- Publisher: Nintendo
- Release Date: Oct 16, 2020
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Nintendo Force MagazineApr 28, 2021Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit has brought my sons more smiles than any other toy I've ever bought them. [Issue #49 – November/December 2020, p. 63]
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Mar 10, 2021Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is one of the best case studies in augmented reality I’ve seen yet, at least as far as pure entertainment is concerned. It’s the Mario Kart you know and love, but with your home as the course—something that could have easily fallen flat or come across as a shallow gimmick, but instead manages to hit every note near-flawlessly. There’s nothing quite like racing around your own living room, throwing shells every which way and hitting those boost pads while weaving through your furniture and trying to dodge the cat that keeps trying to catch your kart.
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Oct 23, 2020A brilliant example of the simple fact that augmented reality can be miles better than actual VR. This is a great family game that focuses on your own creativity and willingness to have fun.
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Oct 23, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit brings back that sense of wonder we all felt when we cracked open our first video game and realised there was another world behind the screen. Only now that other world is in our living rooms.
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Oct 26, 2020Mario Kart Live Home Circuit is fun, fun and more fun! Again, there’s so much fun to be found in this game plus lot of track creating. However the game feels like you’re racing in a virtual Mario Kart title but in the real-world and if you’re looking for a game with some escapism to draw you in, Mario Kart Live Home is indeed that game. Highly Recommended!
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Oct 27, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is one of the biggest surprises in 2020. It's a product that works perfectly fine from a technological point of view and that has a good design so it can avoid some restrictions derived from being a RC car. The biggest problem of this revolution is that it comes with a big price to pay, so it's not suitable for every wallet.
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Oct 28, 2020There’s an undeniable thrill in exploring your house from a lowered viewpoint and while the racing itself is nothing new, the versatility of the experience means you don’t even have to pull out the gates to have a bit of fun or to give the kids a novel distraction.
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Mar 5, 2021It's definitely an expensive purchase, but if you're willing to spend the money, it provides a unique AR gaming experience like no other. The software works well as long as you're near enough to the kart as it races through the track.
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Oct 28, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is the most unique take on the series that since Mario Kart: Double Dash!! on GameCube. It's a blast to play, and it feels reminiscent of games like Wii Sports, where players will immediately want to show it off to family and friends.
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Oct 22, 2020Mario Kart Live takes a concept you know and love, and makes you think about it in a new way. The races are fantastic, but there’s just as much fun to be found before you even get to the start line. The game gives you the power to make and decorate your own Mario Kart race tracks, and that unlocks the kid inside of you, no matter your age.
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Oct 22, 2020The idea is absolutely brilliant and brings to life the childhood games of many players. If the execution lacks a little something to make the experience unforgettable, we must still praise the ingenuity of this new use of the Nintendo Switch. Perfect to gather the family around the elaboration of the craziest possible circuit, MKL struggles to convince on the long run. The limitations of the concept are quick to show.
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Oct 21, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit feels like magic. It's expensive to play multiplayer, but if your imagination (and house) is big enough, there's plenty of fun on offer.
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Oct 20, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit feels like a technology and toy that can work in the right conditions. If you have a home with a large living room or an office with some empty space, I could see you having a good time making a constrained course in a single room and racing around. The less space you have and more types of flooring, obstacles, and creativity you employ, the odds increase that you’ll be hit by constant and performance-hampering connection issues. Still, it seems like a step forward for remote control cars and like this could lead to something bigger and better down the road. For now, it’s a novelty that can sometimes feel like the best times come from using it to explore your home.
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Oct 20, 2020Nintendo's toys-to-like experiment can feel like magic, but also requires a sizable living space to work effectively.
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Oct 19, 2020Ultimately, we think Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is a fantastic festive gift for a younger audience; particularly if you and your fellow parent friends can group up to get karts for your four kids. It’s a game that sparkles with creativity, and kids will easily lose hours to this while creating ever more outrageous courses.
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Oct 19, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is immersive, addictive and refreshingly fun - a fresh way to interact with the living space; blending a traditional toy with that intense Mario Kart action! Throw in those familiar items, themes and chirpy music and Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is a recipe for an afternoon of Augmented Reality racing. Home Circuit does certainly have room to grow and questions around replay value - whether through more affordable additional RC cars, extra accessories, and additional extras in the game.
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Oct 19, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is an entertaining take on the classic franchise. The mixed reality format allows player creativity to shine, as the ceiling for possibility is practically infinite. Nintendo is able to expertly weave staple Mario Kart features and characteristics into an augmented reality setting, making the game stand out from other RC racers. Players may be limited by their own home environment, or the rather short connectivity range of the kart itself. Despite a handful of technical road bumps, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is an exciting and inventive way to play the beloved racer.
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Oct 19, 2020Mario Kart Live is a wondrous and magical toy that combines real world and digital play in an incredible way. It’s a shame though that not everyone will have the space, or the money, to experience it.
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Oct 19, 2020Hindered or enhanced by your imagination, Nintendo’s latest mad project is still a well-designed and madly charming new entry in its beloved karting franchise.
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Oct 18, 2020It’s not perfect, it feels like the start of a new genre rather than the definitive conquering of one. In time I can imagine garden based versions, bigger and bigger tracks with loops, jumps and hills, and a raft of copycat games.
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Oct 16, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is a startlingly authentic "mixed reality" recreation of Nintendo's most popular racing series which encourages you to be inventive with your course designs and does an excellent job of combining your real-world surroundings with the fantasy environments of the Mushroom Kingdom; add in a second player (or three) and it becomes even more compelling. The tech side of things is undeniably impressive and it's impossible to not raise a smile the first time you play; the question is how long that magic will last, especially if your home limits your track designs and you've only got the budget to cover the cost of a single car.
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Oct 16, 2020Home Circuit is ultimately a very good title to salute for its innovation, but which can be frustrating for those who do not have the place to really enjoy it.
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Oct 14, 2020Minor setbacks aside, this is a very fun Mario Kart game in its own right. Not quite the feature-rich experience that Mario Kart 8 is, but a very fun, very clever game nonetheless. It’s delightful and will certainly be fun for all ages and a great party game for whenever you feel comfortable having parties again. There’s even a driving assist mode for very young (or, uh, very old) players which will help them navigate courses without having to do much more than accelerate and reverse.
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Oct 14, 2020With Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, you drive a physical toy kart across virtual tracks that you design around your home. It's not a full-on Mario Kart experience, but the augmented reality game offers plenty of racing thrills.
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Game World Navigator MagazineNov 18, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit can be a lot of fun even for the people who usually aren’t interested in video games. The only drawback is that you need a console and a kart for each player. [Issue#249, p.78]
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Oct 16, 2020Quotation forthcoming.
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Nov 2, 2020Mario Kart Live Home Circuit is magical, but not flawless. While being a bit pricey, the quality of the tech behind these karts can't be denied. It is a joy to race on your own courses, although finishing is always easy thanks to some small technical hiccups.
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Oct 23, 2020A lot of the fun, enjoyment and replayability of Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit depends of the buyer, which can be a both a good thing and a bad idea. Still, even with the lack of true and viable multiplayer (unless you have the cash), it's a solid Mario Kart game.
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Oct 20, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit does nearly everything it can to offer a commendably fun-filled AR racing experience. Although it has its inherent limitations, it's definitely a novel concept with a lot of promise, especially if you want to create your own real-life courses.
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Oct 14, 2020Despite its shortcomings, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit still brings hours of fun. While firing up Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is more convenient and fully featured, Mario Kart Live’s unique take on the series is worth checking out for those looking for exciting twists on a well-worn concept.
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Nov 3, 2020An inspired toy allied to a pretty bare bones Mario Kart game, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit exudes magic at every AR-enhanced turn, though it's an expensive and short-lived sort of magic.
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Nov 2, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is undeniably impressive in its execution at combining Augmented Reality and Nintendo’s popular franchise. There’s a sense of magic to creating your track in the real world and watching as it comes to life on the Switch. However, at nearly one hundred pounds the price of entry is a tough pill to swallow especially since multiplayer requires you drop another hundred on top. While this isn’t the true sequel Mario Kart fans were hoping for, it’s still an exciting experiment and one that’s worth checking out so long as you have the necessary space and the money.
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Oct 30, 2020After waving the checkered flag, there will definitely be racing fans who find hours and hours of entertainment in Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. There may be just as many, though, that open up the box and begin setting up the game only to find that their home just isn’t a great fit or they don’t have others around to enjoy it with. Without question, its novelty is charming and it makes a stellar first impression, but the experience can start to seem shallow the more and more laps you make around the track. If you have a good amount of space and flexibility where you can play, Mario Kart Live is a neat and well-functioning toy, but diehard Kart fans are likely to be left in the dust not long after the race begins.
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Oct 22, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is a unique experience that is really impressive at first glance. I enjoyed putting the courses together and exploring the variety of Grand Prix’s, but after a while, the experience does lose its charm much faster than normal Mario Kart experiences.
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Oct 21, 2020Mario Kart Live Home Circuit is a good idea and can be very attractive especially for children, but its few modes, its high cost and its lack of multiplayer options will make this product somewhat repetitive for players who buy it on Nintendo Switch.
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Oct 20, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is a gleefully successful experiment for Nintendo and Velan Studios...though some minor elements hold it back from exceeding expectations.
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Oct 20, 2020A wonderfully inventive attempt to bring Mario Kart into the real world, whose mere premise is enough to amuse and delight, despite some unavoidable practical limitations.
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Oct 19, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is a magical, transformative experience under ideal conditions that works way better than you’d think. When you stray from those conditions even a little, though, it deteriorates rapidly. It’s destined to provide dozens of hours of entertainment for some home-bound players and not last an evening with others. It’s a big step forward for this weird blend of augmented reality tech, while also showing the limitations it has yet to overcome.
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Oct 19, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is heavily dependent on the amount of free floor space you have available. If you have a large home, space to drive under the sofas, no extra rugs or thick carpets, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit will be an amazing experience to share with the children. If you live somewhere fairly cramped or have a lot of clutter that's going to get in the way, then you will find this very difficult to enjoy indeed. Great for the kids at Christmas, as long as you have the space.
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Oct 19, 2020If you have kids around the ages 10-15, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is a great Christmas gift, but only if your kids are okay with sharing or you’re willing to shell out $200 for two sets. It’s expensive, so maybe make sure they’re actually willing to build a course every time they want to play if you’re not okay with it being left around the house for long periods of time.
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Oct 14, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit’s mixed reality novelty excels when you have the space and motivation to make your courses flourish, but occasional tech hiccups and clogged wheels are hazards just as dangerous as any Blue Shell. That said, when I took the time to really lean into the creative challenge building a track presented me with, I was often rewarded by having a blast racing on it. Some familiar mechanics get lost in the translation to AR, but this is still an enjoyable Mario Kart game no matter what roadway I made.
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Oct 14, 2020There's fun to be had in Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, but you have to invest in it. The more work you put into making your go-kart track craftwork unique, the more enjoyment you'll get out of racing, with or without some frustration and repetition. Mario Kart Live isn't going to have the long-term appeal of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, but with some imagination and ingenuity, you can make it something special.
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Oct 26, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is, in other words, an entertaining toy that can spark the imaginations of Mario fans young and old, but it’s not necessarily a great game. Proceed accordingly.
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Nov 30, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is a good attempt to revive the toys to life genre. The AR functions are really impressive, with varied environments such as snow landscapes and lava worlds that give your living room a completely new look. Unfortunately the basic game itself is somewhat limited in terms of characters and unlockables. In addition, the 200cc mode is the only one that corresponds to the fast-paced feel from the original. And the total prize will definitely discourage a lot of curious players.
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Oct 30, 2020If Mario Kart Live Home Circuit plays well and feels fresh it also has some awkward limitations. First, the connection between the kart and your Switch is too short. Then, if you live in a small flat, it's complicated. Finally, if you plan to play with other people, you have to buy another complete set, as there are no individual karts for sale.
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Oct 18, 2020Ultimately, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit was always going to be a risk. Sacrificing the colorful designs of the series' most famous tracks and the lack of Grand Prix variation on the level of Mario Kart's best entries was a gamble, and it didn't pay off the way Nintendo may have hoped. Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is an interesting, innovative game that feels like the best Nintendo could do with the concept - but it's a step back from just how great Mario Kart has been historically, and feels more like an extremely well-crafted novelty rather than a game that will keep people coming back months after release.
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Oct 14, 2020At its core, there’s a solid Mario Kart game here, and I hope the environmental and gate effects are brought over to the main series for the proper ninth installment, as I think those additions could add something to the franchise. Still, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit has too many little annoyances that can only be alleviated by having a perfectly sized, perfectly lit space — like the one in Nintendo’s promotional materials. This might still be a hit with children, or anyone else less interested is Home Circuit as a game than a toy, but anyone hoping for depth or replaying the game will be disappointed.
| This publication does not provide a score for their reviews. | |
| This publication has not posted a final review score yet. | |
| These unscored reviews do not factor into the Metascore calculation. | |
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Oct 14, 2020Mario Kart Live is a fun experience at home that feels like a little magic theme park ticket. And the game itself, while not as good as Mario Kart 8, is deeper and better than I expected. There are unlockable extras and time trials and cups to try to win. [Hands-On Impressions]
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Oct 16, 2020Carefully consider your options before you dive in, but for those of you who are up to the challenge, it actually does work far better than you'd expect it to.
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Oct 21, 2020There's real magic at the heart of this brilliantly faithful AR take on Mario Kart, but a fair few caveats abound.
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Oct 14, 2020Despite a content offering that risks running out in a short time, the great strength of the title lies in an unconventional approach to game design which, thanks to augmented reality, is able to make the world of video games interact with that of the games in a simple and intuitive way.
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Oct 20, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit is obviously not a full-fledged Mario Kart game. What it does offer is a special experience that feels very familiar to Mario Kart fans while being incredibly ingenious at the same time.
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Oct 14, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit delivers remote-control racing like you've probably never seen before. Its augmented-reality features are brilliant and genuinely surprise with just how well they work, 'in hand'. Home Circuit is full of classic Nintendo charm from its out-the-box elements to its cheery software; it's extremely intuitive to use and offers troubleshooting advice if needed; and it does work in a small space, even if you'll absolutely get more from it, the bigger your home is. It's all the vroom your living room has ever needed - just be sure to keep the kart where you can see it.
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Oct 14, 2020Live Home Circuit is a great combination of a toy (a radio controlled kart) and an augmented reality game for Nintendo Switch, with some creative additions in the way we design each circuit.
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Oct 14, 2020This game is really for my 12-year-old nephew. He loves Lego and Minecraft and is a natural tinkerer, and would rise to the challenge of creating different courses in a limited, largely immutable space. That’s not to say an adult couldn’t also experiment, and I expect social media at Christmastime will be flooded with images of truly wacky course design. If you have a suitable space for it, and can tap into the latent power of your imagination, then Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit will enjoy a decently long life in your household. Or, if you’re like me, someone whose creativity has been worn thin by the realities of being a bill-paying adult, the kart alone will deliver plenty of fun just from chasing around your pets.
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Oct 14, 2020The need to have a console and a kart for each of the players makes the multiplayer experience expensive and exclusive, and we really wonder how many will have the opportunity to share it with a friend or another family member. From this point of view, the ability to pass the console and take turns in Timed mode is just a meager sop.
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Oct 14, 2020From racing against the computer to taking on friends with their own karts to designing the perfect track to just exploring your place through the eyes of a tiny, kart-racing Mario, this is a toy in the best way: a portal to inventive, constantly changing play that’s fun no matter how you decide to interact with the platform. Your home is now Mario’s own set of challenges and opportunities, and that’s a jump I did not expect from the Mario Kart franchise. [Polygon Recommends]
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Oct 14, 2020Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit provides a fresh and unique gaming experience, which feels hard to come by these days. The kart is cleverly designed and well put together, responding to every precise movement. Whilst the core gameplay might get a little repetitive, the technology has a bright future, and it's guaranteed to provide fun for the whole family.
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Oct 20, 2020A creative and novel way to spend time in whatever level of lockdown you’re currently engaged in.
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Oct 14, 2020Home Circuit is a game about trade-offs. No, you’re not getting a full-fledged Mario Kart experience with all kinds of inventive new power-ups and tracks. You’re also not getting a game you can easily play with friends. But in their stead, you get a racing game that’s really unlike anything else out there. At its best, Home Circuit seamlessly blends the idea of racing an RC car with a video game and does it while making the act of creation playful. I may not be able to play Home Circuit with my friends — but at least my cat can join in when she feels like making trouble.
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Oct 14, 2020This is an interesting toy, but as a game it’s definitely limited. We’re sure younger players will love it, although we would have liked to see a more ambitious take on the concept.
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Oct 14, 2020Mario Kart Live is as fun as any other Mario Kart game, while you'll have to spend the time and creative energy to lay down your course you'll soon forget about it and just start playing Mario Kart. The difference is there's a little RC Mario or Luigi roaming around the floor bringing the game to life even for those not playing it. Mario Kart Live is a super polished experience, and possibly the first time I've ever enjoyed anything AR. Instead of just having AR for AR sake, it's taken something already fun and merged it with real life.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 52 out of 78
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Mixed: 10 out of 78
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Negative: 16 out of 78
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Nov 14, 2020
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Oct 19, 2020
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Oct 19, 2020