Desert Bus Lexicon
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Jump to navigationJump to searchThis page is a list of terms that were created or popularized during Desert Bus for Hope.
Desert Bus for Hope
- "For the Children!"
- An oft-uttered phrase that provides justification for the crazy things done on Desert Bus. Frequently invoked when someone is about to do something embarrassing or unpleasant, in the manner of "Well, it's for the children", or to guilt/encourage others to donate, as with, "Come on! It's for the children". The official DB4 "crest" t-shirt design features the latin motto "Bardus Pro Liberi", which translates as "stupidity for the children".
- "Dear Doctor X"
- To amuse himself during his shifts in Desert Bus 1, Morgan solicited advice column-style questions from the chat, in a segment called "Ask Doctor Morgan". Soon, this evolved such that anyone in the room became an honorary doctor when someone asked them a question (sometimes used as "Dear Dr. Kathleen", "Dear Dr. LRR" or "Dear Dr. Anyone").
- In later Desert Bus events this evolved further to assigning the DB crew random honorifics such as "Supreme Overlord", "Rear-Admiral" or "Rocket Surgeon".
- Taking a Dive
- Intentionally crashing the bus in exchange for a donation. The first was when Eddie Gorodetsky, co-designer of the game, called in and offered the crew $500 to crash the bus. As they were only 30 minutes into the run, the crew took him up on this offer. Since Desert Bus 2, these have not been accepted.
- Upside-Down Girls
- Originally occurred when two female guests were challenged to drive while upside-down in the drivers chair, in exchange for a donation. Various iterations of this have recurred (upside-down girl, upside-down James, etc).
- “Is it Safe?”
- A reference to the movie "Marathon Man", no one is quite sure how this started, but the chat would frequently ask the crew if "it" was safe. Jer was a big fan of this meme early on and really helped push it along.
Desert Bus for Hope 2
- Rosco P. Jangles IV
- A plush Audubon Society mallard toy owned by Jer. Jer, a long-time fan of ducks, brought Rosco in to keep himself company during his driving shift. Rosco was named by auction during Desert Bus 2. He has become an unofficial mascot of Desert Bus and his "origin story" was given during Desert Bus 3 as "he is the product of wizards and a comet" (evidence here).
- "Boo-Ray"
- A combination of "boo" and "hooray", the oft-used phrase to describe the feeling that comes to the drivers and crew when a donation increases the time they'll have to spend driving; at first, sadness that it's not over yet, but then realization that this means more money for the childrens, and thus is a good thing.
- "Swear"
- Used in place of more offensive words, since DB tries to be a family-friendly stream. Has since been supplanted by other words, usually "Bus" (see Desert Bus 3).
- Bill's Mom
- The mother of Bill Watt, who visits and tells embarrassing stories about Bill or reveals secret information about him in exchange for donations.
- Send Matt to Twilight
- Desert Bus 2 occurred while the first Twilight movie was in theaters. Donations came in to force Matt to see the movie, which he dutifully went to see. While Matt was at Twilight, Bill pushed for more money to make Matt see the movie again. And then again. All in all, Matt had to see Twilight upwards of 5 times. This tradition of raising money by forcing Matt to watch the terrible Twilight-series movies continued in subsequent years, at one point involving Jer and Morgan going in full "Twi-hard" goth vampire costumes (when Matt refused to go in costume).
Desert Bus for Hope 3
- Space Bid
- Inspired by LRR's Space Jump fake viral video, to "space bid" is to place a bid in an auction when you're already the highest bidder. Notable Space Bids involved Steve Dengler bidding on one of his own auctions, and Notch bidding himself up to $10,000 in DB5.
- OctoPimp
- One of the earliest “big bidders” on auction items, Octopimp did a large amount of bid sniping and friendly smack-talking, capturing people’s imaginations. Though his participation has waned in recent years, he has become an oft-invoked figure, having achieved somewhat of a mythos within the fandom.
- "Madness"
- In reference to the 2006 film "300" and the accompanying meme ("Madness? This! Is! SPARTA!"), Madness became Desert Bus code for the number 300. If an auction went over $300, it was deemed Madness, and given a Madness level for each multiple of $300 the bids reached (an auction ending at $1000 would be Triple Madness). Coined by Graham, after DB3's unprecedented auctions started to "drive him mad".
- Craft-Along
- Began as an idea of LRR forum-goer Illuviel, the crafting community rallied massively behind the idea. Since DB3 they have made and donated hand-crafted items in ever-greater numbers, some auctions raising thousands of dollars.
- Value Added (e.g. Ken “Value Added” Steacy)
- Visitor/guest who brings their considerable talents to bear in producing items to be auctioned for absurd amounts of money. Named for Ken Steacy, Alex's dad, whose extensive career in the comics and illustrating world allowed him to donate some of the most unique and personal auction items Desert Bus has ever seen. Ken's auctions alone raised nearly $20,000, and his predilection for adding things to his own lots at the last minute earned him the moniker, "Value Added."
- Caramelldansen
- A song (full name: "Caramelldansen (SpeedyCake Remix)"), along with a distinctive, repetitive dance has become a staple of Desert Bus challenges. Oft-requested, Kathleen has danced this dance many, many times, for as long as 20 minutes on loop. The first time this occured can be seen here: [1]. It is very hard on your thighs, if you do it right.
- Gay Bar
- Matt put on a sparkly shirt and sang “Gay Bar” by Electric Six, complete with erotic choreography. Now, a common challenge is for someone to be "taken to the gay bar" by Matt.
- "Bus" (e.g. "Bussing," "Mother Bussing," etc.)
- Catch-all swear censor. Supplanting "swear" from previous years.
- "Appoint" (e.g. "I am appoint")
- The opposite of disappoint, from the "Son, I am disappoint" meme. The positive version coined by a sleepy Morgan in response to what he perceived to be negativity in the English language. Used whenever something good happened, as in, "Chatroom, I am appoint with you."
Desert Bus for Hope 4
- "Clubbing," "Getting clubbed," "Can you step," "Come at me bro," etc.
- See Clubbing. Later incorporated into Bros Clubbing Bros.
- "Play Minecraft, Watch Top Gear, Get Pig"
- From a phone interview with Elizabeth Grunewald, a former feature writer for the Escapist. She was taking notes on things the crew told her to check out, and she said, "I’ve been making a list. I’ve got 'Play Minecraft, Watch Top Gear, Get Flag'" The flag was an Eddie Izzard reference, to one of his jokes on colonization. She was informed by Graham that she needed one to reclaim her desk at work. Then, because pigs were a meme that year, it became pig. Subsequently, Notch offered to auction off a Minecraft splash text, the little slogans that appear on the main menu of Minecraft beneath the logo, and the winner chose this phrase to be included. The phrase now appears (randomly) on the Minecraft splash. According to Graham, long-time Desert Bus volunteer Chris Whitman was a big pusher for "get Pig" the day this occurred.
- "Sweeten the Pig" (sometimes "Sweden the Pig")
- Referred to as "sweetening the pot" by "normal" people, but adjusted slightly by the pig themes of Desert Bus 4, this refers to adding more prizes to an auction-in-progress, to increase interest in the bidding. It may also be used as an incentive to increase the bid (eg "We will sweeten the pig if the bid goes over $1000"). Some craft-along participants for Desert Bus 6 were asked specifically to create pig-themed pig-sweetening items, for this purpose. From all of this, the canonical Desert Bus pig "character" is named Sweden the Pig, and he is featured on the DB4 poster by Michael Lunsford.
- Team Kroze vs Team Ashton
- In the spirit of the Twilight fandom's "Team Edward vs Team Jacob", Desert Bus participants were asked to choose to align themselves with either Kroze or Ashton. The rivalry was intense.
- Temple of the Lava Bears
- A Dungeons and Dragons campaign invented by Jer after it was referenced in a CommodoreHUSTLE 011 - Showdown, and played during Desert Bus 4 by the Warriors of Darkness. 1, 2, 3, 4
- Aristotle
- The name of Kate's cat, who's "naming rights" were auctioned off to the Desert Bus chat. Goes by Ari.
- Bothan spies (e.g. "Many Bothans Died to bring us X")
- A reference to Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and the Bothan Spynet, whose members famously gave their lives to deliver information. In the context of Desert Bus, a certain amount of money donated ($3000) indicated that a Bothan spy had died to deliver such a quantity of money. This came up between Alex and Johnny during the the tech run. The joke came about because of Matt's idea for a Star Wars styled opening crawl for the marathon. (you can watch it here)
- Wharrgarbl!
- Reference to a demotivator with a dog getting blasted in the face with a water jet. The image broke Kathleen. See also Desert Bus 5's WHARR GAR BAL.
- Magic Pocket
- A particularly embarassing Bill’s Mom Story. See also Desert Bus 2. The story will not be repeated here. (you can watch it here)
- "I need an adult"
- A phrase uttered when the user is feeling particularly uncomfortable, usually due to inappropriate behavior or adult material in their presence. Coined by Kathleen and Graham while brainstorming video ideas, they were never able to work it into a sketch. Often used by Kroze during his various assaults. The full exchange is "I need an adult!" "I'm an adult." "I need a different adult!"
- "Crabcore"
- The song "Stick Stickly" by the band "Attack Attack!", widely panned by the crew as one of the worst songs ever written (hilariously so), had its music video parodied live by Alex. The performers in the video scuttle about like crabs, and the band performs metalcore; hence, "crabcore." Jer introduced the song to the crew, and its worth noting that the band themselves coined "crabcore," not the LRR crew.
Desert Bus for Hope 5
- Well Dong
- Corruption of "Well done." Originally from the game Titus the Fox.
- Whale Dong
- See Well Dong
- Wub (sometimes "Wub wub wub")
- A reference to dubstep, which had become absurdly popular around the time of Desert Bus 5.
- "But wait, there's more!" (eg Steve "But wait, there's more!" Dengler)
- Like Ken Steacy, Steve Dengler has done a lot for Desert Bus. During DB5 he earnt this appellation for frequently sweetening his own auctions, boosting the funds for challenges from the chat, and the sheer amount of support that he gave Desert Bus.
- Dengler and Butts
- A buddy-cop fanfiction written about Steve Dengler and Steve Butts after someone mentioned in chat that their names sounded like a cop drama, and Graham asked for people to submit their stories.
- AFRICAAA!
- Lyrical interjection. Developed during a donation performance for Toto's song "Africa," during which Ashley realized many others were singing poorly and did not know the actual lyrics and were just chiming in badly on the chorus, and dramatized it by shouting "AFRICAAA!" during said chorus.
- Slash fiction (i.e. Slashfic)
- A genre of fan fiction that focuses on the depiction of interpersonal attraction and/or sexual relationships between characters of the same sex. Bad fanfiction reading and Jer/Duck slashfics are known to have existed as early as Desert Bus 2, but terrible, comical slashfic of various DB participants abounded at remarkably high levels during Desert Bus 5, for some reason.
- "I AM an adult," "I need a DIFFERENT adult"
- Various responses to "I need an adult." Mostly stemming from various fan-submitted slash fictions involving Kroze and Ashton (e.g. "Krashton Slashton").
- "What is your stance on erotic Star Trek fanfiction?"
- Became a must-ask question for call-in guests, after it was submitted as a question in one of the blog posts asking for interview questions.
- "Work with daddy on this," "Put your pants back on."
- Must be spoken in a brogue. Phrases to soothe troublesome individuals. Originally from a story Kathleen told about a man and his daughter. Graham did the voices. The video can be found here: [2]
- "Four O’QWOP in the Morning," "QWOPing Balls"
- A reference to Graham learning about the game QWOP and seeing the popular "going to the store" youtube video at around 4 A.M. and breaking uncontrollably. See here: [3] and here: [4]
- "Myth Busted!"
- After the Mythbusters interview, this was proclaimed for every auction that went over $1000.
- Harry the Giant Creepy doll
- Created by Tally and used in several videos. He accompanied the team for the duration of Desert Bus 5, and could almost invariably be seen cuddling, dancing with, stroking, or being generally creepy around the crew. He was initially up for auction (along with the Creepy Doll puppet used in the illustrative pictures on the Desert Bus Craft-Along blog entries), but the winner gave Harry back to the LRR crew, accepting only the Creepy Doll puppet.
- BidBot
- Automated bid-tracking robot introduced to the Desert Bus Chat during Desert Bus 5. Suffered several catastrophic meltdown deaths due to the number of bidders. Subsequently anthropomorphized in several iterations. Now indispensable.
- Skullcam
- The camera in the corner of the room with a skull (named Fred) on top of it. According to Graham, this name originated as a tech run joke. See also: Fred the Skull
- The Kroze Nest and the Krashton Cam
- The Checkpoint desk (which housed in-house chat moderators including Kroze) and the camera pointing at said desk, respectively.
- Matt Breaks Things
- During the run, every time something happened with the streaming, Matt was blamed... even when he was at home, asleep.
- WHARR GAR BAL
- Said in the style of a dragon shout from the game Skyrim, which came out during Desert Bus 5 (so none of the crew could play it). See also Wharrgarbl from Desert Bus 4.
- Five Dollar Fact
- AlexanderDitto requested that a fact would be collected from everyone who appeared on Desert Bus 5, pledging a donation $5 per fact collected by the marathon's end.
Desert Bus for Hope 6
- "High Denglervision"
- This year, Steve Dengler is sponsoring the gear for HD broadcast. Where HD stands for "High Denglervision".
- Engineering
- The natural evolution of the Krozenest, Engineering is housed on the Checkpoint desk.
- "One DesertBuck"
- A DesertBuck is $22,805, the total raised by Desert Bus 1. Two DesertBucks is $45,610, and so on. A DesertBuck can be divided in 100 Decents.
- "Well Plaid"
- Originated as smacktalk during a live auction by dave_random. It has taken over for Well Dong from DB5 for usage instead of Well Done. Other encountered versions include "Whale Plaid," "Well Plait" (in honor of Phil Plait) and "Well Plate."
- "Soooo in!"
- Thanks to a challenge for 'Kate and Kathleen give horrible advice', So In became the way to describe hip/happening/well-pretty-much-anything.
- "My braaaaand!"
- Due to repeated viewings of a 1-800-CONTACTS commercial, "My Braaaaaaand!" and "Look, look with your special eyes," were exclaimed randomly during the marathon.
- "I have the weirdest [insert word here] right now."
- Referencing the line "I have the weirdest boner right now" from the television show "Community." Boner has been replaced, because children.
- "And the winner is... no donor account!"
- Man, that guy wins everything.
- Six Dollar Secret
- Like the Five Dollar Facts from Desert Bus 5, AlexanderDitto pledged $6 for every secret shared during Desert Bus 6.
- Cloning the Pig
- Lord Dengler saw fit to duplicate an auction lot for a custom made N7 jacket from Mass Effect. Such benevolence shall be henceforth known as "cloning the pig."
- Going to the Store
- A short video about a simple man, traversing the city. This was actually unleashed during Desert Bus 5, but became a rite of passage for all guests. Has its own button in engineering.
- "This isn't even his final form!"
- Originating in Dragonball Z, this phrase was uttered both on-site and in the chat when challenge participants took on strange poses or wore ridiculous outfits. That is to say, all the time.
- "Errmahgherd (and variations thereof)"
- Borrowing from the Ermagherd girl meme, the chat has taken to ermahgherd-ing up all KINDS of crazy bussing things (ex. durrverrr kerm for Driver Cam)
- "Sir Digby Chicken Seizure"
- The now official name of the Seizure Chicken hat. A reference to the character from "That Mitchell and Webb Look".
- "QWOP Cam"
- For some reason the Engineering camera developed a glitch after the Key and Peele "East/West Game" skit where everyone became stuttery and jittery with all the actions. This lead to the utter breaking of the chat and mostly everyone at the Moonbase. Unfortunately, the feed needed to be restarted, and that fixed QWOP Cam.
- Burma-Shave
- Appearing by roads / Were these old ads / Selling a product / Used by dads / Burma Shave
- See: The Desert Bus 6 Burma Shave Archive
- Also referensed in Drugs, Drugs, Drugs
Desert Bus for Hope 7
- "MegaVision"
- The successor to High Denglervision; this year, the HD equipment is sponsored by MegaCynics.
- "How many ukuleles do you have?"
- Obligatory question to guests, starting with Molly Lewis in the preshow. (She claimed 10, but actually had 11.)
- The Button
- One of the computers in Engineering was set up to play a random dance song clip when the F15 button was pressed. (It stopped working on Day 4, when all the clips had been used.)
- Winston
- A spider behind the cameras in the Moonbase.
- Seven Dollar Superheroes
- In a similar vein to Six Dollar Secrets (see above).
- Silica Gel
- Some of this magical substance was found in an auction lot box, leading to calls to 'dessicate the pig'.
- Flush
- The noise heard several hundred times during DB7 as one of the microphones was a little close to the pipes.
- A Pika
- A measurement of length equal to the height of Pikachaos (5 feet)
- A Dengle-Notch
- A measurement of donated currency equal to $10,000
- Shame Tickets
- Handed out by Ash when someone upstairs was doing something wrong, these large, brightly coloured post-it notes with the offense written on them in sharpie would be affixed to the offender's chest to shame them. Common offenses included making lots of noise while walking ("Johnny Brickfeet").
- Yeyeyeyeyeyeyeye
- A phrase to express intense (sometimes desirous) approval. Provided by Felix.
- [X INTENSIFIES]
- X is any noun, including CHICKEN, ALEX, JAMES, etc. Symptoms include a violent, vigorous shaking, a zoom in, and occasionally an internal glow.
- Doge/Shibe
- So adjective. Such noun. Wow. A shiba inu that appeared at the corner of the HUD, dispursing colorful comic-sans doge phrases that would float over the screen.
- Planeswalker Billzmom
- Bill's Mom, already an amazing human being, dressed up as a Magic Planeswalker, and an art-challenge immortalized her.
- Dapper Shift
- Cam's shift, in which he and many others dressed in fine clothing, swirled brandy, etc.
- Jags Necropoles
- The spawn of Rosco P. Jangles. “From the abyss of your subconscious, the will of the one they call Creepy Doll, and from a tiny bit of DNA taken from a dropped feather, I come. I am your clone, Rosco. I am you. I am Jags Necropoles.”
- Desert Bus Video Strike Team/Gif Team/Spreadsheet Team
- Groups who worked tirelessly to upload youtube videos, gifs, and log info in spreadsheets to document the Desert Bus run.
- Womens' Hour
- The guys got kicked out; the ladies reigned supreme. Mostly they just talked about their awesome hair and feigned pillow fights.
- Card Kingdom Sponsored this Hour Hour
- Originally an hour to be sponsored by Card Kingdom, in which the history of the store was related; a technical blackout lasting an hour caused the hour to be extended to two hours, and then three hours. In summary, Card Kingdom is awesome, and is opening a new location soon!
- Trip Carms
- Three Carameldances in a row; traditionally, the third carameldance is played at double speed, making it extremely difficult if not impossible to keep up with.
- SpeechJammer
- An application for the iPhone that allows you to playback your speech at a slight delay, which seriously impairs some people's ability to speak normally.
- Lobsters
- Majestic ocean friends. Also, extremely fragile.
- "Anime is for dumbs"
- A phrase coined by Alex that was called back to when anime was mentioned.
Desert Bus for Hope 8
- Lunar Module
- This year, the crew moved from the Moonbase to this more spacious venue: a conference room in VIATeC's Fort Tectoria, dubbed the "Lunar Module" (in contrast to the previous home of Desert Bus, LoadingReadyRun's offices, dubbed the Orbiting Underground Moonbase).
- FINE
- Bidding chat smack talk has devolved simply to FINE when forced to make a higher bid.
- The Device
- The Device sits between the controller and the Sega CD and has a variety of effects, including swapping the D-pad with the ABC buttons and slowing the bus down.
- Skull Cam (2.0)
- Also called "document cam," this camera, aimed at a table that often contained a skull, was used for closeups of objects such as prizes. The skull would often try to eat the prizes on display, only to be shooed away.
- Bus King
- A play on "busking," this was a pageant among the men of Desert Bus, with competitions in sexy walk, answering a question, and talent. Matt won.
- Eight Dollar Eats
- See "Seven Dollar Superheroes"; this time, they asked for recipes.
- "As is tradition"
- Chanted in union when chat insists that a newcomer be subjected to one of the common Desert Bus memes (such as Going to the Store).
- "Sir. SIR. This is (not) a _____. Sir."
- _____ being a random place, typically followed by an explanation of how this is, or is not, that place. Mostly used to tell people to be quiet or stop doing things.
- "First of all, how dare you. Second of all, what give you the right?"
- A stern condemnation.
- "Hey guys! $170,000!"
- On par with the "Slowpoke" meme. This amount was raised and was celebrated during Beej's shift. Then, after the donations flat-lined for a bit, other people started coming into the room, noticing, and celebrating, minutes later. Chat ran with it and repeated it for every major amount afterwards.
- "PICNIC!"
- Used in chat instead of "panic" when the Twitch video feed would fail.
- "EVERYTHING IS FINE"
- Used when everything is fine and there absolutely no need to panic. Everyone is behaving as they would be excepted to in this situation.
- "A PHANTOM!"
- Quotes from "The Phantom Fugue" started to be used alongside picnics after Graham told the chat about the musical "Phantom" and its terrible lyrics.
- A Houseboat
- Half a Notch, or $5,000, for the winning bid on a vacation (7 days, 7 nights) on a houseboat.
- Twitch TOS!
- Anytime anyone would mention something questionable or go for taking shirts off, the room would respond about breaking the terms of service for Twitch.
- Selfies. Selfies EVERYWHERE
- If your phone was left unprotected at the LEM, it WAS going to be stolen and you would come back to a plethora of selfies. Andrew Ferguson was the main culprit behind the selfie-ing.
Desert Bus for Hope 9
- Dawn Guard, Alpha Flight, Night Watch, Zeta Shift
- Shift names. Respectively, 6 AM-noon, noon-6 PM, 6 PM-midnight, and midnight-6 AM. "Zeta Shift" dates back awhile; the other three were named last year, but really became A Thing this year.
- CAW!
- The Alpha Flight battle cry.
- Frank Socrates
- Bill's stunt double, a life-sized puppet.
- Nine Dollar Nemeses
- This year's question asked of guests: if each was a supervillain, who would their superhero nemesis be?
- DAISy
- Short for "Driver Ability Inhibiting System," it's the Device, who achieved sentience this year.
- Normal View, Normal View, Normal View!
- Whenever DAISy is deactivated the silhouettes of Mike, Tom Servo, and Crow from MST3K appear on the overlay and sing out.
- John Cena
- And his name is JOHN CENA *explosion* (theme song). Alex's John Cena cardboard cutout was frequently on stream this year and any time John Cena's name was said aloud Engineering immediately played the intro to his theme song. This later evolved into 'His name is <Bill Nye/This is CNN/Slim Shady/etc>'.
- Shawarma Spin
- Recommended by Serge at the beginning of the run as a place to watch shawarma slowly spin, join a team, gain points, and listen to great music.
- The Gauntlet
- In which a driver is challenged by all of DAISy's negative effects in succession.
- Screaming Ducks
- Screaming duck dog toys were brought in this year much to the delight and derision of the crew and audience.
- Waterbeds
- If you own a waterbed, like Beej does, you are probably a murderer.
- Cereal strategy
- Milk before cereal or cereal before milk? Discussions got...heated until Mikey Neumann called-in and urged tolerance of Jamie's wrong cereal behaviour.
- Mega, Cynics, and Dotcom
- Two new couches (Mega and Cynics) and a command chair (Dotcom) were donated this year by megacynics.com! Towards the end of the run Mega developed injuries due to Desert Bus stress.
- Desert Bus South
- Mikey Neumann proposed a Desert Bus South that would be easier for him to visit. It was later confirmed by Liz.
- The Murder Hallway
- To get to the room in the Lunar Module where the stream took place, the crew had to pass through an essentially empty, featureless hallway. When the lights are turned off, an eerie red glow fills the hall. Summer Intern Derek was killed here by The Dogem'n during the live QWERPLine.
Desert Bus for Hope 10
- How lickable is X?
- A result of the silent auction for a stained-glass piece with very non-lickable lead solder, this question became a thing immediately. Eventually, ratings were assigned—for practically everything except people—on the Turner Lickability Scale.
- The Bone Zone
- The area covered by the Skullcam.
- Zippo-Tricks McEdgelord
- Highlight from Ben's descriptions of Planeswalker cards. [5]
- Serenity Raven Darkmoon
- A donation drive determining who should get a goth makeover resulted in a landslide for Tally. [6]
- Katiee 💗
- Tally turned the tables and gave Kathleen a makeover, which lasted till the latter's shift total topped $40,000. [7] (And then the controller stopped working as soon as Kathleen returned to her customary black.)
- Father Ashton
- Came on to solemnly mark the time when each previous Desert Bus ended.
Desert Bus for Hope 2017
- Team Order / Team Chaos
- Team Order attempted to have the donation total reach exact numbers such as $444,444, $450,000, or $456,789. Team Chaos tried to prevent this.
- Team Neutral / Team Balance
- Kathleen, representing Team Chaos, and Serge, representing Team Order, reached an accord: if the donation total hit exactly $500,000, Serge would scatter glitter all over the room, and Kathleen would vacuum it up. A well-timed $4265.26 donation from Kiyote brought the total to a perfectly balanced $500,005. Kiyote was given the final vote, and opted to proceed with the glittering.
- Anyway, here's Wonder shawl
- Emily knit a Wonder Woman shawl for a donation drive during this year's run. (This followed a sweater last year, and a scarf the year before.)
Desert Bus for Hope 2018
- DBloon
- The challenge coin given to crafters, crew members, and prizewinners.
- Kevin
- A new camera. Used for Kevin's Korner, the successor to the Bone Zone, but can also pan around the room.
- Bone Santa
- Skeletor visits once a year, generally.[8]
- Coffee Pong
- Like beer pong, just with coffee.
- Desert Toonie
- Analogous to "Desert Buck," it's the amount raised in DB2 ($70,423.79).
- Keep Talking and Nobody Bricksplodes
- Like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, but with building interlocking plastic construction blocks
Desert Bus for Hope 2019
- The Hamfather
- Showed up during Night Watch to serve ham to those in attendance, accompanied by the theme to The Godfather. [9]
- HONK!
- There were a lot of references to Untitled Goose Game.
- Mic Five
- Engineering was trying to discreetly figure out who was on which mic. Matt screamed that he was on Mic Five. [10] Engineering ran with it. Supercut!
- Jacob's Goo
- Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa, a cough syrup Jacob uses to keep his voice in shape. [11]
- Space Boat
- Achieved by Sampy, in placing a space bid for $5,000 (i.e., a houseboat).
Desert Bus for Hope 2020
- Rustproof Bee Shed
- An anagram of "Desert Bus for Hope," it was the name of the Desert Bus test stream which raised money for Trans Lifeline.
- Patience
- The watchword of this year, due to the extra technical challenges of the year. Before the run, James used iron-on letters to make a shirt saying it. During the run, James cut the message off the shirt and framed it, so he could gesture at it when needed.
- Cloud Bus
- A new online version of Desert Bus developed to allow Desert Bus to be played and exchanged between drivers while the event was held digitally.
- [Z]top, e[X]it, and [V]room.
- It was initially believed that the cloud bus controls mapped Z to the brake, X to the door handle, and V to the accelerator. It was later determined that the brake was X and the door was Z.
- Danny
- A term for $6.86. Named after Danny who raised $13,513.26 by donating $5,000 via the Make A Wish foundation and then running a donation drive where chat donated in Danny's name. Danny chose the value $6.86, which was the first time that amount was used in a donation drive in Desert Bus history.
- VVVVVVVVVVVVVV
- What tended to appear if the driver switched windows while holding V to make the cloud bus go.
- Belopa
- Night Watch did a reading from Escape from Tenopia #2: Trapped in the Sea Kingdom, by Edward Packard, the OG Choose Your Own Adventure writer who lost the trademark. On page 13, you encounter Belopa. He's a pelephin, a telepathic dolphin-like creature. [12]
- Road Quest
- Our new term for $13,000, the new live auction record set for a Road Quest cross-stitch.
- Kindness War
- Jacob brought in his bread maker (Bread Astaire) to the moonbase early in the run and shared fresh bread with other members of Alpha Flight. Jacob later decided to share the bread with Zeta and Zeta leaving notes and other gifts for Jacob. [13] This became a recurring segment throughout the run on both Zeta and Alpha Flight. [14]
- 420 Blase It!
- Zeta shift having a discussion about Blaseball at 420 AM. [15]
Desert Bus for Hope 2021
- Ajony
- From a Night Watch reading of RoboRosewater Masters cards. The "Desert Buse" card had "Ajony." at the bottom.
- Totoro
- The new live auction record was set at $16,384 for needle-felted My Neighbor Totoro wall art...
- Dostrow
- ...which record was shattered by a winning $20,000 bid by Dostrow for a replica M8 Avenger Mass Effect gun later in the run.
- Desert Bill
- An amount equal to 50 Desert Bucks, or $1,140,250. Reached for the first time during this run.
- Thwomp
- Ben started a video of one hour of silence occasionally interrupted by the Super Mario 64 Thwomp noise and then forgot about it. The rest of the run was periodically interrupted by thwomps.
- D&B
- Alpha Flight play Dungeon & Dragons.
- DBLabs
- New name for the team responsible for Desert Bus hardware development, including the Random Dance Party Button and the Telepresence Robot.
- MT the Telepresence Robot
- The new telepresence robot used for call-ins to allow virtual guests to physically interact with people in the room due to the hybrid nature of the event.
Desert Bus for Hope 2022
- 7:18 - Time to Scream
- Night Watch got their frustration out with a good scream to 7:18 every day
- Cam Raimi
- A new mobile camera
- Jaxpot
- $45,550.62, the total amount raised ($29,400.62 from chat for a donation drive with no prize, and $16,150 raised by the Desert Bus volunteers prior to the run to donate to the American Cancer Society) in honour of Desert Bus community member Jax, who has terminal cancer
- Maple
- Matt Wiggins' dog, pictures of whom appear in Bus Cam when people donate $6.30 between 12AM and 6PM (and so does not appear while Matt is on shift), as punishment for Matt disrespecting Fugi
- Target Kids
- During a donation drive where Night Watch read out donor names and messages one of the donors left a message asking for help because they lost their kid at Target. A deep lore soon developed.
- Yeetz Balls
- A new, completely original bit where Night Watch play beer pong, but with coffee.
Desert Bus for Hope 2023
- DJ TurnLRR
- James' per-run challenge reward was a DJ set by himself, DJ TurnLRR
- Butt Bucket
- Because headbutting someone's butt with a bucket on your head is funny
- Coffee Pong Invitational
- As Serge was absent this year, Coffee Pong was a series of exhibition matches between various members of Dawn Guard
- Proust Questionnaire
- Erika would ask member of and visitors to Alpha Flight a question from the Proust Questionnaire
- Night Watch Broken News
- "The totally original and not-at-all stolen form Dropout bit where we [sic] don't know what we're about to say, and we have to try not to smile or laugh"
- Julie's Zingers
- Giving Julie a microphone was a mistake...
- Alpha Flight v Engineering
- Never antagonize Engineering
- On a Crab Note
- Mentioning "on a Crab Note" would start a Crab Rave
- On a not-Crab Note
- ... which was then ended with "On a not-Crab Note"
Desert Bus for Hope |
1 (2007) – 2 (2008) – 3 (2009) – 4 (2010) – 5 (2011) – 6 (2012) – 7 (2013) – 8 (2014) – 9 (2015) – 10 (2016) |
(11) 2017 – (12) 2018 — (13) 2019 — (14) 2020 — (15) 2021 — (16) 2022 — (17) 2023 — (18) 2024 |
Desert Bus Lexicon |