Playing “Mario Kart” on his esports team has taken Thomas McHugh, a high school senior, to parts of Iowa he would never otherwise travel.
He’s gone to competitions in neighboring states such as Kansas and Nebraska. And he’s met even more people from even farther away, all with the same interest in competitive video gaming.
Heck, he might even get a college scholarship and the chance to play for a national championship, sparkly ring and everything, all because he’s pretty good at a racing cartoon go-karts.
“But I truly never thought I’d play ‘Mario Kart’ at the Iowa State Fair,” he says.
The Iowa State Fair conjures images of pig showing and tractor pulls and husband calling. Activities that are pastoral, analog by their very nature.
But, this year, for the first time, esports joined the ranks of State Fair competitions.
“This is like Iowa’s Super Bowl, and the fact that we were invited to come here means everything to me,” says Andrew Goforth, director of the esports program at Marshalltown Community College, which helped host the event at the fair.
Since founding the program in 2022, Goforth has had a lot of “wins,” he says. He’s helped to expand the program from some 20 competitors to more than 100 players across 10 video game titles, which is bigger than some four-year universities’ rosters.
And the team has become a powerhouse at their level, claiming about a dozen junior college national championships in only a handful of years.
But this? Video games? At the State Fair?
“This is my biggest win,” Goforth says.
Not only for the exposure — putting his team and his sport in front of the 100,000 people who come through the fair’s gates on an average day is beyond price — but because being at the Iowa State Fair feels like a new level of acceptance for his athletes.
In Iowa culture, the fair is The Show.
And esports just leveled up.
‘Accessible and well known’: The finer points of bringing esports to the Iowa State Fair
The fair’s programmers have wanted to do something gaming-related for years.
But they weren’t sure what within the video game ecosystem would draw in people, or how a pastime that felt so sedentary, so much about staying in one place for an extended time, would work with the flow of the fair.
Hitting the mark — staying true to esports culture while marrying it with the fair’s — was “huge” for Marshalltown’s head esports coach Nathan Rodemeyer.
“We didn’t have to go to the fair and say, ‘We’d really like to be here.’ Instead they were like, ‘We have this need,’” says Rodemeyer. “And we were able to step in and fill that, which is amazing.”
When fair organizers reached out in late April, there were “a million directions” they could go, rows of PCs, for example, or a full bracket, Rodemeyer told them.
But after scoping out the space, they decided on time trials, which meant the three fastest runs through one specific level in the game would place first, second or third. So you’re not racing against each other, Rodemeyer says, but against the clock.
A live leaderboard updated throughout the afternoon, allowing players to check out other parts of the fair while still keeping an eye on their placements.
“We thought, why don’t we make it really come and go with a game that’s accessible and well known,” Rodemeyer says.
“Anybody can participate, young, old, anywhere in between. If you play the game every day, if you’ve never touched it in your life, you’re welcome to sit down and play.”
Indeed, from canes to youngsters in backpack carriers, the dozen TV screens — each one set up like its own gaming station — lining the front of a classroom in the fair’s Maytag Building drew all kinds for this inaugural “Mario Kart” competition.
The fair upgraded their projector in the off season and provided the monitors for the event. The Nintendo Switch systems came from the college or some of the students, who lent their personal machines to the cause for a day.
Hanging on both walls were nearly 20 banners declaring Marshalltown’s various first or second place titles from the last two years. And their 12 championship rings glinted in the stadium-like lighting. Very sparkly.
‘Why wouldn’t we?’ Younger fairgoers expect gaming — while competitors find community
Trying his hand at one of the stations was Theo Morris, 9, who plays “Mario Kart” on Friday nights with his family, an evolution of board game night.
So when the Morris family was looking at the offerings on the fairgrounds, this was an obvious “yes” for Courtney Morris’ two kids, Theo and his older brother, Oliver, 12.
“They were like, we got to go to this one,” says Courtney, who grew up in Iowa but now lives in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
“We’re trying to influence our boys that the Iowa State Fair is the best in the country,” she says. “So it’s fun that they can find their own way to be interactive with the fair. It’s not just watching or just submitting, but this is an event they can come and do.”
The competition aspect of the Iowa State Fair is one of the key ways this particular gathering is different from other festivals or large-scale events, fair CEO Jeremy Parsons says.
There are the heritage contests in the livestock barns and the more traditional quilts and pies, he says. But there’s also checkers and the new euchre tournament and beard growing and Mr. Legs.
So simply: “Why wouldn’t we have an esports competition as well?”
And from his position as CEO, he knows that while tradition is sacred to the fair, evolution is necessary for any company.
“The Iowa State Fair has been around for 170-plus years and you don’t stay in business for that long without being able to adapt and know the customer,” he says.
“As the world has changed, esports is an evolving part of our culture, and younger fairgoers would expect esports to have a presence at the fair because it’s a presence in their daily life,” he adds. “So I think it’s a great way to provide opportunities maybe for some youth that we don’t currently reach.”
Getting kids involved in the sport is especially important to Johnathan Cochran, who plays the video game “Overwatch” and is going to be the all-teams captain at Marshalltown this upcoming season.
First, he hopes the more people in the competitive gaming industry, the more they can fight some especially hearty misconceptions about their chosen sport.
“I feel like a lot of the public has mixed opinions on esports. A lot of people just think we sit around and play video games all day,” he says.
“But our practices are very structured. We scrimmage other schools, other teams,” he adds. “We do what’s similar to watching film for regular sports, where we go back and look at our mistakes. Our coach will give us individual player development goals and team goals.”
“I mean, we mirror more traditional sports.”
But even more than visibility, Cochran wants others to be able to plug into a network and find friendship in the way he has through gaming.
“People don’t realize anyone can really do it. Esports is open to everyone and anyone, and everyone gets an equal shot,” he says.
Cochran is far from the only student who has a story of finally fitting in through video games, Rodemeyer says. He hears a similar yarn from most of his athletes, that gaming was where they really discovered their people.
“We talk a lot, with esports, about competition, but I think the bigger underpinning thing is community,” Rodemeyer says.
“All of the skills they develop — and I’m not talking about on their controllers or on their keyboards — I’m talking about communication skills, teamwork, managing their emotions and stress.”
When people are here today, Rodemeyer adds, that’s what I hope shines through.
After winning the grand prize, a Nintendo Switch 2, McHugh stayed behind, watching as the Marshalltown team helped break down the gaming stations and cleanup the days’ competition.
It’s awesome to win, he says with a bit of shrug, and he’s always wanted a Switch.
“But,” he adds, “the best part was hanging out with these guys.”
Courtney Crowder is a senior writer and Iowa Columnist. You can contact her at (515) 284-8360 or ccrowder@dmreg.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: The Iowa State Fair’s newest blue ribbon competition? Mario Kart.
Reporting by Courtney Crowder, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Courtney Crowder, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
