"Pick a box! Its contents will help you on the way!"

—A Toad, Super Mario Bros. 3

Mushroom Houses are houses are giant mushrooms that have gifts inside. Mushroom Houses have appeared in Super Mario Bros. 3, New Super Mario Bros. and New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Super Mario Bros. 3[]

In Super Mario Bros. 3, mushroom houses appear across the world maps. When Mario enters, a Toad will offer Mario the choice of three chests each with a power-up inside. Once Mario has taken a power-up from a Mushroom House, the house will be void and can not be entered again until Mario gets a game over.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii[]

There are 3 different types of Mushroom Houses. There are 2 ways to unlock one. The first way is to get through a course that will unlock the path to get to the house. The other way is to save a Toad (after having a message come from Bowser saying that Bowser would throw Toads into ? Box) by getting him out of a ? Box and carrying him to the goal.

Types[]

Power-Up Mushroom House[]

Just like a Super Mushroom's color, this house is red and with white spots. When entering, a Toad welcomes you to a door. When you enter through the door, a game will start called "Power-Up Blast." Power-Up Blast is a game where you turn over many cards that are hanging on a net. Each card has a power-up item in it. You are supposed to flip over cards to try and find the match of a power-up item. There are about 2 to 4 cards with the same type of power-up item on the back of the card. The hard part is that there are 2 pairs of Bowser and Bowser Jr. cards. If you accidentally match 2 Bowser or Bowser Jr. cards, the game finishes, and the results are announced.

1-Up Mushroom House[]

The color of this house is the same of that of a 1-up Mushroom, which is green with white spots. After entering, Toad again greets you to a door. This door takes you to a game called "1-Up Blast." This game is all about trying to get 1-Ups. There are many yellow-colored bubbles that are hold 1-Ups in them. The bubbles move to make it trickier for you to get them. There are 4 cannons. You are to enter into one of the cannons and move the cannon to the position you want it to be in so that you can hit some 1-Ups. When you are ready, you must shoot the character out and hope he hits at least one 1-Up Bubble.

Star Mushroom House[]

This house is white with yellow stars covering it. When entering, Toad will be standing by a treasure chest, telling you that "This is a special item." When coming near the chest, it will open, and will release a star. After this, you will then have a Star Power-Up to use when you would like to use it.