Playing as fast as they can: Video game speedrunners and Awesome Games Done Quick

The world-record time for completing the video game Super Mario Bros. 3 is held by a person who goes by the username MitchFlowerPower. He beat the game in 50 minutes and 55 seconds and is known as a speedrunner — a video gamer who doesn't play for the story or the experience, but for speed. 

Right now, there are hundreds of video game speedrunners all taking part in the Superbowl of video games, called Awesome Games Done Quick. For 24 hours a day every day this week, these players speed through video games and stream it live on the internet for a massive audience. Hundreds of millions of people check it out and it raises millions of dollars for charity.

Kate Gray is a video game journalist who has followed Awesome Games Done Quick and writes about it for the popular online gaming site Kotaku. Gray joins Tom Power live from Montreal to help unpack what speedrunning is all about. 

Awesome Games Done Quick runs until this Sunday. You can watch the live stream of the event here.

— Produced by Mitch Pollock