Nothing chases you in this one. Six karts, five tracks, ramps to jump, geysers that throw you in the air and eggs to throw at whoever is in front. When you have won everything, build your own track in 3D, with hills and bridges, and send friends a five-letter party code.
Press play
The game opens full-screen on this page. It is real 3D but it is light, so it runs on most laptops, tablets and phones. If it is slow, it switches itself to Low graphics, and you can change that in the pause menu. New visitors first choose Home or School and accept the Rules, Terms and Privacy Policy.
Six ways to play
Race: one track, five rivals. Finish in the top three to unlock the next track.
Grand Prix: all five tracks in a row. First gets 10 points, then 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1. Most points wins the cup.
Time trial: just you, three breads and the clock. Your best run comes back as a ghost to chase.
Challenges: six short skill tests with bronze, silver and gold medals. Coin Rush, Drift School, Trick Star, Clean Lap, Ghost Dodge and Bread Sprint.
Battle: six karts in the Feather Dome with three balloons each. Pop the others. Last duck with a balloon wins.
Build + party: draw a track, race it, and share it with a code.
Controls
W or Up: go. S or Down: brake, then reverse.
A / D or Left / Right: steer.
Space or Shift: hold in a corner to drift. Tap it in the air to do a trick.
E: use your item. Q: quack.
P or Esc: pause. Music, sound and graphics are in there.
Touch: the kart drives by itself. Use the arrows to steer, Drift and Brake on the right, and tap the item box to use it.
Going faster
Drift: start turning, hold Space, wait for blue or orange sparks, then let go for a boost.
Ramps: drive off the top to fly. Press Space in the air to spin, and you land with a boost.
Geysers: the round marks on the road. When one goes off it throws you up, which is another chance for a trick.
Coins: each one makes your kart a little faster, up to ten. A spin-out drops three.
Slipstream: sit right behind another kart for a second and you get pulled past it.
Rocket start: press go just before the countdown says GO.
The nine items
Bread: a boost. Egg: flies along the road and spins out the first kart it hits.
Golden egg: follows the kart in front of you.
Puddle: drops behind you. Bubble: blocks one hit.
Lightning: shrinks and slows every kart ahead of you.
Mega kart: you grow, go faster and knock other karts spinning.
Coin magnet: pulls in every coin near you.
Rocket: flies you up the track by itself. Only karts at the back get one.
Karts at the back get the strongest items, so a bad start is never the end of the race.
Watch the road
Rolling balls cross the road from side to side. Hit one and you spin, unless you are a mega kart.
Ducklings cross at the zebra stripes. They are fine, but you lose half your speed.
Grass and sand are slow unless you are boosting, so use a bread to cut a corner.
Each built-in track hides three golden feathers off the racing line. Find all fifteen for the gold kart.
Spooky Hollow
The fifth track is a figure-eight at night. Finish in the top three on Rainbow Skyway to open it.
You go over a bridge, then under the same bridge.
Ghosts float from side to side across the road. They are friendly. Drive into one and it says boo, and you lose half your speed.
A bubble, a mega kart or a rocket scares a ghost off instead.
In the builder, pick the Spooky look and the Ghosts tool to make your own.
Challenges
Every challenge is just you and the track, at Normal speed, so a medal means the same for everybody.
Coin Rush: coins in 45 seconds. Drift School: a small drift boost scores 1 and a super boost scores 3. Trick Star: tricks landed in 70 seconds.
Clean Lap: a fence or the grass costs three seconds. Ghost Dodge: a boo costs three seconds. Bread Sprint: two laps, three breads.
A better medal pays coins the first time you win it.
Build a track
Press New track. You build in 3D: drag empty ground to spin the view, and use Top view when you want a flat map.
Move: drag the dots to bend the road, click the road to add a dot, double-click a dot to remove it.
Lift: drag a dot up or down. A little makes a hill. A lot makes a bridge, and another piece of road can go under a bridge.
Pick a dot to make the road there narrow, normal or wide.
Pick a look (Park, Beach, Candy or Sky), how hilly the land is and how many laps.
Drop item boxes, boost pads, ramps, coins, rolling balls, geysers and ducklings on the road.
My scenery: build up to four things from blocks, balls, cones, eyes and flags, then click beside the road to stand them there. Small, big or huge.
Red marks show a corner that is too sharp, a slope that is too steep or a road that runs into itself.
Test drive races it straight away. Surprise track makes one for you.
Build a kart
Open the garage (the driver button on the menu) and press Build my kart.
Every part costs coins. The price is the number next to its name. You only pay when a kart is worth more than anything you have paid for before.
Engines add top speed (up to three count). Pipes add pick-up. Spoilers charge drift boosts faster.
Wheels add steering. Big wheels keep your speed on the grass. Lights reach further for coins.
Every part adds weight, and weight costs speed and pick-up. A small light kart can beat a big heavy one.
Hats cost 30 coins each and each does one thing. Cap: start with 3 coins. Crown: coins make you faster. Party hat: longer trick boosts. Top hat: item boxes open faster. Bow: drift charges faster. Propeller: higher jumps. Flower: ducklings and ghosts do not slow you.
Challenges and party-code runs use the normal kart and no hat, so medals and leaderboards stay fair. Friends see your ghost in a normal kart.
Party codes
Set a time on your track in a time trial, then press Get party code. You get five letters, like QUACK.
A friend types the code under Build + party and gets your exact track.
They race the ghost of the fastest run. Every time goes on one shared leaderboard.
Beat the top time and your ghost becomes the one to chase.
No server? Copy track text gives one line of text that holds the whole track.
A party code sends the track, the nickname you type, your time and your ghost to PendarSmart, and anyone with the code can see them. Use a nickname, not your real name. Without a party code, nothing in Duck Kart leaves your device.
The garage
You earn coins in every mode. Sixty coins buys another driver: Robo-Duck from Duck Duel, the Seagull from Snack Stack, or the Bee, the Crab and the Hedgehog from DuckGame. They all handle the same, so pick the one you like. Chill is slower and rivals rarely throw things, Normal is a fair race, and on Fast the quickest rival is as quick as you.
How it is made
Duck Kart has its own small renderer, with no game engine and no downloaded pictures or sounds.
Every track, built-in or yours, is a list of about a dozen points. The code draws a smooth road through them, then builds the ground, fences and scenery around it.
A ghost is your kart's position saved ten times a second.
The songs and all the sound effects, including the quack, are made by code as well.
