The Super Mario UX Workshop

Mario Time

This virtual princess-saving plumber has existed for generations now. Mario offers many life lessons, and Mark Rober explores one fascinating aspect in his Ted Talk The Super Mario Effect. I highly recommend watching it.


Mario and UX

The first level of any Super Mario Bros game (World 1-1) is a masterclass in design that allows anyone—regardless of age, gaming experience, or background—to pick up a controller and learn by playing.

Learn by playing world 1-1

I’ve applied this learn by doing (playing) approach in UX workshops, ideation sessions, and in experiences I’ve designed. It’s a powerful tool for engaging users and fostering intuitive learning.


The Super Mario UX Workshop

As a UX professional, I believe workshops should be engaging and inclusive, regardless of the participants’ backgrounds or the group size.

Recently, I’ve facilitated a few ideation workshops with cross-functional teams including developers, designers, researchers, and product managers. To break the ice and prepare participants for the tasks ahead, I introduced a quick, off-topic exercise with Mario.

The Objective:

Maximize the number of coins Mario collects in any level

Sample workshop

I sent out this pre-work task before the workshop meeting and I was astounded by the number of participants eagerly engaged in adding ideas to help mario collet more coins. It gave everyone a taste of the collaborative, imaginative atmosphere we aimed for, and by the time we began, everyone’s creative energies were already flowing.

Here are a few fun ideas that came up:

  • Make the coins teleport you to the next coin.
  • A power up to show all the coins.
  • Give Mario a phone-a-friend lifeline help him discover more coins when he is stuck.
  • Give Mario a map of higher value areas would help him discover more coins.


And so…

Make Workshops Fun, Inclusive and Engaging.
Use Mario, or any shared interest your group enjoys. It’s a cool way to kick things off and lets everyone show their creative side.

Here is a sample file to get you started
Super Mario Workshop Figjam