Arizona Among States with Most Interest in Super Mario Franchise

Why is Super Mario so popular in Arizona? Maybe because he’s so recently been in the news.

In a February story from KTAR radio, a Mario Kart themed apartment building is coming to downtown Phoenix in mid-2024.

The building will have 36 units, a real life “rainbow road” through the courtyard and sidewalk, and steps inspired by the video game.

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Even the building’s color scheme will resemble Mario Kart.

So, with Mario soon to become part of the Phoenix skyline, and Mario Kart desert tracks among the most popular, is it any wonder that MARIO DAY, on MAR 10, get it, is so big in Arizona.

BetArizona.com usually focuses on Arizona sports betting, but today we’ll tell you why one of history’s iconic video game characters is a state favorite.

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States with Most Interest in Mario

Rank	State
1	Illinois
2	Utah
3	Arizona
4	California
5	New Jersey
6	Washington
7	Texas
8	Indiana
9	Ohio
10	Massachusetts

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Mario Makes You Want to Jump…or Race

Also in Arizona, you can get a Super Mario Bros.-themed bounce house from AZ Jolly Jumpers.

And at K1 Speed in Phoenix, they’re offering an $18 dollar race to anyone dressed as Mario on MARIO DAY.

And how does one dress as Mario? What were you born in a sewer? First you need a red hat with an “M” in a circle. Add a red shirt and blue overalls and accessorize with white gloves and you can be a Mario as soon as you add a big, black mustache.

MARIO DAY is celebrated to commemorate the popular 1980s Nintendo game and all its future incarnations, but also to allow Nintendo Switch to schedule lots of mega-Mario sales with Amazon, Best Buy and Walmart. But even that’s just a lead-up to the animated “Super Mario Bros. Movie” opening April 5, and featuring the voices of Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong.

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Methodology

With MAR10 Day coming March 10, we decided to look at the states that are still interested in the beloved game (and soon to be movie) franchise after all these years. BetArizona.com, the home to the best information on Arizona sports betting apps, utilized Google Trends to see the search volume in each of the US states for “Mario.”

Author

Howard Gensler

Journalist / Reporter

@DNTattle

Howard Gensler is a veteran journalist covering the Arizona sports betting market for BetArizona.com. Before his focus on U.S. sports betting, Howard worked at the Philadelphia Daily News, TV Guide and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Howard is also a founding editor of bettorsinsider.com.