Residents of Norway’s capital city get an interesting hourly reminder.
The City Hall bells in Oslo are now playing the Super Mario Theme at 8 p.m. every day, as spotted by Eurogamer. It’s one of a number of quirky choices currently on the list of melodies that play hourly from 7 a.m. until midnight, and it shows how deeply embedded video games have become in popular culture.
The Super Mario Theme is one of six tracks composed by Koji Kondo for the 1985 NES game Super Mario Bros. It’s a classic, instantly recognizable tune, even when it’s played in an expected setting.
The City Hall bells are also currently playing Superwoofer Lullaby (by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld) from the insanely popular open-world game Minecraft, Imagine by John Lennon, and Motörhead’s Electricity, along with a number of other contemporary and classical choices. If you happen to be in Norway in the next couple of months, you can hear the current playlist in action, including the Super Mario Theme, as it runs until May 31. If you can’t make it out there, the video below will have to do.