On Friday, the Connector was filled with students shouting and cheering and those who peered in may have caught a glimpse of the iconic Mushroom Kingdom. For the first time, Goshen College’s Black Student Union, in collaboration with Student Senate, hosted a Mario Kart tournament for students to hang out and unwind through friendly competition.

Egypt Boyd, a sophomore film production and writing major and BSU leader, came up with the idea after spending the summer playing Mario Kart with her sisters. “I came back, and I was like, ‘Guys, we should do a Mario Kart competition,’ so that was fun,” Boyd said. While the event took a lot of planning and technical support, the night was made possible by many people coming together to help out. Boyd said, “I had a Nintendo Switch and Miguel [Aguilar], our treasurer, had a Nintendo Switch, so all we had to figure out was the controllers. We just asked a bunch of our friends if they could help, and it turned out real well.”

After the game consoles were sorted out, Boyd decided to reach out for help coordinating snacks. “Maybe a week before the actual event, we decided to make it a sponsored event by Student Senate. That way, they could pay attention to all of the food since that was a lot of planning, and BSU leaders could focus on the technicalities and the prizes that were BSU-sponsored.”

“I didn’t know what to expect, but I knew that we had good food and it was a fun idea, so I was hopeful that a lot of people would come out,” Boyd said. “It took me by surprise! We had nearly 50 people, which was very exciting. Me and Miguel were checking the sign-up sheets every so often, and watching the number update as people signed up to play was really exciting.” Boyd shared that throughout the event, players asked when there could be another Mario Kart tournament and petitioned for it to be an annual occurrence, a notion Boyd enthusiastically agreed with.

“We would definitely love to have an annual Mario Kart competition. I’m always open to feedback, and I’m glad that even people who didn’t play still had fun and that it was still enjoyable to watch,” she said.

Players kept coming in and out of the crowded connector, snacks were quickly depleted and the competition got fiercer as the night went on. There were two stations, each seating four players, and the top two from each round advanced to the next stage. After two hours of racing, it was down to the finalists. After one more intense final race, at nearly 10 p.m., an ultimate winner emerged. 

The winner, Mark T. D., was affectionately known throughout the tournament as “Marky Mark.” T. D. is a recent Purdue graduate, getting his degree in geology in the fall. He was here to play with friends who invited him, and ended up beating everyone else in the process.

“I had a lot of fun. Honestly, I came in here thinking that I was gonna get beat, but I believed in myself,” T. D.  said. “Shoutout to the other winners, they almost got me.” His prize included a Java Junction gift card and a large Lego Mario Kart set.

Those who did not take home any prizes still had an enjoyable experience, despite their losses. Inés Villaseñor Rodríguez, a first-year biochemistry major, did not advance past the first round. She still stayed for the entire event to spectate and cheer on her friends, and at the end, said, “This was so fun, I loved it.” Villaseñor Rodríguez attributes her loss to the fact that one of the finalists was in her round, but she has not given up yet, saying, “I’ll be back next year and I’ll try to win, who knows what will happen.”

Throughout the night, BSU leaders hinted at a secret prize that would go to one special player at the end. Eventually, it was revealed to be a prize for the player with the fewest points overall. The lucky winner was Tuka Farhan, a sophomore history and pre-law major, who took home a large plush blue shell. 

“[I] thought it was really funny that they had a prize for the lowest points. It wasn’t anything serious to me because this was my first time playing Mario Kart, so I wasn’t really expecting to win anything. I was just there for fun,” Farhan said. 

After everything was over, Farhan said, “I really enjoyed it and would definitely come to an event like that again!”