Girls attempt real-life version of video game, teens could be charged (Super Mario Bros.)

Akron Beacon Journal ^

[Snickering Hound]

Five teenage girls from Portage County face potential criminal charges after attempting to play a real-life version of Super Mario Bros.

The Portage County Hazardous Materials Unit and Bomb Detection Unit were called in to downtown Ravenna on Friday morning after seventeen suspicious packages -- boxes wrapped in gold wrapping paper with question marks spray painted on them -- had alarmed residents.

Boxes were found at the Immaculate Conception Church on West Main Street, the Portage County Courthouse, Deluxe Pastries, the corner of Cherry Way and Main Street, Reed Memorial Library, Ravenna High School and a residence at Sanford and Main streets.

Five girls -- age 16 and 17 -- claimed responsibility for making and placing the packages. The girls said they found an Internet site that included step-by-step instructions for creating replicas of blocks featured in the game.

The Ravenna Police Department will be working with the Portage County Prosecutor's Office regarding possible criminal charges as a result of the game.

[ozoneliar]

I meant by 'what they were thinking', giant spray painted boxes sounds stupid. Not that it could be mistaken for terrorism. Personally like I said real life frogger, while incredibly dangerous, has some thrill in it.

[tallhappy]

It's crazy.

[fairtrader]

Officer Obie's son must be the Arresting Officer in this Case.

[TChris]

I meant by 'what they were thinking', giant spray painted boxes sounds stupid. Not that it could be mistaken for terrorism. Personally like I said real life frogger, while incredibly dangerous, has some thrill in it.

*shrug*

There's no accounting for taste. :-)

[Gordongekko909]

It was pretty much the first survival horror game ever. The plot involves a hanted mansion that you're trapped in. Ghosts, zombies, etc. Fairly graphically violent visual stuff (by 8-bit standards). It was translated into English and is available in ROM format now. Plays like an RPG.

In fact, the Resident Evil series actually draws its title from a line in Sweet Home.

[Gordongekko909]

A few years ago, I was walking around in a mall and saw somethng odd. There was a whole crowd of Hot-Topic-esque quasi-goth kids standing at the top of an escalator. They were chanting "Go! Go! Go!" There were a few security guards nearby, laughing like crazy. People coming up the escalator were looking and pointing at something and laughing.

I managed to get into a position so that I could see what was going on; one of these kids had placed a Slinky on the escalator, and one of them had a stopwatch and was timing it. They were doing an experiment to test the following equation:

Slinky + Escalator = Infinite Fun

I don't know how long the Slinky kept going, but I don't think any of the kids got in trouble.

[Gordongekko909]

Hmm... ping.

[Welsh Rabbit]

I'm surprised girls that age would even know about Super Mario Brothers. I was around twelve when those games were popular (my thirtieth birthday is coming up this summer).

[FreedomCalls]

Good news:

Girls that scare town with Super Mario power-up cubes will not be charged

As we reported previously: Five girls from Ravenna, Ohio placed 17 cardboard replications of the Super Mario power-up cubes throughout their town. The town has a population of approximately 12,000 people, some of which felt threatened by the power-up cubes and called in the bomb squad.

The prosecutor has decided not to press changes against the girls. “The girls were imitating an art project which they found on the Internet,” the prosecutor said. “None of the girls had any prior contacts with the police or juvenile court and are all good students.”

I think this is good news – their intent was not to scare anyone so they should not be punished. They sure did give Nintendo some free publicity though. Whether it was good or bad publicity is debatable.

http://onnintendo.com/Index.aspx?page=1&post=20&year=2006&month=4