Fake Item Box

A Fake Item Box is an item found in the Mario Kart series. They resemble regular item boxes, but will cause a kart or bike to roll on contact. They have an ¿ instead of an ? in Mario Kart 64. In Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, they also have ¿ and sometimes flash red. On a side note, in Mario Kart: Double Dash!!, there are no fake double item boxes. In Mario Kart DS, Fake Item Boxes show up red on the touch screen map, rather than blue. The Fake Item Boxes in this game do not have a ? symbol, and do not spin, unlike real ones.

Fake Item Boxes are different than Bananas and Shells in that other items can go through them. This makes them useless for protection of the rear of a Kart, as they will not block incoming attacks. However, Fake Item Boxes do block incoming attacks in Mario Kart 64, but the player can't throw that item forward; in all the other games, the player can throw the Fake Item Box forward or backward. In Mario Kart Wii's Team VS. Race Mode and Battle Mode, the Fake Item boxes are blue or red, depending on which team the player is on.