By Alexander Gilbert
The widely known Nintendo video game series Mario Kart, which has been running since the first game’s release in 1992, is regularly played by students on the screen but has now been recreated in real life. WARP Gaming, Western New England University’s student-led video game and board game club, designed and held a unique Mario Kart-themed racing experience for students this past weekend.
Warp Gaming’s Mario Kart event took place in the Campus Center on Sunday, March 10, which the Nintendo Company officially recognizes as Mario Day. Many of WARP Gaming’s gaming experiences involve consoles and screens, but the club ultimately decided to have students race with RC cars instead of the regular Wii or Nintendo Switch games. This fresh take on the Mario Kart experience allowed students to explore and race each other on multiple tracks laid out across the upstairs Campus Center.
The KKONES brand RC cars, purchased by WARP Gaming, were lent to students during the event and were all painted to match the Mario Kart theme. Some notable car designs were the green Piranha Plant car, the red Mario car, and the Donkey Kong car, which had wheels painted to look like barrels. The unique selection of aesthetics for the cars allowed students to stand out during the four-player races. Once each player selected an RC vehicle, they headed to the first of four creatively designed tracks.
WARP Gaming was hard at work for months, planning the event and designing the four RC race tracks. The tracks were Coconut Mall, DK’s Jungle, Toad’s Factory, and Rainbow Road, all based on some of the most iconic courses from the Mario Kart video game series. The first three tracks were laid out using guiding plastic cones and respectively decorated to their theme with roadside obstructions, such as blow-up palm trees for DK’s Jungle and a crane for Toad’s Factory.
WARP Gaming’s Rainbow Road was the highlight track, faithfully recreating one of the game series’ most recognizable races. Located in one of the darkened rooms on the Campus Center’s second floor, the race track stood out with the iconic rainbow-glowing roadway brought to life with strips of LED lights lined around tables with rainbow tablecloths. The positioning of the track on top of elevated tables actualized the video game’s danger of driving the car off the road into space. Much excitement buzzed around the track, with students eagerly anticipating the challenge of maneuvering across the tops of the tables without the RC car toppling over the edge. When the car fell off the track, students had to retrieve their RC vehicle, place it back on the track, and keep going.
After completing the four races, students were ranked based on their placement in each race and rewarded with raffle tickets. The first-place champion won four tickets, the second-place racer won three tickets, the third-place racer won two tickets, and the last-place racer received one ticket. Upon returning to the Campus Center lobby, students could choose which of the four raffle baskets to place their tickets in. Three of the baskets were individually themed to various Mario characters: Yoshi, Donkey Kong, and Bowser. The final basket had the most significant prize: the Mario Kart 8 video game for the Nintendo Switch and the corresponding Mario Kart Racing Wheel.
The event was an incredible time for students who attended, and many stayed for the entire three-hour experience to replay the races and earn more tickets. WARP Gaming offered a unique event, beaming with imagination and creativity, that allowed students to socialize face-to-face and make new friends.
