That student who was scheming to turn the student center at Columbia University into the girder level of Donkey Kong ended up like the dog who caught the car. The scheme's been called off, and all donations have been refunded.
Well, they were never collected in the first place. The site where he was organizing the project records a donation and only charges if a funding level is reached. But "AronSora," the Columbia student who hatched the idea, wrote me earlier today to say he was calling it all off. A message later sent out to all donors explained why:
It's starting to get too risky and I don't have to balls to pull it off. I'm also worried that any barrels would scratch up the glass ramps, but they have to be heavy enough to roll; this maybe impossible. I also realized that Donkey Kong Could get injured by lifting the barrels, at 20 pounds each, over his head. By canceling this project, all your pledges should be returned to you. Thank you all for being far more epic than I am and reminding me how amazing teh intertubes are. Maybe it will happen one day, but I can't do it in a safe, non damaging stealthy way.
Given that this was outed on the Internet well in advance of its execution date, I don't think there was any hope of AronSora pulling this off stealthily. I'd also like to see how he'd stealthily load barrels to the top of Lerner Hall with a guy dressed in a Donkey Kong suit.
I think the only course of action now is to take this before Columbia's student activities authority, sign all the proper paperwork, and do the whole thing as a fundraiser. My $40 pledge for materials still stands, and I'll toss another $60 on that to the cause.