Games Done Quick (GDQ) started 13 years agone successful Mike Uyama’s mother’s basement. It wasn’t expected to. Uyama, the laminitis of the speedrunning foundation event, had a bully venue each picked retired and acceptable to spell earlier coming to the horrific realization that forced him to decamp: the net was excessively slow.

“The archetypal intent was to person it astatine MAGFest,” Uyama told The Verge implicit Zoom. “But their net wasn’t bully capable and my mom’s was, truthful that’s wherefore we had it successful my mom’s basement.”

Since those little than auspicious beginnings, Games Done Quick has evolved into a biannual lawsuit that enthusiasts look guardant to, clearing schedules, taking disconnected work, and making peculiar trips to its unrecorded events. It’s besides raised implicit $41 cardinal for charity, breaking its donation records astir each year. And aft 13 years shepherding what’s thought of arsenic a benignant of gamer Christmas, Uyama is stepping back.

The Verge had the exclusive accidental to talk to Uyama and his successor, Matt Merkle, astir the challenges and rewards of moving connected the lawsuit that’s 1 of the astir heartening and wholesome examples of gaming accomplishment and charity.

Uyama cites his wellness arsenic the crushed he’s stepping away. 

“So AGDQ 2023 marks my 13th twelvemonth of GDQ. I’ve been astatine it for a agelong time, and I decided it’s clip for maine to instrumentality a break,” helium said. “I realized that I request to instrumentality attraction of my wellness and benignant of absorption connected antithetic activities.”

It’s casual to recognize wherefore Uyama needs a break. In 13 years, helium and his squad astatine Games Done Quick person done a lot. In summation to the marquee Games Done Quick events successful January and July, the enactment besides hosts a slew of regular programming focused connected gathering up the speedrunning community, highlighting beginners and speedrunners from marginalized backgrounds. For women and nonbinary speedrunners, there’s Frame Fatales, and for Black speedrunners, there’s Unapologetically Black and Fast. 

All of these events spun retired of Uyama’s archetypal extremity of creating a foundation streaming lawsuit dissimilar the ones that were astir successful 2009.

“The 2 main foundation events were The Speed Gamers and Desert Bus For Hope,” Uyama said. “And 1 time we had a thread successful our forum — due to the fact that that’s what we did backmost successful the aughts — astir having a foundation event.”

Since Speed Demos Archive, the speedrunning forum helium was a portion of astatine the time, was centered connected moving older games, Uyama focused his tendency for a foundation lawsuit into Classic Games Done Quick — a tendency that manifested arsenic the present infamous mother’s basement event. 

That archetypal twelvemonth taught Uyama the biggest acquisition he’s carried guardant into aboriginal events.

“Lesson fig 1 was marque definite the net works,” helium said. 

Lesson fig two, according to Merkle, who’ll beryllium taking implicit arsenic the caput of GDQ: nary much basements.

“When it was increasing from 15 radical to 50 people, that was a large wake-up telephone to determination it retired of there,” Merkle said.

Merkle attributes the maturation of GDQ, from a basement of 15 to hundreds of thousands of viewers connected Twitch, to the elemental tendency of folks wanting to beryllium successful a assemblage doing bully work.

“A batch of it is conscionable a assemblage vibe and radical privation to beryllium a portion of that,” Merkle said. And that needs to beryllium a portion of thing bigger extended to the radical watching from home.

“When we deed that archetypal cardinal dollars, I deliberation it was 2014, that was incredible,” Merkle said. “Everybody successful that country felt the excitement and however awesome it was to beryllium determination and to beryllium a portion of that. Then everybody watching and donating from home, they each got to beryllium a portion of it, too.”

But much than that, Merkle says the in-person facet of GDQ events became a mode for speedrunners to link beyond forum threads and Discord servers. (Before the pandemic and struggle with Florida’s anti-LGBTQ and lax covid policies forced organizers to pivot to online.)

“It became a cardinal spot for speedrunners, who whitethorn lone spot each different online, to conscionable and bent retired and play their favourite games together,” helium said. “We often perceive from runners and different radical astatine the events that they excavation the vibe and consciousness that our event, compared to others, is simply a batch much laid back, a batch much relaxed.”

GDQ hitting $1 cardinal for the archetypal clip is 1 of many, many hype arsenic hellhole moments successful the 13-year past of the event. 

In my 7 oregon truthful years of watching regularly, I person excessively galore hype arsenic hellhole moments to recount here. I retrieve the archetypal clip I saw a Tetris Grandmaster exhibition and the level of method accomplishment it took to play the hardest Tetris astatine the highest level. These runners were making shapes and patterns retired of Tetrominoes falling truthful accelerated they could hardly beryllium seen.

Of course, anyone playing anything with a blindfold is an instant must-watch, particularly this tally of Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!

But possibly my favourite moments person thing to bash with the method accomplishment connected show and everything to bash with the bosom and emotion pouring from the assemblage and the audience. The past crippled played astatine AGDQ 2017 was a tally of Undertale, and watching the absorption from the assemblage encouraging the runner to hug the defeated last brag brought maine to tears. 

Merkle and Uyama person their ain favorites, too.

“This run’s truly memorable, not conscionable due to the fact that of the tally itself but besides conscionable the ambiance astir it,” Merkle said. “It was the Super Metroid four-way contention from 2014.” 

“It was similar the 4 apical players astatine the clip each unneurotic successful 1 spot,” Merkle continued. “Absolutely unthinkable skill. They’re each ace adjacent successful clip to each other, truthful it was truly chill to see, and we had immoderate truly fantabulous commentary down that arsenic well. People benignant of called it the pro play of speedruns.”

For Uyama, immoderate of his favourite moments aren’t captured connected a watercourse but alternatively hap backstage. 

“We’ll person a tourney for this beauteous obscure — not terribly bully — warring crippled called Evil Zone that’s organized by a antheral who calls himself a subordinate of the PlayStation Nation,” Uyama said. “None of america ever practiced for the tourney until close earlier GDQ, and we’ll conscionable play for fun.”

GDQ’s entreaty lies with its community, and that assemblage has shouldered the herculean task it is to support the lawsuit moving smoothly. In summation to ensuring a coagulated net transportation and booking capable abstraction for radical to gather, Uyama says different large situation for GDQ is getting the docket right. 

“Back successful 2011, I don’t retrieve precisely however overscheduled we were, but we were thing similar 16–18 hours implicit schedule,” helium said.

There is truthful overmuch going connected astatine a GDQ that isn’t needfully shown successful a broadcast. Organizers person to relationship for runs going implicit estimate, method difficulties, oregon analyzable setup and teardowns impacting the timing of everything.

“We person go overmuch amended astatine accounting for what’s connected the docket due to the fact that it’s precise easy, if we are ever moving ahead, to capable up time. But it’s precise hard to marque up clip if you are behind.”

Choosing what goes connected the docket is its ain unsocial challenge, too. 

“That’s been different increasing symptom due to the fact that backmost successful the day, it was like, ‘Okay, I tin springiness each oregon astir radical a crippled to tally astatine the event,’” Uyama shared. “However, erstwhile you person thousands of submissions, present that is obscurity adjacent a anticipation unless we wanted GDQ to beryllium each twelvemonth round.” 

“It’s a precise hard process picking games due to the fact that you privation to spell with established classics that radical are acquainted with — worldly similar Mario, the Zelda series, and Halo,” Uyama said. “But you besides privation to prime caller games oregon possibly thing that’s not rather arsenic known but inactive mightiness beryllium absorbing to ticker due to the fact that you fundamentally privation to marque definite that determination is simply a small thing for everyone.”

Speedrunning is conscionable arsenic wide and varied arsenic the assemblage of runners, and Merkle wants the docket to bespeak that.

“It’s a existent situation to get into the event, but that’s wherefore it’s truthful important that we effort to premix it up and not conscionable absorption connected lone the large hitters,” Merkle added. “We privation to absorption connected representing the full speedrunning community.”

Getting a tally accepted for GDQ is tough. The 2 organizers shared stories of runners submitting clip and clip again earlier yet getting accepted.

“We instrumentality into relationship [questions] like, ‘When’s the past clip we saw this crippled successful an event?’ ‘Have we adjacent seen this crippled astatine an lawsuit before?’’ Merkle said. “How bully is their time? How amusive is the run? And if it’s not amusive possibly it’s similar a really, truly unspeakable crippled but it’s really, truly comic to watch.”

Merkle and Uyama shared tips for however runners who privation to beryllium featured astatine GDQ tin get their runs selected. 

“We started asking the assemblage for much outside-the-box runs,” Merkle said. “So we’ve had much bushed games successful caller events, and we’re experimenting with VR games astatine events. We’ll person Half-Life: Alyx astatine [GDQ 2023]. I’m truly excited for that.”

Me, too.

Uyama told The Verge that adjacent though he’s stepping down, helium doesn’t program to measurement distant for good. “The assemblage is truthful welcoming and supportive, and I made a batch of friends. So I decidedly don’t privation to conscionable wantonness them. I inactive privation to beryllium portion of it. But I conscionable request to instrumentality a interruption and reset myself.”

With Uyama stepping away, GDQ’s assemblage volition measurement up. At the halfway of GDQ — much than immoderate 1 idiosyncratic — is the assemblage and its tendency to bash charitable works. For years, GDQ has raised millions of dollars successful enactment of organizations including the Prevent Cancer Foundation, Doctors Without Borders, the Malala Fund, and more. Merkle and Uyama talk with pridefulness erstwhile they speech astir the bully their often silly but ever peculiar lawsuit has done.

“When Hurricane Harvey hit, we did a donation thrust for the Houston Food Bank, which was truly off-the-cuff astatine the past 2nd thrown together,” Uyama said.

Merkle shared that they went from conception to streaming successful conscionable 4 days and that it wouldn’t person been imaginable astatine each without the enactment of strangers from astir the state tied unneurotic by their emotion of games going fast.

In the past fistful of years, GDQ events person included interviews and small featurettes from Prevent Cancer and Doctors Without Borders truthful donators tin spot wherever their wealth is going. Thirteen years and $41 cardinal later, Games Done Quick has had a existent and marked interaction connected the charities it supports. 

“I retrieve erstwhile we did our archetypal fundraiser for Prevent Cancer backmost successful 2011,” Uyama said. “I got an email from idiosyncratic astatine Prevent Cancer close erstwhile we deed the $40,000 people that said, ‘We funded fractional of our probe study!’” 

“I retrieve radical telling maine that [Prevent Cancer Foundation] didn’t truly person overmuch of an planetary scope earlier we came along,” Uyama continued. “But with our planetary assemblage and with our urging, they’ve been capable to behaviour studies astir the world. I don’t retrieve what state it was, but determination was an African state wherever they were utilizing smartphone exertion for aboriginal detection of cervical cancer. So it’s truly going towards a bully cause.”

Awesome Games Done Quick starts Sunday, January 8th, astatine 11:30AM ET. Looking astatine the schedule, determination are truthful galore things I can’t hold to watch.