Armed with hundreds of paper stickers, corrugated Marios and holographic Luigis, artist/designer Camille Walala transformed Spitalfields’ The Breakfast Club into a kitsch-laden Mario Wonderland. Celebrating the launch of Paper Mario: Sticker Star on the Nintendo DS XL, the pop-up was a greasy-spoon meets life-sized 3D game for adults. Not taking itself too seriously (well, not seriously at all), the paper diner had a wicked sense of the surreal throughout; large cut-out mushrooms, Fire Flowers and POW Block table cloths all sending our silly-sensors into overdrive. We got to try the new 3D game, eat some sizeable burgers, and literally play about all evening.
Coaxed into collecting stickers (of course) throughout the night – in exchange for food, drinks, and the all-important star prizes – the physical game levels were rather inventive too: imagine wondering into a Smeg fridge (where the venue’s speakeasy usually resides) and a whole new world of crazy prize-winning emerges. Ambushed by high-octane real life Marios (flown all the way from Italy, I was told) we played real off-line versions of the game. Brilliantly done, tacky in a good and literal way, the launch had a touch of Secret Cinema about it – which was really quite super (see what I did there?)!
The Breakfast Club was an ideal venue for the party too, just by Liverpool Street, Spitalfields, Shoreditch, and Brick Lane… We hear rumors that there may be more Sticker Star parties soon, so keep an eye out! Super fun, positively silly and more than worth a visit.
