Edinburgh Fringe
Low Effort Sketches Ed Fringe Mario Kart Tournament 2024 results
The results of the Low Effort Sketches Ed Fringe Mario Kart Tournament 2024 have been confirmed.
Run by comedy duo Low Effort Sketches - Alice Wickersham and Andy Bucks - across August, the tournament saw 50 comedians performing at the festival taking on a racing challenge within the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe game.
The winners were:
1st: Ewan Woods (Cambridge Footlights), with a time of 01:46.923
2nd: Tom Whiston (The Dandy Daniels), 01:48.209
3rd: Melissa Redman (Durham Revue), 01:49.328
Each contestant had one chance to complete a three-lap time trial in the game. Entries had to be completed on Andy's Nintendo Switch in time trial mode, using the following specs: Character: Yoshi (any colour); Kart Body: Standard; Wheels: Normal; Glider: Gold Glider; Track: SNES Mario Circuit 3; and Engine: 150cc.
The duo admit: "The track and glider options are a flex, because they are unlockable features that Andy wants to show off."
Talking more about the contest, the comics explain: "The backstory is that Andy is an avid Mario Kart player, and was once ranked in the top 25 in the UK at Mario Kart DS. We also used to play Mario Kart together a lot when we lived together and first started Low Effort Sketches, so it's a suitable homage to our backstory.
"We absolutely loved running the inaugural Low Effort Sketches Mario Kart Ed Fringe tournament this year! All the competitors really got into the spirit of it, and it was a great way to meet other people at Fringe. Huge congratulations to our Top 3."
The average time across the 50 entries was 02:14.108, with the slowest entrant taking 03:09.674.
Alice and Andy - who both work in academia - are now planning to write an academic paper based on the results, which will offer further statistics and insights.
The duo are also planning to bring back the tournament to the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe - either using the same game with additional Match Of The Day-stype post-race analysis at the end of each week, and/or a different game.