Mario has been a staple of video gaming since the 80s. Mario has also been in several games too. Whether it's Super Mario Bros, Mario Party or Mario Kart, we've had some memories with Mario games. Sometimes people want to turn them into a reality; like doing a real life Mario Kart. And HAVE before in Texas.

Who's made a real life Mario Kart race in Texas?

Patrick Lyons posted a video back in 2018 where he & some of his friends did a real life Mario Kart race around the UT Austin Campus. They took part in what they called the "UT Austin Cup".

The video gained the national attention of Inside Edition, who covered the story shortly after the video went up.

Has anyone else done "real Mario Kart" races in Texas?

Oh you better believe they have. We've seen it happen in San Antonio,

Houston,

We've seen Dallas host Mario Kart themed go karting tournaments, there were 2 engineers make their own Mario Kart race complete with power ups in 2013 & there was an even a little Mario Kart prank during at another Texas University.

Are people still doing real life Mario Kart in Texas?

It doesn't feel like it. Most of the stories I've mentioned were from 2019 or earlier. People ARE still doing real life Mario Kart, but it's only held in Japan. Sadly I don't see many people talking about doing more real life Mario Kart events, which is honestly pretty sad.

With Mario Kart STILL being an extremely popular game, I'm surprised more people aren't taking advantage of that or hosting their own go karting tournaments or simple videos like Patrick Lyons did. Especially since you can actually OWN a real life Mario Kart go kart (but they're kid sized).

Nikolay Tsuguliev
Nikolay Tsuguliev
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Where could you have real life Mario Kart in El Paso?

If I had to pick any places in El Paso to have some real life Mario Kart racing, my top choices would be:

  • Red Sands or White Sands National Park
  • You can have a Mario kart tournament at either Adventure Zone or Bob-O's. Both places already HAVE go kart racing. Or maybe the BKA El Paso Kart Racing group can hold their own Mario Kart Tournaments.
  • The UTEP campus; maybe a makeshift course through the Sun Bowl or the parking lot by the Stadium.

I hope to see a resurrection of real life Mario Kart. If people have done it before & it was met with great praise, I believe we need to bring it back to Texas. If not in the public streets or the university, I'd love to see Mario Kart themed tournaments. The potential is certainly there.

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