A gamer in Hungary set a new Guinness World Record by playing "Dance Dance Revolution" (DDR) nonstop for six days.
According to the BBC in the United Kingdom and other foreign media on the 11th (local time), Csepe Szabolcs, 34, from Budapest, played DDR for a full 144 hours in a row last month to set a new record in the video game marathon category. The record beat the previous mark of 138 hours and 34 seconds set by American Carrie Swidecki with "Just Dance" in 2015 by nearly six hours.
According to the reports, over six days he completed more than 3,000 songs and burned about 22,000 kcal. Csepe said he decided to take on the challenge after watching gameplay footage of the previous record holder, Swidecki.
But six days of gaming was not an easy journey. Under Guinness rules, a 10-minute break was allowed every hour, and he explained that he could save that time to get about one to two hours of sleep.
Ahead of the attempt, he combined six months of physical training and diet control, and said it was "the toughest record that required both mental strength and a sense of rhythm at the same time." After finishing the challenge, Csepe said, "DDR has always been a fun game for me, but this attempt was a 'boringly fun' experience."
In the gaming community, he is known by the nickname "GrassHopper." On the origin of the name, he said, "It was a nickname I got because I was always jumping around as a kid."
Working as an IT engineer, Csepe is already called a "Guinness record maker" in several game fields. In 2021, he played "Naruto: Narutimate Accel 2" for 28 hours 11 minutes 32 seconds, the same year he played "Tetris Effect" for 32 hours 32 minutes 32 seconds, and in 2023 he played "Gran Turismo 7" for 90 hours straight, setting a world record in the racing simulator category as well. With this DDR record, he has once again earned the title "king of the game marathon."
"Dance Dance Revolution" is a representative rhythm dance game released in 1998 by Konami. Participants step on pads on a platform with their feet in the direction of the arrows displayed on the screen to score points.
It later became a global hit, spawning various versions; it was introduced into school physical education programs in the United Kingdom and the United States, and was even designated an official sport in Norway. In Korea, it sparked an arcade boom from 1999 to the early 2000s and gained huge popularity. Recently, it has drawn renewed attention as an esports event, with DDR tournaments being held around the world.