Spending a few dollars to rent a movie is the normal solution to Saturday night boredom. For a few sophomore males, however, their solution was spending nearly $400 on food.

Not just any food, of course- they ate cuisine paid for entirely with Colonial Cash. In a 24-hour marathon of GWorld spending, Seth Fink, Nick Grinstead, Jake LaBelle and Ryan Skinner decided they would go to as many eateries as possible that accepted GWorld for payment.

Starting at midnight on a Saturday night earlier this month, their initial goal was to eat food from 40 different places by midnight on Sunday. As they GWorld-swiped their way from place to place, they came to realize their goal was a little too lofty. In the end, they visited 20 different food venues and received deliveries from five more.

Perhaps it was the ground rules they set for their venture that prohibited them from being customers at more than 25 places. The rules were that everyone had to eat at least two-thirds of what they ordered – and no purposeful throwing up or stomach medications allowed.

“We wanted to do it and we all said ‘let’s do this because we can,'” Grinstead said. “So we did.”

They started at midnight with an order from Campus Snacks. Then, the sophomores made stops at places such as 7-Eleven, Au Bon Pain, Cone E. Island, Bertucci’s, Little Cafe, Sizzling Express, One Fish Two Fish and Philadelphia Pizza Co.

The boys kept a checklist of restaurants to keep track of their progress. There are nearly 60 on-campus and off-campus eateries on the Colonial Cash program. They knocked grocery stores, drugs stores and coffee shops off the list, concluding that they shouldn’t count as food venues.

The venture was an experiment of sorts. After consuming countless calories, they started keeping track of which foods were good for easing stomach pain and which foods were just plain harder to stomach. Their list of wonder cures included Wendy’s french fries, Charlie Chiang’s dumplings, Coggins’ soup and T.G.I. Friday’s mozzarella sticks. Another digestion saving grace was the walks between each restaurant.

With each student spending about $100 of GWorld money, their attitude about Colonial Cash expenditures also made the food frenzy possible.

“GWorld is monopoly money. It is not real, and that is one of the reasons we did this,” Skinner said.

“If you don’t see the money, it doesn’t exist,” Fink added.

Despite their initial excitement, all four students said they were relieved to stop eating.

“When that clock hit midnight on Sunday night, we all had a huge sigh of relief. We didn’t even eat solids that next day. Well, I had a waffle,” LaBelle said.

The students intend to make this an annual challenge, dubbing it the GWorld-athon. Next year, they hope to expand the group, make T-shirts, possibly get sponsorships and donate the money to a charity.

“Next year we want to get to 35 places. We want to be so big that after our senior years, students will continue the tradition.” Skinner said.

In their scheming to be the biggest eaters in the GWorld, the students just seem happy to have had the experience.

“It’s an experience that not a lot of people would do,” Fink said. “We went through it together, and in 10 years we can look back at this moment and remember how much we ate.”