Arizona Police Investigate Super Mario-Styled Box

[StewShearerOld]

Arizona Police Investigate Super Mario-Styled Box

Bomb technicians were called to inspect a golden mystery box with question marks on its side.

When gamers see a golden box emblazoned with a question mark, the response is almost instinctual. You punch that sucker and snag yourself some coins. In the real world, on the other hand, the appearance of a mystery box can be a cause for fear and alarm, which is exactly what happened when police were called to investigate the appearance of a suspicious box with no small resemblance to the question blocks from Super Mario.

Responding to reports from a passerby, police moved in to investigate the questionable package which had been left sitting in the road. As a precaution, officers evacuated around fifty people from nearby homes and blocked access to two streets while they waited for bomb experts to arrive. The technicians showed up at around 11 a.m and promptly opened the box. "Nothing of concern was in the cardboard box," said Molly Enright, a spokesperson for the Tempe police. Reportedly, the box contained only papers. The technicians gave the okay for people to return home at 11:30.

The people of Tempe were understandably upset. "They made me leave the street. It's just crazy, a college town like this I wouldn't think that something like that would happen," said Andries Efthymious, a Tempe citizen who had called police to report the box. Others shared similar sentiments. "I'm glad that it was probably some messed up person that was trying to scare everyone instead of a real thing but that shows you it can happen anywhere," said Jen Trask, another local resident.

While the videogame iconography branding the box is likely to amuse some, this incident is exactly the sort of the thing gaming community really doesn't need. Granted, no one knows the origins of the box, so it is possible this was all just an accident or a misunderstanding. It's even conceivable that, whoever did this, had no idea they were mimicking something from a game. That said, <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123258-U-S-Senator-Says-Violent-Games-Are-Practice-Simulators>with many politicians pointing the finger at games as an instigator of violence, it's not in the slightest bit helpful to have something even remotely related to videogames be at the center of a real world panic.

Source: <a href=http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_southeast_valley/tempe/tempe-suspicious-package-police-investigating-on-spence-avenue>ABC 15




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[rezboyjoey]

I have a hard time buying that the resemblance to a Super Mario style question box is a coincidence. This has much more of the "prank gone too far" stink to it.

 

[Bug MuIdoon]

I can't believe it didn't have a mushroom in it at the very least...

 

[VanQ]

Looks more like it should be full of Wumpa Fruit than mushrooms but whatever.

 

[BrotherRool]

"a college town like this I wouldn't think that something like that would happen"

~Isn't a college town exactly where something like this would happen? Students spend most of their working nights stealing signposts and moving ducks afterall



But yeah, really bad timing and not well thought out joke

 

[raankh]

Isn't that obviously a prank? Not everyone would consider a box in the street cause for alarm. I'd call that a bit paranoid even. If you want to see terrorists everywhere, I suppose it makes sense though.

 

[SecondPrize]

While it'd be nice if people had a sense of humor, they don't. They just have a sense that terrorists are out to kill them personally.

 

[Squilookle]

This article reeks of accociating this sort of thing with damaging the image of the games industry. Well stuff that. You want to go walking around on tiptoes so that gaming can avoid the critical spotlight then thats fine- but don't place the blame for this bad image on innocent stuff like this- tackle the problem where it really is- in the eyes of those blaming gaming in the first place.

 

[Akexi]

"They made me leave the street. It's just crazy, a college town like this I wouldn't think that something like that would happen," said Andries Efthymious,

Sadly, Andries is forgetting that this college town is that of ASU, a party school where the students are more interested in screwing around than actually you know, studying.

 

[Guffe]

I thought, hey cool a mario box, is it a mushroom or a flower inside?

Does that make me weird for not having the first thought "omg it might be a bomb!!"
Because that's defineatly not what I thought. Well good thing it wasn't anything dangerous in the end

 

[JokerboyJordan]

I bet if it was a traffic cone nobody would have batted an eye.

 

[BrotherRool]

Isn't that obviously a prank? Not everyone would consider a box in the street cause for alarm. I'd call that a bit paranoid even. If you want to see terrorists everywhere, I suppose it makes sense though.

It's probably part of that thing where you have to treat bomb threats absolutely seriously no matter what. Like if some kid phones up a leisure centre and says he's going to blow it up, protocol would be to call in the police and evacuate the building anyway.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I bet if it was a traffic cone nobody would have batted an eye.

Basically this. I think the terrorists win if you call the bomb squad for every single item that could potentially hide an explosive.

 

[Frostbyte666]

Well it is a college town I'd expect this kind of stuff, hell I've nicked traffic cones and spent half the next morning wondering where I got it, bet yeah an over reaction there. On the other hand considering what has happened in Boston people are a lot more paranoid at the moment and this prank is very badly timed.

 

[Double A]

You guys know what? Fuck society, I'm going to do this.

 

[UniversalRonin]

I thought, hey cool a mario box, is it a mushroom or a flower inside?

Does that make me weird for not having the first thought "omg it might be a bomb!!"
Because that's defineatly not what I thought. Well good thing it wasn't anything dangerous in the end

Honestly mate, my first reaction was to start laughing at how genius it was. Now if the box had been green and purple on the other hand.... Run a mile!

 

[Gilhelmi]

Isn't that obviously a prank? Not everyone would consider a box in the street cause for alarm. I'd call that a bit paranoid even. If you want to see terrorists everywhere, I suppose it makes sense though.

A week after the Boston Bombings and Ricin attacks? I do not call it paranoid. Let us say that a package was delivered to your house. This package has your name misspelled, has an oily substance on the bottom, and smells bad. You do not recall ordering anything. Do you open the Package?

If you answered yes, You are now dead, Because the package was a bomb (obviously). This scenario happens more often then I like too remember but because of the "counter-terrorism" classes that half of the government (and all of the military) goes through. You never hear about them because the packages are intercepted by the staff, disarmed, and kept quiet to avoid public panic (and because the liberal media has a bad habit of "black-out reporting" when they do not like the people attacked).

If I am paranoid, it is only because we have been too often attacked.

 

[Gilhelmi]

In this day in age, With the Boston attack only a week ago. With some crazy person mailing Ricin to politicians.

Really? No one stopped and said, "gee, Putting random boxes around that just Scream 'suspicious' might be a BAD idea."

Though, my money is still on a simple misunderstanding. Sill, INCREDIBLY stupid.