Grow Your Own 1up Mushrooms

We’re not huge gamers here– even though we do have an original Tetris Arcade game here in the office. We’re suckers for the originals, the old-school– okay, the not-to-complex games that require very elementary hand-eye coordination. Occasionally I break out the original Nintendo to play some Mario Brothers– on a cold winter evening there’s nothing like it– so when I saw this Grow Your own 1up Mushroom Kit, I knew there was a gaming god, and he (or she) was looking down on me. All you do is fill the green sewer-pipe shaped flower pot with soil, add the ‘shroom spores deep into the pot and add a water/food combination. Hide it in a dark location (behind the TV, under the sink, in your gaming lair) and wait a week. When you come back to see the fully grown mushroom, you’ll be so thrilled, as the guys from ThinkGeek put it, you’ll likely jump up in the air and punch the ceiling (earning 10 coins). Apparently the packet claims the 1up Mushroom grants ‘immortal life beyond dreams of a man”– the verdict is still out on that one, until we know for sure we’re strictly sticking to eating shitakes and portabella.