Google is celebrating Mario Day on March 10 by letting you drive around town as the iconic Nintendo video game character.
“Mario Time” will be available in the Google Maps app for both iOS and Android starting today and will stick around for a week. When you launch the latest version of the app you’ll see a prompt asking if you’d like to “Navigate the world as Mario.” If you say yes, Mario will become your position marker in the app.
The feature is activated during the week by tapping on a “?” icon beside the “start” button you typically press to start navigation.
Mario isn’t the first video game character to become a marker in the app. Last year Google made the position marker Ms. PacMan for April Fools Day, and in 2015, the marker was changed to a TIE figure or X-Wing for the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Just like old video games, the Mario feature also has a hidden easter egg. If you tape that “?” 100 times, you’ll hear a 1-UP sound, a nod to the iconic game.
March 10 is known as “Mario Day” because its date can be written MAR10, which looks as though it reads “Mario.”
