Hi everyone!

It is about time we talk about something very important and serious: The GAMING MAMMOTH is coming up!
As every year, we need you to decide what charity we want to support. From today on, you have a whole week to vote on your favourite charity. And here are the candidates:

1) Crohn’s & Colitis UK – https://www.crohnsandcolitis.org.uk
The people of  focus on research, education, support and raising awareness for serious bowel diseases such as Crohn’s Disease. It’s an issue that goes widely unnoticed while many people suffer from it – More than 300,000 people in the UK alone. It is largely a hidden disease, and one that causes stigma, fear and isolation – it’s thought that many people with the condition go undiagnosed and suffer in silence. It doesn’t have to be like this.
Crohn’s & Colitis UK is the UK’s leading charity in the battle against Crohn’s and Colitis. With our help, they can make a real difference for those people who suffer from these terrible conditions.

2) The Trevor Project – https://www.thetrevorproject.org
Founded in 1998 by the creators of the Academy Award®-winning short film TREVOR, The Trevor Project is the leading US organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer & questioning (LGBTQ) young people under 25. In many places, especially young people suffer from the consequences of what is not their choice, leading to mental illnesses such as depression, being shut off from society or even physically or mentally hurt.
The Trevor Project tries to help these young people giving them hope and a perspective and educating on the matter. They also offer trainings on suicide prevention, school workshops and virtual as well as physical safe spaces for LGTBQ youth and their friends and allies.

3) World Resources Institute – https://www.wri.org
WRI’s mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. We’re now living in a world with dwindling resources and a dying environment. Pollution, poverty, deforestation and the overall irresponsible way we treat our planet and each other are serious issues – but issues we can handle, and need to. It’s becoming more and more urgent that we think of new ways to live and to gather the resources needed.
The experts and staff WRI work closely with leaders on solutions for all of these critical issues worldwide.

What charity should we support this year?

• Crohn’s & Colitis UK
• The Trevor Project
• World Resources Institute

SubmitView results

Thank you – To the donors; Who opened their hearts and wallets.
Thank you – To the sponsors; Who gave us many great games to play and give.
Thank you – To the streamers; Who donated their time to promote a great cause.
Thank you – To the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation; Who let us be weird under their wing.
Thank you – To the public; Who shared, laughed, talked and invested time in watching us have fun.
Thank you – To the organisation; Who helped out in organising this event and many more to come.

Thank you – To the rest; Who I forgot to mention. It was great having you around :)

Collecting $1715,- USD is not a small feat.
And each and every one of you should feel proud to have been part of this event.
If it was through sharing, donating or keeping streamers awake.

YOU are awesome.
And YOU deserve our gratitude!

The BBRF has been contacted, and the money will be sent to them as soon as possible.
Late for the party or want to donate more? Follow this link ;)

This post will be updated once we get a reply from the BBRF regarding the donation.

Good day, fellow Toy Soldiers!

As it has become customary each year, we again need your opinion on this year’s Gaming Mammoth. We have carefully picked three charities for you to choose from. Please, leave your vote below within the week.

To get to the poll [click here]!

 And those are the charities you can pick from:

Unbound is an organisation that focuses on children and families living in poverty all around the world. Their approach is to not simply send money to people in need, but to lift people out of poverty with the help of the community and their social workers, to give them hope and a future.

With ~7% their overhead is quite small.

Find out more about their work on their website or look them up on charitywatch.

The BBR Foundation focuses on mental health research, including depression, anxiety, autism and a lot more.They are committed to alleviating the suffering caused by mental illness by awarding grants that will lead to advances and breakthroughs in scientific research.

With ~8% their overhead is also quite small.

Find out more about their work on their website or look them up on charitywatch.

The WRI focuses on the intersection of the environment and socio-economic development. They work with governments, business, and civil society to build solutions — going beyond research.

With ~9% their overhead is also quite small.

Find out more about their work on their website or look them up on charitywatch.

I just wanted to leave a little Thank You here. The Gaming Mammoth, once again, was successful. We had lots of fun, made new friends and collected money for a good cause. Even though we did not reach our goal. This is not about numbers or our ego. The ambition is to help people, and we certainly did.

Currently, we are getting all things sorted, winners get picked and emailed and mystery packages get packed.

Thank you crafters, planners, streamers, sponsors, sharers, carers, viewers, everyone who went a little bit out of their way for us. You people are what makes this event so awesome. You are making a change in this world.

P.S.: Our Gaming Mammoth shop will remain open, and profits from that will continue to be donated to Mind, so be sure to check it out

It is about time we give you some updates on the Gaming Mammoth. We have had a lot to do and went above and beyond this year to create a new website, professional promotion material and reach out to many, many supporters.

So far, we have already collected more than $1100 worth of donations and giveaways from our sponsors in game keys and merchandise. But we also contributed self-made things. The amount of time we invested in the preparations has grown bigger, and so did our Mammoth. We’re even in talks for our own merchandise shop this year, where you’ll be able to buy awesome Gaming Mammoth shirts and therefore donate in a new way. So, you see, the tiny Mammoth is not so small anymore.

We’ll soon reach out to you to see how many of you want to participate and actively join our gaming and streaming. We hope for as much support as possible. It is not just the cool giveaways and generous companies that sponsor us that make our Gaming Mammoth great – It’s the fact that you guys join us each year and we have fun together.
Everyone of you counts, streaming or not.

For anyone ready to spread the word, I have uploaded image files for flyers, web banners and more.

Thanks for taking the time to read, and I hope to see you soon on my list of gamers. ;-)

Lt. Sophie out!

The Gaming Mammoth is coming soon (details post coming this week) and there is something that needs to be discussed from my side.

This year, we are going to be running a tabletop RPG game as part of the event and when I say “we” I do in fact mean we.

Are you a tabletop gamer? Want to take part in a single campaign and raise money for a good cause? Great, read on!

We are going to need someone with DM’ing experience, if no one else has any experience or is willing to run a game then I will take point on that but my experience is limited so if we have someone who doesn’t mind working with me on this it would just be so much easier.

The aim will be to start a game on the Friday of the Mammoth (March 31st) at about 10pm Uk time, run a single shot campaign until it’s over and then never speak of it again.

So right now I am looking for people with experience DM’ing tabletop games, people who want to play a game for a good cause.

Experience using Roll20 is a benefit but not needed, but you need to be free March 31st, from at least half an hour before the game is scheduled to start (should be about 5pm East-coast American time).

Most important of all, this is going to be livestreamed on twitch as part of the Gaming Mammoth, so if you can’t handle either your face or voice being on display, don’t volunteer.

It has been suggested to me, by a relatively reliable D&D channel on Twitch that we include some kind of… in-game hi-jinks for donations as apparently it encourages donations so you need to consider this as well.

So, who is interested, if you need to confirm the date closer to the day by all means just let me know, but let me know if you’re a firm or soft confirmation and what you’re up for (playing or DM’ing).

Good gaming guys!

Between the 1st and 3rd of April, Toy Soldiers across the world gathered together in the digital realm.

Their mission? Stream and game for as long or as often as possible between Friday and Sunday, and raise $2000 for the Enable Community Foundation.

It was a SMASHING success. With Lt. Sophie, Engineer Airhead and SilentAddle leading by example, there were over a dozen people streaming at various times on the weekend, across a variety of games. Minecraft, Elite Dangerous, Don’t Starve Together, Banished, Mario Kart, board games, the list just goes on.

And we did it all for benefit of the Enable Community Foundation, an organisation and network of 3D printers around the globe, who make 3D printed prosthetic hands for disabled children, for free! We felt that any group that goes to such efforts to bring a little happiness to the world using their creative talents deserves a helping hand from the Army of Toy Soldiers.

We want to give a huge thank you to everyone who donated, to all the streamers, all the gamers, and everyone who helped behind the scenes, for making such an awesome event happen. And do not fret.

The Gaming Mammoth WILL return!

Now, check out this explosive ending to the Minecraft Server!

Last weekend, Toy Soldiers from across the globe gathered together to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society.

Not only did we smash through the $1000 target (which was last years Gamin Marathons total), but we also smashed through the secondary target of $1500, raising a total of $1565! Donations will remain open until this Wednesday for anyone who wishes to donate further.

This year we played two games. Minecraft and Don’t Starve Together, from 8pm on Friday until 3pm on Sunday, and it is thanks to Lt. Sophie’s organizing that everyone who partook had a smashing good time. We reached out for comment, but apparently she wont stop hugging the coffee machine which aided her through the weekend.

We want to thank everyone who watched, chatted and donated, but we especially want to thank all the gamers who joined in and made this event possible. So thank you to: Lt Sophie, Engineer Airhead, LED Master Gonzo, Trigo, Brigadier Iron Davis, Rydius, B34R, Captain Cog, Darth Raziel, IceRoyale, Sergeant Voltor, Silent Addle, Dothrah, Elve, Delina, Scouter715, Sokamin, TechieFive, 8Ben, SmupahLilPudding, Th3Jane, and MetalKitten.

Congratulations to you all, you have done an amazing job.

Click the image for some fireworks!

It is the day before Toy Soldier day. After weeks of planning, and not an insignificant amount of hours playing, Operation: Dig Deep has successfully collected the $1000 US Dollars we set out to raise for the charity Child’s Play.

From 19.00 GMT on Friday the 28th of February to 19.00 GMT on Sunday the 2nd of March, Engineer Airhead lead the charge into the land of Minecraftia, with (almost) no sleep. The original mission of repairing the cookie production hall was completed in an astounding 1 hour. For the other 47 hours, Toy Soldiers across the world converged on the Digital Bunker manifested in Minecraft, to fill and decorate the tunnels, corridors, halls and rooms with all the things that make the Army of Toy Soldiers the most unique army in the world!

During the livestream, there was singing, dancing, shenanigans, serious and not so serious discussions (let’s not bring up the fan fiction incident, shall we?), music and much more. The livechat was awash with messages to and from soldiers at all times of the day and night.

So congratulations, Toy Soldiers. YOU DID IT!
Thank you to each and every one of you that donated towards the fundraiser.
Thank you to everyone who spread the message and shared the links on social networks and other sites.
Thank you all the Toy Soldiers who joined in the livechat and the skype conversation.
Thank you to every single one of you who logged onto the minecraft server and got to take part in constructing a truly brilliant map.

And most of all, thank you to Engineer Airhead, for the focus, the vision, the dedication and the sheer tenacity you exhibited to make Operation: Dig Deep the success it is today. No other mission conducted by the Army of Toy Soldiers has ever raised so much for charity, and your work is truly appreciated.

Also a special thank you to everyone who gave Engineer Airhead the moral support to keep going, staying up all hours, and Toy Soldier Delina, for taking over for the brief moment things got a bit too much and also keeping him alive long enough to complete the challenge.

The server will be up for a few days longer, however once it closes, we’ll clean up the minecraft map and make two versions available to all. One blank original, and another as completed by the Toy Soldiers. Both of which will be greatly expanded to allow you to truly get lost in the endless corridors and tunnels of the Digital Bunker.