Mario Kart just got serious – GAME Belong is hosting a nationwide Mario Kart esports tournament with the grand finals taking place at i61 next month.
The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Super Series is already underway across four of GAME’s competitive gaming centres.
Participants must bring their own Nintendo Switch with them to their local store in order to take part in a series of qualifiers.
The three luckiest best racers from each arena will take part in a tournament at i61 at the Birmingham NEC at the end of August.
The top four players will then reach the grand final which also takes place at Insomnia.
Presenting The Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Super Series ?
Win a Go-Karting experience for you & friends ?https://t.co/OCkWLXZo32#MK8DSuperSeries pic.twitter.com/VJlsPEswBk— Belong By GAME (@BelongByGAME) July 18, 2017
While there isn’t any cash up for grabs, the prizes aren’t bad. The winner will receive a year’s supply of Nintendo Switch games and a go karting experience day for them and their friends.
The London Wardour Street qualifier has already taken place, and Manchester’s Trafford Centre qualifier takes place this Saturday (July 29th).
The Gateshead Metro Centre arena will host a qualifier on Saturday August 5th and Cardiff will run the final qualifier on Saturday August 12th.
It’s great to see a fun, family-friendly game like Mario Kart get a competitive tournament. While a game like this doesn’t have a high skill ceiling, it does have mass appeal. And if this tournament means more people become aware of esports, then good on GAME for trying.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
