To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros™, one of the most iconic and beloved video game characters of all time, the Museum of Computing in Swindon is celebrating with a family gaming day on Saturday 27th November 2010.

The high-jumping Italian plumber from the Mushroom Kingdom is being honoured with a whole day of celebrations. Events include the Super Mario Bros Competition and the Mario Kart DS Multiplayer Championship. During the first competition participants in two age categories (5 to 16 and over 16 years) will play three Super Mario titles to achieve the highest score, starting with the original Super Mario Bros from 1985. The player with the highest score will be crowned the museums ‘Super Mario Bros Master’. Visitors can try their hand at many Mario games on original Nintendo hardware from the NES to the Wii.

Participants of the DS Multiplayer Championship are being asked to bring their own Nintendo DS console to compete head to head on Mario Kart DS. Competitors are asked to register by 11:45 am.

Simon Webb, Museum curator said ‘it’s going to be a fantastic family day with lots happening, we’ve got competitions, face painting and the chance to have your photo taken as Mario. Anybody who loves Mario should be there’.

The museums Childrens Computer Club which meets every Saturday morning will be trying their hand at writing a video game, their work will be available to play online and in the museum gallery.

The museum will be open from 09:30 to 17:00. Admission fees are £5.00 for a family ticket, £2 for adults, £1.50 for Students and Concessions, children age 6-15 yrs cost £1, under 5’s go free.