So we had our speculation post from last night where we challenged readers to guess when Super Mario Run would be released was a lot of fun. I went to bed at around 3:00 AM, fully expecting the game to be available when I woke up, but… Here we are, another bright and shining (and shockingly cold) Chicago day without Super Mario Run. This morning the goal posts on a likely release have been moved even further back, with many folks on the internet suggesting that 1:00 PM Eastern is going to be when the game is released because that’s when the embargo for reviews to be posted is up. Seems plausible.

The one tiny problem with this logic is that I couldn’t even count the number of times I agreed to some embargo, only to have the game randomly get released far before the embargo time is actually up. Typically speaking, all of those sorts of things are arranged via a marketing rep who is usually fairly removed from the people who have access to press the big giant button that releases the game on iTunes. This has traditionally seemed extra-true the larger the studio you’re working with.

The 1:00 PM Eastern review embargo time could be a great hint for when Super Mario Run will be released, or… It could mean nothing. As I mentioned last night, it’s really difficult to apply any kind of common historical wisdom to a release this huge. One thing is for sure, we’re going to have a day filled with refreshing the App Store ahead of us to catch the second that Super Mario Run is released. Stay tuned.