‘Challenging but comfortable’: Hungarian breaks game marathon world record by playing DDR for 144 hours

A Hungarian player has explained how he broke the Guinness World Record for the longest video game marathon.

Last year Szabolcs Csépe, who goes by the name Grasshopper online, played Dance Dance Revolution over a six-day period, for a total of 144 hours non-stop.

Now Guinness has acknowledged the record, and interviewed Csépe about how he managed to pull off the accomplishment.

Csépe – who goes by the nickname Grasshopper because he’s always jumping around – says he was inspired when he learned about the previous world record, a 138-hour Just Dance marathon achieved in 2015 by American player Carrie Swidecki.

“Ever since I learned about Carrie Swidecki’s achievements in marathon gaming, I often caught myself thinking about how she pulled the all-time longest session off almost a decade ago,” he told Guinness.

Csépe worked his way up to the record by breaking ‘smaller’ marathon gaming records in recent years. In 2021 he broke the records for ‘longest video game marathon playing a Naruto game’ (28 hours 11 minutes on Narutimetto Akuseru 2) and ‘longest video game marathon playing a puzzle game’ (32 hours, 32 minutes, 32 seconds playing Tetris Effect).

In 2023 he then played Gran Turismo 7 for 90 hours straight, earning the world records for ‘longest video game marathon playing a racing game’ and ‘longest video game marathon playing a simulation game’.

“I set up stepping stones long ago to chase after the No 1 spot by building up the required skills in all aspects. Every time I attempted another marathon, I told myself, ‘it must feel like a dream achievement to all of us’, until the final days of each record attempt actually concluded.”

By playing Dance Dance Revolution for 144 hours, however – a task that covered 3,000 songs and saw him burning 22,000 calories – Csépe not only broke the record for ‘longest video game marathon playing a rhythm game’, but also the overall ‘longest video game marathon’ record.

“For me, by far this attempt was the most physically demanding experience, where the arms and shoulders expressed fatigue for extended hours without stretching,” he explained.

“Apart from physically training for marathon gaming sessions, I prepared with the two most important keys to succeed – doing serious practice attempts with a small staff, and also coming up with a plan for supporting your body with sufficient food and water intake.”

Despite the obvious challenge involved, Csépe says the record attempt was actually “challenging and comfortable at the same time”, explaining: “Standing for long hours is not something that humans are designed for; however, this time I could move freely as I was not exposed to sudden or unexpected body movements, for example, constantly competing with opponents on a race track”.