Power-up prank lands gamers in trouble Ohio girls face potential charges for joke after bomb squad is called; teenagers made life-size Mario power-up boxes, hung them around town. In the town of Ravenna, Ohio, five teenage girls, ages 16 and 17, crafted some life-sized power-up boxes modeled after those in the NES classic. The cardboard boxes were covered in shiny, gold wrapping paper and had the black question marks familiar to most gamers. As an April Fools joke, the girls laid 17 of these boxes around the town in public spaces Friday morning. The humor was lost on some residents, however. After noticing one package on the steps of a church, a concerned citizen reported the "suspicious package" to local authorities, who called in the county's hazardous materials unit and the bomb squad. Upon further inspection, no materials designed to harm people, mushrooms to increase a person's size, or flowers that bestow the ability to project bouncing fireballs were found inside the boxes. The packages were empty. Ravenna Police Chief Randall McCoy told the online edition of the Record-Courier that one girl came into the police department with one of her parents and claimed responsibility, saying it was just a joke. Apparently, the girls got the idea from the Web site Qwantz.com, which gives detailed instructions on how to make the boxes. The Web site intended the posting to inspire art projects, and several subversive artists have submitted photos of their Mario blocks in action across the country. The girls face possible criminal charges for their actions. While most in the online community think the authority's actions are a tad extreme, McCoy defends the proceedings of his department. "The potential is always present when dealing with a suspicious package that it could be deadly," McCoy told the Record-Courier. "In today's day and age, you just cannot do this kind of stuff." A posting on Quantz.com responds to the incident in Ravenna. "Not everyone has the same cultural context and not everyone is relaxed about public spaces. [The idea of the project] is to bring a smile to people's faces, to get them to connect with their neighbors, to bring color into an otherwise grey urban landscape. [We] are deeply sorry that things are not working out in Ravenna." By Tim Surette -- GameSpot Posted Apr 3, 2006 3:21 pm PT
Good for the girls, we need more random acts of art, not less. If those silly boxes scare moronic people... too bad.
Well, to be fair to the person that discovered them, not everybody knows what a power up in Super Mario Bros. looks like. Pressing charges on them IS moronic, though... I'm just suprised that a teenager has actually played Super Mario Brothers. I just realized that I was stomping goombas before those girls were even born...Man, I officially feel old, now...
If you're going to do some thing like this at least do it right like this guy... http://www.sixspace.com/gallery/invader2005/index.php He goes around the world and "tags" Space Invader stuff and some of his work sells for lots of money..
Those boxes are not very scary to me. There was a time not too long ago when people would of enjoyed something like this. We are just living in fear and have lost our "souls". But hey, I got my yellow ribbon on my car so who cares.
What's more surprising is what a good job they did on them. I made one of those out of a fish tank when I was seven and it sucked.
That is pretty awesome. 16-17 year old girls making reference to a 20 year old video game? That's pretty sexy (and I mean sexy in a cool/hip way and not, "I'm going to have to go to jail now, aren't I" way).
I imagine a fish tank version of them would be considerably less amusing when you slam your head into the underside.
your previous statement will be taken out of context, just like this story was with the girls. you may head to prison now.
What kind of idiot sees a box wrapped in bright shiny paper hanging in a tree in a small town in Ohio and thinks it a terrorist attack? Did they just think that all the buildings in the major cities had already been blown up so the terrorists were moving on to trees in Ohio? Those girls should have just went out and smoked some crack, they'd probably get in less trouble that way.
Mario is a commie anyway, so I think the citizens were right in having some concern. Plus it could have been a lost level box, which are known to contain poison mushrooms.
I thought the console war was over. Grandma Prower is still supporting Sega through these tough times.
I remember seeing an article on how to make those boxes like half a year ago. Man, it's nice to see people take the initiative to replicate mario goods
