Sam Houston State University’s Recreational Sports department held an Intramural Mario Kart tournament Sept. 12 at the Lowman Student Center Kat Klub. 

Tournament participants chose a character and raced around the track on either a bike or kart – the objective being to come in first place. Freshman business marketing major Terrance Stafford was excited to compete.

“There is actually competition which is the reason I came,” Stafford said. “I don’t get to be competitive anywhere else, so this is my one chance.”

Mario Kart is a widely popular game and many of the students who came felt nostalgic and were excited to try it on a different platform.

“I usually play it on the Nintendo 64, and I wanted to try it out on the Wii,” Biological Sciences graduate student Connor Carlton said.

As digital gaming becomes more popular, people start to respect the games in the same way as physical games.

“Digital games have more visuals and more features and use emotion to pull at the heart strings,” freshman film major Destiny Whitaker said. “Digital games have a concept and a plot almost like a movie.”

The participants were divided into groups and the winner of each group would then move on to the next round. After about eight rounds, the participants had been narrowed down to the final two, who competed in three total rounds. The participant who won two of these rounds was the winner of the tournament.

Freshman Dylen Kelly won the tournament and a Recreational Sports T-shirt. He was confident from the start— especially before the final round.

“Of course I’m going to win,” Kelly said.

Recreational Sports staff member Patrick Haten thinks it is important for students to come together.

“It helps them learn that they have common interests,” Haten said.

There will be more events held at the Kat Klub throughout the semester, including other video game tournaments.