P.S. Post of all the “Paul’s ‘Process Bus’ Contest” lyric submissions to come.
CTV is in the Moonbase as I write this, filming b-roll after a great interview with Kathleen. Keep an eye out for their coverage of Desert Bus for Hope 7. Locally for Vancouver Island folks, it will be on channel 12 between 5 and 6:30 p.m. PST. The segment will also be online afterward, on CTV Vancouver Island.
Lobsters clapping!
Desert Bus 007 is winding down. There are mere hours remaining in this year’s run (though we don’t know how many yet). Get your official Fangamer Desert Bus 007 T-Shirt. Profits go to Desert Bus for Hope, and the design is really neat again this year. It’s $23 USD.
Also, everyone is going to want to see the final version of Michael Lunsford’s Official Desert Bus 007 poster. A live auction for the ONLY large printed copy will take place within the last few hours of our drive. So watch the “team will bus for” number on desertbus.org, and keep an eye on the feed for when that auction will take place.
Here’s what the poster looks like now:
If you want to keep us going longer, please consider donating to the cause. We’re looking to keep kids who are in hospital as happy as games can make them (which is very).
Paul’s “Process Man” lyric rewrite contest is on now. Enter before noon PST.
Submit your version of the song, but make it about Desert Bus.
The winner gets this Baldur’s Gate 8 prize pack:
Send entries to contests@desertbus.org.