Animal Crossing fan turns Mario pole into an entire minigame

While there’s been plenty of fanfare for the new warp pipe in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, it’s far from the only cool item in the Super Mario Bros. 35th anniversary set. The end-of-level “goal pole,” as it’s called in the life sim, is also a quiet contender for standout addition to the game, especially if you’re looking for something fun to do with friends.

Granted, you do still need a bunch of warp pipes for this to work. As demonstrated by New Horizons player Sherry below, you can totally play a game of “capture the flag” if you set out a bunch of flagpoles next to warp pipes. Two teams face off against one another, one red, one black. When the timer goes off, everyone goes into the pipes and tries to turn as many flags as possible to their team’s side. When the timer ends, the side with the most flags wins the whole thing.

In this case, the timer was set to two minutes, because “anything longer than that would get a little repetitive,” Sherry told Polygon over Twitter. It’s also worth noting that this is pure luck, because the warp pipes will always spit you out somewhere random.

By this point, Animal Crossing fans are total aces at developing folk games with the items and mechanics within New Horizons. The cursed King Tut mask, for example, can be used for a more high-stakes version of musical chairs — though even races are more interesting when you can trip at any time. With enough creativity and a handy timer, you can basically turn your entire experience into a PvP game.