The Mario Kart franchise is an accessible, brightly colored riot of fun, just like Mario’s own main series adventures (and what a spin-off it was!). The original (and still the best, in many gamers’ view) kart racer is very beginner-friendly, though there’s still enough depth to the gameplay to keep things competitive. Very, very competitive indeed, a lot of the time.
Things start off gently with the earlier tracks, which don’t tend to throw too many complex bends or hazards into the mix. Sometimes, this can result in even more carnage due to the confined space, but these are still classified as some of the easier levels in the series. Here are the simplest.
10 Rainbow Road (Mario Kart 64)
As jarring as it may be to see the infamous Rainbow Road listed as one of Mario Kart’s easiest tracks, fans will understand why. Mario Kart 64’s Rainbow Road is actually one of the series’ longest tracks, but it also doesn’t offer that much of a challenge.
Why? Because there are rails around the entire length of the course. There are several hazards (those darn Chomps) waiting to spin out racers and it’s quite a whirling ride, but this level just doesn’t offer the challenge of other Rainbow Roads. There are much easier courses to come, though.
9 Moo Moo Farm (Mario Kart 64)
Moo Moo Farm is another mixed bag of a track, also hailing from Mario Kart 64. Track 2 in the game’s Mushroom Cup, it looks incredibly simple: just an oval with nary a bend worth mentioning. There’s a little more to this track than meets the eye, though.
In contrast to 64’s Rainbow Road, it’s the shortest track in the game but packs far more cows, moles, and other interfering wildlife than you weren't anticipating. In later installments, mechanics like performing tricks allowed players to pull off some clever maneuvers on those molehills near the end of the course, adding a further complicating wrinkle. In terms of design alone, there are few courses simpler, but Moo Moo Farm still has a few tricks up its sleeve.
8 Koopa Beach 1 (Super Mario Kart)
Super Mario Kart wasn’t the most creative title around when it came to naming its courses, was it? Koopa Beach 1 was also the shortest track of its debut game, but again, don’t be fooled by its simplistic appearance.
This track appeared in the Star Cup of Super Mario Kart, as well as the Extra Lightning Cup of Mario Kart: Super Circuit. Those pesky Cheep Cheeps can be a real pain here (in combination with the power-ups of opponents), as the shallow water and rough sections of track can leave very little room to maneuver. It’s all about finding an optimal route while avoiding the carnage, which can be a little tricky. That aside, though, there isn’t very much to this one at all.
7 Delfino Square (Mario Kart DS)
Next up, it's the course with some of the bounciest, ear worm-iest music in series history: Delfino Square. This track originally pops up in Mario Kart DS’s Flower Cup, an homage to Super Mario Sunshine that fans of Nintendo’s main man surely appreciated.
Found a little later in the game’s track roster, Delfino Square is surprisingly straightforward. The backstreets depicted are generously roomy for the most part, there’s a big, unmissable shortcut along the way (though the terrain makes it a pain if you don’t have a mushroom on hand) and only a few challenging turns.
6 Sky Garden (Mario Kart: Super Circuit)
Right in the middle of our rundown, we have a track that was a little difficult to place. Cropping up in the Game Boy Advance edition’s Lightning Cup, Sky Garden is a track that can be very easy… or not.
As is often the case with this series, a seemingly simple level can prove to be a nightmare, if you’re stuck in the opponents’ line of fire throughout. Sky Garden has no rails, so racers can be sent careening to their doom by stray projectiles. By the same token, though, it doesn’t really have any hazards, so you can run away with the race if you manage to break off.
5 Sunshine Airport (Mario Kart 8)
Another reference to Super Mario Sunshine’s tropical locale of Isle Delfino, Sunshine Airport is one of the last tracks of Mario Kart 8. For a Star Cup course, it’s quite compact and simple.
Granted, there are difficult bends and long stretches of course without rails (plus that long gliding section near the end of the lap, which devious players love to save their Lightning for), but this one isn’t very busy all in all. It’s a visual treat and a very different kind of track to the Mario Kart norm, but it’s one of the least complex late-game courses.
4 Excitebike Arena (Mario Kart 8)
Excitebike Arena made its debut in Mario Kart 8, as part of the game’s DLC. It’s unlike any other track in the series, as the various jumps are somewhat randomized every time it’s raced on.
To be true to Excitebike, this track is littered with jumps, allowing the player to accrue many boosts from performing tricks. Design-wise, it couldn’t be any more straightforward, though the height changes and such make things just a little more complicated than the three easiest tracks.
3 Toad Circuit (Mario Kart 7)
Toad Circuit is the very first track in Mario Kart 7. It’s the perfect arena for the player to tip their toe into the 3DS game’s new mechanics before the complexity of the tracks starts to ramp up.
For the most part, it’s a simple tarmac track, very easy to follow, and beginner-friendly. It curves around a fair bit, but the bends and hazards are easy to follow/avoid. There’s also an obligatory gliding spot, for players to familiarize themselves with Mario Kart 7’s new gimmick.
2 Baby Park (Mario Kart: Double Dash!!)
Baby Park nearly ranked as the easiest track in Mario Kart history. It really, really did. All series fans know that it’s the absolutely simplest possible design for a track. The only issue is, it has one clear complicating factor: you’re going to be pounded by 17,422 shells, stars, Bullet Bills, and everything else over the course of the race.
Essentially, it's a flat, much shorter Excitebike Arena. It’s less complicated to traverse as a result, but it’s also much more prone to immediately descending into chaos because the racers are bunched together.
1 Luigi Raceway/Luigi Circuit (Mario Kart Series)
While many of these tracks appear in several series entries, a Luigi Circuit or equivalent appears throughout the franchise. The first was Mario Kart 64’s Luigi’s Raceway.
This particular track offered long, wide stretches of tarmac, perfect for players to practice drifting, their aim with green shells (that very long straight is fantastic there), and general Mario Kart basics. Much like Toad Circuit, these tracks vary quite a bit between games but always offer a gentle introduction to the game.