Bomb technicians were called to inspect a golden mystery box with question marks on its side.When gamers see a golden box emblazoned with a question mark, the response is almost instinctual. You punch that sucker and snag yourself some coins. In the real world, on the other hand, the appearance of a mystery box can be a cause for fear and alarm, which is exactly what happened when police were called to investigate the appearance of a suspicious box with no small resemblance to the question blocks from Super Mario.
Responding to reports from a passerby, police moved in to investigate the questionable package which had been left sitting in the road. As a precaution, officers evacuated around fifty people from nearby homes and blocked access to two streets while they waited for bomb experts to arrive. The technicians showed up at around 11 a.m and promptly opened the box. "Nothing of concern was in the cardboard box," said Molly Enright, a spokesperson for the Tempe police. Reportedly, the box contained only papers. The technicians gave the okay for people to return home at 11:30.
Source: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123429-Arizona-Police-Investigate-Super-Mario-Styled-Box
Just like the article suggests towards the end, I dare say this'll be referenced in the future by politicians campaigning that video games incite violence. Needless to say I feel sorry for all the people involved, especially with what's happened recently in Boston, but given the origins of the box style I can't help but find it a little bit amusing. Someone in the comments suggested it may have been part of a cos-play that had fallen out of a car, which I've got to admit is quite possible.