Smash Karts

Summary

Smash Karts is a hugely popular free-to-play 3D multiplayer .io kart battle arena game where the main goal is to drive (and drift) around closed-in, elevation-filled arenas, grab randomized weapon pickups from loot boxes, and do your best to blow up as many opponents as possible in fast-paced rounds. But, that’s just one of the many game modes on offer…

Once you spawn into the colorful cartoon-styled arenas, you’ll go up against other (real-life online) players, where the public matches are short and intense. The classic Free For All (FFA) mode rewards the victory to whoever gets the most kills within the three-minute countdown timer, but there are also modes like Capture The Flag (CTF), Hat Holder, Gem Collector, and other limited-time seasonal events that change throughout the year.

The quirky graphics are incredibly well-refined and polished, and the physics feel super smooth. It’s one of those games that feels genuinely impressive and perfectly suited for browsers (Drift Hunters MAX fans will know this feeling!) Once you start getting the hang of it, you’ll quickly see why it’s become one of the most popular choices for fans of online multiplayer games.

As you progress, you’ll be rewarded with coins, gems, and character tokens as you level up (max level 200). You’ll also unlock a huge range of customization options, with hundreds of variables, from characters to hats, kart colors, wheels, toppers, and celebrations.

Once you’ve started proving your skills, the cross-platform saving function lets you jump between your PC/laptop/Chromebook and mobile/portable devices so you can pick up where you left off, and it even supports controller input alongside the usual keyboard controls. Needless to say, Smash Karts is a must-try for any gamer!

Smash Karts features

• Release date – March 25, 2020
• Difficulty – Beginner/Intermediate
• Levels/environments – Multiple arenas (with mode-specific/seasonal variants)
• Number of vehicles – 1 kart (but fully customizable)
• Vehicle customization/upgrades – Yes (cosmetic only)
• Multiplayer – Yes
• Mobile – Yes (iOS/Android, cross-platform)
• Developer – Tall Team

Physics

When you load Smash Karts, the first thing you’ll notice is the smooth and fun arcade-based kart handling. While there’s no handbrake/eBrake, these karts are designed to drift predictably around corners and feel super responsive. This makes the game easy to pick up, even for beginners.

Although they’re not particularly fast, they’re not meant to be. This, combined with its simple handling, feels refined and predictable, making it perfectly suited for chaotic arena battles so you can focus on the task at hand. If this sounds a bit boring, consider giving Epic Racing – Descent On Cars a try. This chaotic, high-speed downhill racer, complete with realistic full-body damage, is anything but dull!

If you enjoyed the sideways aspect of Smash Karts and want to take a deeper dive into more realistic drifting, Drift Hunters MAX is the ultimate browser-game pick. It’s an in-depth simulator with real-life physics, where you’ll need to learn skills like weight shifting, transitioning, initiations, and various other advanced drifting techniques to truly master the game. On top of that, there’s a huge selection of 39 cars, loads of tracks (and layouts), in-depth tuning, and a variety of challenging game modes (including Drift Attack, with clipping points) where you’ll need to showcase the skills you’ve learnt!.

Graphics

The colorful, fun, cartoony 3D visuals in Smash Karts will undoubtedly remind you of Mario Kart. While the graphics settings are auto-detected (and look great even on lower settings), they can also be manually adjusted in the settings menu if needed.

Controls

PC/laptop/Chromebook keyboard

• W/Up arrow – Accelerate
• S/Down arrow – Brake/reverse
• A/Left arrow – Steer left
• D/Right arrow – Steer right
• Space – Fire/use weapon

Controller

You can also connect a gamepad (which might be a bit harder to get away with at school!) Enable this in Settings > Controls by ticking the ‘Gamepad Controls’ box.

Mobile/tablet (iOS/Android)

• Press the on-screen buttons

Like Drift Hunters MAX, Smash Karts is fully optimized for mobile devices and supports cross-platform saving via account sign-in (Google, Apple, Discord, or email).

How to play Smash Karts

Initial setup

When you start, you’ll see a feature-packed main menu:

Left side

• Current XP level with stats breakdown (Total kills, revenge kills, bot kills, deaths, KDR, wins, games, etc.)
• Tickets, coins, and gems balance (Click for free spins/to earn prizes on the claw machine)
• Auto-generated username (unlock custom names at level 5) along with sign-in/sign-up option
  • Signing up (Google/Apple/Discord/email) creates a cloud save and grants 100 free gems immediately (alongside saving your progress), making it well worth doing.
• News box
  • Friends tab (Add your friends via user ID, see when they’re online, toggle ‘appear offline’ mode)

Top right

• Shop (Freebies/Season passes/Bundles/Gems/Tokens/Coins)
• Free rewards (Check back for daily bonuses)

Bottom right

• Region selector (Switch servers for better matchmaking during off-peak hours)
• Settings (Gameplay, controls, account)
• Full screen toggle (Hides browser toolbars)
• Discord link

Bottom center

• Play button (Starts public matchmaking)
• Create/Join buttons (For private lobbies with friends)

Getting started

When you’re ready, click ‘Play’ to jump straight into an online lobby. There’s no single-player mode, and you’ll be thrown straight into the multiplayer PvP from the start.

You’ll immediately spawn into a battle arena with other players. You then need to drive into loot boxes (floating ‘?’ boxes) to grab a random weapon or power-up. Your collected weapon then appears in the bottom-right of the screen. Press Space to use it.

Fair warning – the game is super intense right from the start. At first, you’ll likely need to learn what each weapon does and get to grips with the game in general, so be patient and don’t be afraid to lose a few games. There are a LOT of experienced players out there who know the ropes, and you undoubtedly will soon, too.

You need to keep your wits about you, constantly scan for threats, and make unpredictable movements to try and fool your rivals. Remember, many of these players are super-skilled and talented (they seem to play all day!), so you’ll need sharp reflexes and creative driving to compete.

Basic starter survival tips

• Always keep a weapon on hand (whenever possible), as it can often be used as a defense. Being unarmed makes you an easy target.
• Watch what weapons opponents are holding (displayed on their karts)
• Use the obstacles/walls/ramps, etc., for cover against rockets and projectiles
• Respawn by pressing any key (once the countdown timer finishes) once you’ve been smashed

In the initial classic game mode, rounds typically last 3 minutes (the timer is shown in the top center, next to health). Whoever has the most kills (top left for current score/position ranking) when the time runs out wins.

After your first few games, you’ll start unlocking achievements (with Lucky Spins and various other rewards) and customization options. Head back to the main menu to claim your level-up rewards (top-left notification), which will start coming in fast. Soon, you’ll unlock the other game modes, and when you reach Level 5, don’t forget to create your custom username (it’s a badge of honor!)

Smash Karts game modes

The game offers multiple modes, and Free For All (FFA) is the standard ‘Classic’ mode. Once unlocked, you can select the different game modes by pressing the ‘Up’ arrow next to ‘PLAY’ on the main menu.

Free For All (FFA) – Up to 12 players

Straightforward chaos – the traditional starter game mode where it’s each kart rider for themselves. The player with the most kills within the three-minute timer wins. 

Team Battle – 8v8

You’re placed on a default team (Red or Blue). Unlike FFA mode, you’ll need to team up with other players to earn as many kills as you can between you.

Capture The Flag (CTF) – 8v8

Steal the enemy flag and return it to your base. You can’t score if your own flag is currently taken. Carrying the flag slows your kart and prevents new weapon pickups, but some active weapons can be used if triggered before grabbing the flag.

Hat Holder – Up to 12 players

Find and hold the hat for a set time (typically 30 seconds). While wearing it, your kart slows, and you can’t pick up weapons. Pre-loading certain weapons (activating just before grabbing the hat) gives a brief advantage.

Other game modes

These include more options, such as Arms Race, Gem Collector, Score Target, Kart Krusher, Candy Rush, and other limited-time events, which may also appear based on seasonality/rotation. If they’re not available in the current default game modes, you can create a Private game and choose your preference.

If you fancy checking out another completely unique online multiplayer battle arena, Survival Race is an alternative popular browser game that puts you on a floating platform (with falling tiles and flying cars) where you need to avoid falling off, while fighting and knocking other players off.

Maps and arenas

Smash Karts features multiple arenas, with some maps built specifically for modes like CTF. These typically rotate based on the refresh timer above them (within Game Modes). Common choices (not including seasonal variants) include:

• Kartuga
• Toxic Towers
• The Sand Box
• Boneyard Basin
• Snowpark (and specific CTF map)
• Skate Park
• Snow Shrine
• Space Stations
• Space Station
• Lava Pit (and specific CTF map)
• Graveyard (and specific CTF map)
• Smash Fort (and specific CTF map)
• Sky Arena Temples
• Sky Arena Tunnels
• Sky Arena Showdown
• Sky Arena Pinball
• Sky Arena Dropzone
• Smash Fort
• Slick ‘n Slide
• The Old Graveyard
• Steky’s Speedway
• The Gravel Pit
• Smash Island

For the maps you want to play that aren’t currently available in the default modes, with a while left until the next refresh, creating a Private lobby lets you choose the maps you want to play.

If you fancy trying a different game where you’ll need to focus on precision rather than combat, Polytrack is a fast-paced racer that challenges you to shave milliseconds off your best lap time with over 100 track variations on offer in Time Attack-style timing on global leaderboards.

Smash Karts customization

Once you’ve played a few games, the Customize menu unlocks. You get three preset slots, along with the ability to configure the following options:

• Characters – 187 drivers to unlock (filtered by rarity/theme)
• Hats – 107 options ranging from pirate gear (seasonal themes) to hilarious picks like toilet plungers
• Kart colors – 48 colors (some free, some require coins or unlocking at specific levels)
• Wheels – Various designs
• Toppers – Accessories for your kart (guitars, flags, etc.)
• Celebrations – Victory effects

There’s also a ‘Randomize Loadout’ button if you want the game to pick for you. Unlocks come from leveling up, earning coins, completing challenges, or lucky spins.

There are also additional random/seasonal customizations, such as the pirate-themed Smash Bucklers.

Smash Karts weapons

Weapons come from loot boxes and are completely random. Here’s what you’ll encounter:

Shooters (aim/fire)

• Rockets – Forward-fired projectile. Best used when opponents are committed to a turn or in a straight line.

• Bullets – Short burst of forward shots.
• Machine gun – Rotational fire that auto-tracks the nearest rival.
• Snowball launcher – A projectile that freezes targets for a few seconds, allowing you to smash them once frozen.

Lobbers (throwable explosives)

• Cannonballs – Multi-shot heavy balls.
• Lobgrenuke – Thrown grenade-style explosive.

One-shot ramming weapons

• Nuke – A huge explosive that destroys multiple enemies in one blast (best for when they’re clustered together).

• Spiky mace balls/Spiky-go-round – Rotating spike weapon that smashes opponents when you ram into them.
• Invincibility (Star) – A temporary invulnerability with contact-smash ability (Mario Kart-style).

Traps (drop weapons)

• Mines – Drop on the floor to explode rivals when they drive over them. Best placed in unexpected or hard-to-avoid locations, such as ramps, candy clusters, or corner exits.
• Fake Loot Box – A decoy pickup that explodes when collected. Muahaha!

If you’ve enjoyed the weapons and fancy another game with a similar concept but with cars and a more racing-focused approach, Drift.io offers over 18 vehicles (from drifting legends to supercars, and even a delivery truck), along with Grand Prix, Time Attack, and a similar Battle mode to this one.

Advanced tips & tricks

Always try to stay armed

Driving around without a weapon will leave you exposed, as many of them will act as armor. Try to prioritize loot box routes whenever possible, and if you’ve got a weapon you don’t want, be prepared to dump it and get a (hopefully) better replacement.

Treat corners and choke points as trap zones

Mines and fake loot boxes are perfect for catching your rivals off guard. Think outside the box, and drop them where they’ll least expect it.

Hold rockets for committed targets

Fire when opponents are mid-turn, exiting a choke, or in a straight. If they likely have room to escape, hold onto it.

Don’t waste nukes on single targets

Save them for the moments where you’ve got multiple enemies in your line of sight.

Learn spawn patterns

Gem Collector and Candy Rush heavily reward memorizing spawn locations. So, you’ll want to defend the high-yield sections instead of racing every pickup.

Stay unpredictable

Don’t be afraid to show off your drifting skills with sharp turns and sudden direction changes, as your opponents will struggle to hit you.

Enjoyed the drifting aspect and looking to the next level? Drift King is the hottest free multiplayer drifting game right now, bringing realistic physics along with great graphics, and online tandems and drift battles. Alternatively, you can try Drift Hunters Pro, created by the same team, offering a similar experience (with slightly less impressive physics) but with a 90s JDM focus (think Supra, RX-7 FD, Skyline R34, Nissan Silvias).

Smash Karts FAQ