Quantum Super Mario

During a lecture for Introduction to Quantum Computing, the topic of the Quantum Zeno effect came up. We’ll get into the details of this, but essentially, it says that — unlike a “watched pot,” which eventually boils — a “watched quantum pot” never does boil. One of the students asked if this was similar to how Boo works in Super Mario Bros. The answer is almost, but no. However, we can use Boo to learn about quantum physics anyway!

Only 90’s kids

Nineties kids and younger millennial hipsters will have fond memories of Boo, the lovable ghost character introduced in Super Mario Bros. 3, the greatest video game of all time. If you are not familiar with Boo, you can see the game mechanics in this video:

Here’s the gist. If Boo touches Mario, Mario loses his power-up or dies (don’t worry, he comes back to life). Boo chases Mario if Mario is not facing Boo. If Mario is looking at Boo, Boo covers its face and doesn’t move. I made a simple animation summarising this.