SuperTuxKart
Version: 1.4 Web: https://supertuxkart.net
As its name suggests SuperTuxKart (STK) is a kart racing game. What makes it superadorable is that its characters are mascots of various open source projects. Besides Tux, there’s Gnu, Puffy from OpenBSD, Suzanne from Blender, Wilbur from GIMP, Xue from Xfce, and several others. The game is available in the repos of virtually all desktop distros, and you can fetch it using the default graphical package manager. To ensure you have the latest version of the game, it’s best to grab the compressed tarball from its website. You can then uncompress it using the file manager or with the tar -xf command. Then switch to the extracted folder and run the run_game.sh script.
STK started as a fork of TuxKart, which came out over two decades ago. Both games have a similar gameplay, but STK has some variations, such as the cans of nitro, as well as a story mode. In STK, Gnu is captured by the game’s villain, Nolok, who then challenges Tux to free Gnu.
In addition to a single-player mode, STK supports a local split-screen multiplayer mode, as well as an online mode where you can play with other players on the local network or over the internet. Still, you have to play the story mode in order to unlock tracks and characters that you can then use in the single and multiplayer modes.
Besides multiple play modes, STK has various challenges and other interesting aspects to make it more engaging than a simple head-to-head between you and AI players. In fact, the game suggests firsttime players should run through the in-game tutorial before mounting their karts. The tutorial shows you how to collect various objects, including nitro bottles that you can use to get a temporary boost, and how to get back on the track if you lose your way.