Nintendo plans 12-city summer play tour

Kids and families invited to free events

Nintendo has set up 12 play dates this summer, and you and your family are invited. In 12 U.S. cities from now through Labor Day, a Nintendo tour will visit a variety of malls and other locations, as the release says, to "bring the magic of Nintendo to life with playable Nintendo 3DS games starring characters like Mario, Kirby and Donkey Kong."

There will be contests, prizes and photo opportunities for kids and their families. It plans to offer parents a fun and engaging way to spend time with their kids -- and it's free for everyone.

Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales & marketing, said, “The tour’s massive play area is filled with Nintendo 3DS games and charming worlds themed around classic games and characters.”

The Play Nintendo Tour is scheduled to visit the following locations: June 17-19: Westfield Culver City, Los Angeles; June 24-26: Arrowhead Towne Center, Glendale, Ariz.; July 8-10: Mall of America, Bloomington, Minn.; July 15-17: Bite of Seattle; July 21-24: Marriott Marquis San Diego Marina; July 29-31: Memorial City Mall, Houston; Aug. 5-7: Woodfield Mall, Schaumburg, Ill.; Aug. 12-14: Roosevelt Field, Garden City, N.Y.; Aug. 19-21: South Shore Plaza, Braintree, Mass.; Aug. 26-28: Tysons Corner Center, near Arlington, Va.; Sept. 2-5: North Point Mall, Alpharetta, Ga.

To extend the tour online, the Play Nintendo website features many additional activities that kids and families can enjoy. Kids can create their own Super Mario Maker wallpaper, take a quiz to learn their Pokémon type, discover their Mushroom Kingdom BFF and many more creative and surprising things here.