Halloween Kart Track four block-built racers on a go-kart track at night
A block-built go-kart circuit on Halloween night, seen from one corner. A pumpkin, a ghost, a witch and a black cat race to ten laps, grabbing treat boxes, firing pumpkin bombs and spinning out on slime. The winner is named champion, then the race moves on to the next of three boards.
Free to install. Halloween Kart Track unlocks with Pro, $5.99 a month or $39.99 a year. Cancel anytime.
What you see on every new tab
Halloween Kart Track turns the New Tab page into a small race meeting built from little cubes. You look down from one corner at a whole circuit on a square of grass: jack-o'-lanterns with flickering faces, lamp posts, a tyre wall, a start gantry, and a grandstand where four ghost fans turn to follow the karts and hop when one goes by. It plays itself. First to ten laps wins, and a scoreboard in the top left keeps the order, the laps and each driver's wins.
The racers: Pumpkin in a purple kart, Ghost in teal, Witch in red and Cat in yellow, each with headlights and tail lights. They slipstream, dive to the inside at corners and run side by side, and a kart that falls behind gets a little extra speed, so the four stay close.
Treat boxes: two rows of three purple boxes on every lap. A box holds a speed boost, a pumpkin bomb that chases the kart ahead, a slime puddle to leave on the road, a ghost spell that lets a kart drive straight through the others, or a lightning bolt that shrinks and slows a kart at the front. Whatever a driver is carrying floats over their head.
Trouble: a kart hit by a bomb or caught in slime spins round in tyre smoke, then sits dizzy with stars circling its head. Now and then one bumps another into a spin, or runs wide into the tyre wall and flips over in the air in a burst of sparks and tyre bits. A kart that arrives too fast behind a stopped one runs into it.
Three boards: Pumpkin Patch, Graveyard and Witch's Swamp, the last two with a bridge where the track crosses over itself. FINAL LAP comes up as the leader starts lap ten, and the winner is named CHAMPION under confetti. Then the scene fades to the next board and the karts line up for 3, 2, 1, GO. After Witch's Swamp the driver with the most wins takes the cup as GRAND CHAMPION and the round starts again.
Nothing is a video. Each board is a pre-rendered set of pictures whose lights are added back together on your graphics card every frame, so the lamps and lantern flames flicker. The karts, the fans, the smoke and the sparks are drawn live as little cubes with WebGL, and the race is simulated as it runs, so no two go the same way.
What it reacts to
Mouse, click and music: nothing. The four racers make all their own decisions.
Night: no change. It is always Halloween night on the track, and the page is not dimmed after dusk.
Free or Pro?Pro
Ambient New Tab is free to install, with three free themes. Halloween Kart Track is a Pro theme. Pro is $5.99 a month or $39.99 a year, cancel anytime, and it unlocks every Pro theme, music sync, and every new theme as we release it. You can preview Halloween Kart Track full screen before you buy: open the Themes panel and rest your mouse on it. Changed your mind? 14-day refund, no questions.
Open a new tab and click the Themes pill in the bottom-right corner.
Pick Halloween Kart Track. Done.
Halloween Kart Track on a 1280×800 New Tab page.
Questions
Can I drive one of the karts?
No. All four drive themselves, and the mouse, clicks and music sync do nothing here. It is a small race to glance at, not a game to play.
Is Halloween Kart Track free?
It is a Pro theme. Pro is $5.99 a month or $39.99 a year. It unlocks every Pro theme, music sync, and every new theme as it is released. Cancel anytime.
Does the race start from the beginning in every tab?
No. A new tab opens on one of the three boards, picked at random, part way through a race and sometimes close to the finish. A full race from the start lights takes about three minutes. Wins are not saved: each tab keeps its own count from zero.
Does it work on my phone?
No. It's a desktop browser extension for Chrome and Edge on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS. If you're reading this on a phone, send yourself the link.
