The Jingle Jam has been going strong for ten years, with each December seeing the Yogscast hosting a bunch of streams across that month with one goal. Well, two, but they’re both linked. And that link is giving. They are giving joy to the community, and that community gives back in raising funds for the charities the Jingle Jam supports each year.
It’s that time of year where the community is strongest, with members of the Yogscast from outside Bristol coming to YogTowers to meet with their fellow creators and bring that joy to all. The time where the fans show a great amount of support getting involved – whether through the Jingle Cats, fan art, or meeting together outside YogTowers on that first day.
For me, 2018 was my first. I’ve talked about it before, though not in any detail. That first day did get me hooked. The warmup stream featured some chaos on Warhammer: Vermintide, the Jingle Cats opening stream featured plenty of weird yet wonderful videos that Lewis and Simon shared comments on, then OpenTTD to end the night. That first day was a riot, so I watched the next two days live. Well, not fully with the second, but it didn’t matter too much.
The community of stream compilation channels step up their game when it comes to Jingle Jam, with highlights from an individual stream or a day of streaming ready to view less than 24 hours after it has finished airing. Which is how I viewed most of 2018, and continue to view them. After all, not everyone has the ability to keep tuned in for an entire twelve hours a day.
A particular highlight was the opening stream of the second day, where Lewis and Zylus invited people watching to join them on Kabounce – one of the bundle games that had released that day. Then, the journey to Just Chips. Terrible camera quality, with it being filmed on a phone, but an absolute delight to watch. I do like seeing the IRL antics that happen, so to get this was a surprise.
And then, that third day. The Christmas Markets stream felt special. A few friends exploring the markets, meeting fans, and enjoying the delights of what those markets offer. As I said, I always enjoy the IRL offerings, but with the background of Christmas, and the spirit of the festivities being felt through the actions that had taken place during it, that was the ultimate highlight of the day. Discounting Feed a Cow For Christmas, and considering how much a fan I am of Farming Simulator thanks to it, I don’t think I need to say any more.
2018 was the first meet up at Queen Square outside YogTowers. On the 1st day of Jingle Jam, fans enjoyed watching the stream as a group, chatting and having fun until it got too cold. The meet happened again in 2019, but with a world pandemic, such a meet hasn’t happened for the last two years. Instead, the meet up Discord was used as just one place to virtually meet while watching. It’s fun to talk while watching virtually, but there’s something special in meeting up for real.
A highlight from 2019 – shared by both nlanky and zoarino – was singing Yogscast songs while someone played them on a saxophone as the sun set on the day. The office has a camera pointed outside, with it cutting to the goings-on a few times during a stream. Those at the meet always look like they’re having fun, so I’m hoping a meet can happen this year. I want to see about attending and experiencing that special first day.
The community is much larger than a single Discord, and they’re always willing to share their memories and their excitement of any Yogscast event. So I posed a question to r/Yogscast to get some memories of the community about the Jingle Jam. From the earliest days from before it was known as the Jingle Jam to the latest years, there was a little of everything to look through. What I’ve chosen to feature here is just a small sample of what the Jingle Jam offers.
By far the most successful of the Jingle Jams was that of 2017. Previous events saw a million raised for charities in close to a week. For 2017, however… u/OhShitWhatUp puts it best. “The energetic and electric atmosphere around the staggering amount of money being raised for charity. The push to stream as late as possible to hit the $1M on the first night. What a night to remember.”
Such has become a legendary day, with the previous record held by 2016’s first day being smashed in less than half an hour, with the entire amount raised in 2016 being beaten in half a week. No other year has hit such heights, though 2021 came close. Each and every year since 2017, there’s always discussion of whether this year will be the one to top that legendary year.
And speaking of 2017 and legendary moments, there were plenty throughout this year. While I’m not going to talk of all of them, I’ll let u/Thomaspden highlight one of the more popular. “… with Mousie, Simon, and Lewis will always be one of my favourites, there’s just so many great moments in it!” And just what are some of those great moments? Well, let me just say one word. Greggs!
I’m not going to give any context for that one, but it is included in the video the Yogscast released near the end of the 2020 event talking of their Jingle Jam memories. That will be down below for you to give a watch, since that video highlights the sense of community I talk about here. Another of the highlights from within that video had been brought up on the reddit post, where Hat Films had made their first Christmas album during 2015’s event.
“Pleasure Elf got all the attention, but Ross and Smith absolutely struggling to breathe between laughs while writing It’s My Birthday was a true highlight,” remembers u/TuesdayExpress. That first album saw a lot of success, with a release on Bandcamp seeing it become the top selling album within its first week. Since then, the trio of Ross, Smith, and Trott always return to create some wild new songs during a Jingle Jam stream.
Back during 2013, the Yogscast were deep into Minecraft RP on YouTube, so it made sense to feature the game quite a bit with the Jingle Jam. As u/ChuckCarmichael says, “…the Minecraft PvP stream with Capture the Wool and Clusterchunk is still the gold standard … and of course the Moon Quest stream that had all the crazy books, “Scoop it up with your fucking hands!” and Simon crashing into the moon.”
That stream would then become the final episodes of the MoonQuest series, which would continue on YouTube with a new quest to get to Mars. While Minecraft content would slow down in later years, it still sees a presence during the Jingle Jam. With 2019, that included a full day spent on a server with the aim to build a Christmas village. Plenty of Yogscast members joined in the fun, along with RTGame.
RTGame has been joining the Jingle Jam fun since 2018, with his first stream being on Cities Skylines. Every year since that time, he’s continued to join various streams, being one of the many who wandered the Christmas markets of 2019, bringing some chaos to those trying to feed a cow for Christmas in 2020, and proving why he’s the Drift King in the Mario Kart tournament of 2021. With the Jingle Jam allowing any streamer access last year, he also did some charity streams of his own. Not often the words kill and charity are within the same sentence, but he sure made it happen.
He also isn’t the only friend of the Yogscast to join the streams, with The Longest Johns having been invited last year to bring their folk music for people to listen to, with members of the Yogscast joining them for a singalong. Felt like a great replacement for the karaoke streams that are no longer possible owing to Twitch’s strictness regarding DMCA laws. Shadowatnoon, who had introduced certain members of the Yogscast to speedrunning Mario Kart, had joined in on the Mario Kart tournament of last year. There’s always been a good variety of friends of the network appearing, even if just dropping in to the office.
Since roleplay has been a big part of the Yogscast community, fans of Pyrion Flax had worked hard to create a map in Rust along with an entire roleplay story. During a stream near the end of that Jingle Jam, Pyrion joined that role play for three hours of chaos. As u/Jokie155 says, “Dr Whipples left an impression that will never be forgotten. And in general, the sheer effort and co-ordination that goes into preparing those maps, let alone actually playing them out, is a wonder in itself.” The RP of 2020 was a success, so it returned next year to bring even more wild entertainment from the community.
Speaking of 2021, that first day was an absolutely magical one, which I’ll let u/kiz822 share their memory from. “…being so incredibly excited for it to start and then FALLING ASLEEP shortly after the greatest Benga game of all time. A short while later I woke up and heard “’tis the season ‘tis the time, Mr Grinchy’s in his prime.” The most wonderfully confused laughter I’ve had…”
Now, since 2019 Tom and Ben have been the warm up act to the official start of the Jingle Jam. During that stream, they pulled out a Jenga set, renamed it Benga, and played it to see who would win. In 2020, they returned to playing it, then in 2021 the match of the century was played which lasted for almost half an hour. With it finished, the official opening stream started. Lewis and Simon worked their way through many Jingle Cats submissions before landing on one by Gemma – a friend of the Yogscast.
This submission was pretty much a fantasy about wanting to have sex with the Grinch, with the aforementioned quote being just one of the lyrics that made up the song. It also coined the phrase Grussy, which then became a meme for the rest of that Jingle Jam. It joined many of the moments that fans rally behind during Jingle Jams, being among greats such as Toddy!, “they touched!”, and the infamous Datlof incident during a Civilisation stream.
Being the people who set up and run these events, the Yogscast also have their own best memories from past Jingle Jams. A video near the end of the 2020 Jingle Jam allowed the members their say about the memories they hold close. It shows clips to give context to what they’re talking about, allowing the fans the ability to relive those moments too. Take a watch to gain a bit more understanding on the sort of things you can expect with this upcoming Jingle Jam, and maybe tune in for some of this year’s greatness.
Images Taken From:
JINGLE CATS! JINGLE JAM 2021 – DAY 1
Pokemon! JINGLE JAM 2021 – DAY 2
Jingle Jam – The official website
STOCKING STUFFERS – JINGLE JAM! – 2nd December 2018
Mousie Yogscast Jingle Jam 2017 Highlights – Part 4
Yogs and The Longest Johns sing Diggy Diggy Hole
THE GREATEST MOMENT IN BENGA HISTORY | Full Benga Game
