Two years ago Joel Johnson emailed me to tell me he was going to start a local fund raiser in Brooklyn for Child's Play. It was going to be at Barcade and he was, among other things, bringing along a copy of Guitar Hero for people to play. I tried to help by promoting the event on Kotaku. He ended up raising about $1,500.

The next year I was able to pitch in about 50 pounds of schwag for Joel to give away at what had become an annual event in Brooklyn. This year, finally, I was able to ask Joel if I could host my own Fünde Razor here in Denver. I won't say it wasn't frustrating at times to arrange, or stressful to kick-off, but the tremendous showing made it more than worth it and we managed to raise a spectacular $1,839, almost twice what I had expected from a first-time event.

Meanwhile Joel's Brooklyn Fünde Razor hit an all time hight raising $5,161 (including the eBay auction), bringing the grand total raised for Child's Play to $7,000. Wow... just wow. (I dropped in a little cash to make it an even $7,000 because I apparently have OCD)

A very special thanks to NetDevil, LEGO, Bond Street, Dawdle and Neuros for their donations as well as Scott Alexander, Mark Wilson, Robert Workman and all the people who showed up to have fun for charity.

So, what do you think? Should I host another Denver Funde Razor next year?

Fünde Razor

There's no way you're going to wrest that Companion Cube free from the clutches of its owner, but that doesn't mean you can't buy your own. Joel Johnson, besides launching and organizing Funde Razor, managed to deliver unto the charity-attending masses not one, not two, but three of these giant plushies. One was given away at Joel's Brooklyn event, one was given away at the Denver event and the third has been placed on eBay with all the proceeds going to Child's Play.

If you missed out on the events, or weren't lucky enough to win one, now's your chance to buy one for charity. We'll post the total money raised at Funde Razor (Brooklyn and Denver) once this auction wraps up.

Portal's Weighted Companion Cube Life-Sized Plush [eBay]

Wow, just wow. Yesterday's local Child's Play fund raiser was truly a humbling experience. I drove down to Denver about 2ish to unload all of the schwag (including donations from Mark and Joel) and then figure out how exactly to split the signal from an Xbox 360 so it could go into a house sound system, a ceiling mounted video projector and an off-stage television.

We finally got the whole thing figured out and tested about ten minutes before doors were set to open at 6 p.m. Five minutes after six I was still standing in an open room, starting to think that perhaps I had over estimated the interest in a local Child's Play fund raiser... but then the booking manager came up and asked if she should start letting people in.

"People? You mean there are people?"

Turns out there was a line, a line that didn't really dissipate until closer to when the event ended at 10 p.m. In fact at one point they had to stop letting people in because we had exceeded the 142 fire code capacity for the back room... by a lot I suspect.

Attendees included members of the local Game Developers Association, people from the local studios (I talked to people from SOE Denver and NetDevil and suspect Idol Minds was in the house as well) and a lot more readers then I had thought would make it. One couple drove the 100 miles or so from Pueblo to attend, even getting a room for the night in Denver. Wow.

The entire night was spent watching people up on stage playing Rock Band, something that never seems to get old, especially when a light system and concert sound is involved. There were some amazing singers, guitarists and drummers there last night, including not a few expert level players.

I ended up giving out the schwag over the course of the event, and even got a few on-site donations of stuff from Game Daily and Dave Thomas (who snuck a free copy of the Videogame Style Guide into his donation). About 9 p.m. I gave away that amazingly cuddly Companion Cube, but not before giving it a big hug. (For the record Luke, I did not have sex with that Companion Cube.)

The winner, Mike Kappus, of Broomfield, took to the stage and admitted he had no idea what a Companion Cube was, and then shouted out to the audience that he would sell it to the first taker for $50, which he wanted to go to the fund raiser. The first-taker, Erik Rieger, of Denver, ended up giving $80 to Child's Play and then hoisted it above his head with a bit of a maniacal look in his eyes... I told him that the cake was in the other room and we all had a good laugh.

It was a good time for a good cause and I can't thank the people who came enough for helping to make this happen. Thanks again to Robert Workman for the donations, taking pictures for me and helping out on the stage and to the NetDevil folks for donating a ton of LEGOs, which were shipped direct to Brooklyn for Joel's Funde Razor.

I'll be posting an update later today with the final amount raised from the Denver event and more photos, but we definitely topped $1000. Joel tells me his Brooklyn event blew away past Funde Razors.

Ps. Send any pics you may have taken at the event and we'll add them to our gallery.

Big, big thanks to Phillip, Robert and others for the snaps!

Funde Razor

I hope to livestream from the Funde Razor party tonight here in Denver. Couple of problems with that though. First, I had to write this post a good eight hours before it was set to go live. Second I have no idea if I get cell reception inside the Walnut Room. Third I really can't double check once things get going. So if there's just a big blank screen up there, sorry. Otherwise hit the jump and feel free to comment about the Funde Razor shenanigans.

OK, I'm outta here. I have to run down to Denver to pick up some bits and pieces for the big event tonight at the Walnut Room, then hop by the Rocky Mountain News, where they've been "holding" one of my Rock Band guitars, and then finally get over to the bar to set stuff up and test out the game.

Hope to see some of you there. For those of you planning on attending in Denver, it runs from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and you'll need to be 21 or older to get in. The cover is a $10 minimum donation.

The ticket gets you, besides a warm fuzzy feeling inside, a door prize ticket. I'm bringing a mountain of swag with me to the fund raiser to give away including the Manhunt 2 straitjacket, one of those Wii bags from E3 06, a Metal Gear Solid multi-tool knife, a Lair lighter, a Valut Boy Fallout 3 bobble head, Zelda hourglass and more shirts than I want to even think about. We will also have a Limited Edition copy of Rock Band for the 360 on hand to giveaway and, of course, that life-sized companion cube.

If you're planning to attend the Brooklyn Funde Razor hit up the official site for the details.

It may be 20 degrees out right now, it may be snowing, it may be icy, but tomorrow I expect sunshine, if not in Denver then at least in The Walnut Room.

Why? Well because that's when we're doing the first ever local Funde Razor here in Denver. For those of you planning on attending in Denver, it runs from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. and you'll need to be 21 or older to get in. The cover is a $10 minimum donation.

The ticket gets you, besides a warm fuzzy feeling inside, a door prize ticket. I'm bringing a mountain of swag with me to the fund raiser to give away including the Manhunt 2 straitjacket, one of those Wii bags from E3 06, a Metal Gear Solid multi-tool knife, a Lair lighter, a Valut Boy Fallout 3 bobble head, Zelda hourglass and more shirts than I want to even think about. We will also have a Limited Edition copy of Rock Band for the 360 on hand to giveaway and, of course, that life-sized companion cube.

If you're planning to attend the Brooklyn Funde Razor hit up the official site for the details.

Just a reminder that Funde Razor, the annual Child's Play rock-off in Brooklyn and now Denver, kicks off this coming Wednesday night. I should, by then, be totally over my jet-lag.

Door prizes for the Denver event will include tons of gaming schwag (things like the Manhunt 2 straitjacket, the Ninja Gaiden DS stylus and a Zelda hourglass), a copy of Rock Band for the 360 and a life-sized Companion Cube plushie.

The party kicks off here in Denver at The Walnut Room at 6 p.m. and runs through 10 p.m. I'm told a lot of the local development crowd will be there, which is very cool of them. We will, if I have figured out the technical aspects correctly, be playing Rock Band on the stage. If I haven't, we will be trying to get Rock Band to work for most of the evening.

In Brooklyn the event kicks off at 8 p.m. at Barcade and runs through midnight. It sounds like Joel will have Rock Band and might also have Guitar Hero III on hand at his event.

Are any readers planning on coming to the Denver event or hitting up the event in Brooklyn?

Funde Razor

Next week, next Wednesday (Dec. 12 to be precise) I will be hanging out at the Walnut Room in Denver hoping to help raise a bit of cash for Child's Play through the first ever Denver Funde Razor: Hall of the Mountain Gods! OK, I made that last bit, the Gods bit, up, but it does have a nice ring to it.

If you're interesting in stopping by to play some Rock Band on stage, drink some beer and perhaps win some goodies all for the good of Child's Play check out the official Funde Razor site for details on both the Denver event and the Brooklyn one, hosted by Mountain Man Joel Johnson. If you do plan on coming to the Denver event hit up the Walnut Room from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. If you plan on Brooklyn, get to Barcade between 8 p.m. and midnight.

Funde Razor

What you see before you aren't just the coolest damn game-related plushies on the planet. They're not just life-sized, and very huggable Companion Cubes, no they're also the grand prizes for the Brooklyn and Denver Funde Razor events happening on Dec. 12 to raise money for Penny Arcade's Child's Play Charity.

That's right, not only can you hang-out with fellow gamers in Brooklyn and Denver and play a little Rock Band or Guitar Hero on a big-screen, but you have a chance at winning one of these Companion Cubes created by Diane Koss with the help of a grant from the Bond Street Group. Each of the two cubes, seen here sandwiching one standard-issue human female, will be awarded to one test subject in each Fünde Razor facility.

Also: We'll be giving away some LEGO, courtesy of Lego and Net Devil, co-creators of the upcoming LEGO Universe massively multiplay online videogame. More prizes to be announced as we get closer to the event.

Joel Johnson will be on hand at the FR in Brooklyn to make sure people get the goodies and I'll be on hand in Denver to rock out.

Hit the link to check out the complete details for the upcoming, and hopefully soon to be, annual event.

Funde Razor