How to Get More Stars in Mario Kart Tour

Having trouble unlocking more stars in Mario Kart Tour to access tour gifts or open up the later cups for more courses to play? While some of the game’s main progression comes down to dumb luck based on pipe pulls, there are ways to get more stars with some careful planning.

Once you understand the basics of how points are accumulated, it isn’t hard to get enough points to consistently earn five stars on every single track. Strap in and let’s get started!

Earning More Mario Kart Tour Stars Easily

Bumping up your score on a track for five stars is most easily handled by picking the preferred driver, kart, and glider for a course.

Not only do you start with more points and get three items per item box, but you also get a multiplier on all points gained during the match.

That’s where you should focus your efforts on earning more stars — perform as many actions as possible in a match for bonus points.

While you can’t control when you earn a 3 item frenzy, you have more control over how many actions you perform to get the required points for earning five stars.

After a level, you can see what actions you used and how many points they netted to see how you did. Not sure what actions are worthwhile? Here’s what you should always do in every track:

• Begin with a rocket start by tapping the screen on the “2” countdown
• Perform mini turbo boosts at all curves in the road
  • Holding the boost for longer by continuing to drift results in more points through a super mini turbo
• Perform a slipstream if you don’t have any items and can’t get ahead of a driver
• Tap like mad during a frenzy if you have the course’s favored driver
• Look for extra off-road jump boosts accessed by using a mushroom to launch off the track

You earn bonus points for combos when you perform multiple actions in quick succession. To maximize your score, fire off your items just before or after hitting a jump boost, and aim yourself to run through as many coins as possible at one time.

Unfortunately, due to the randomized gacha system, you aren’t going to always have the favored driver, kart, and glider for each track. That means you won’t always be able to hit the max number of stars for a course  — but there’s still another way to earn more stars and unlock later levels!

You can net more stars by completing tour challenges, which swap out every two weeks. Each challenge nets you either 1 or 2 stars without having to complete a track.

While F2P racers get two boards of challenges for every tour, you can unlock extra stars if you have the $4.99 a month gold pass, which offers up a third board. 

These challenges range from landing three hits with a specific item (like the super horn or banana) to performing 150 mini turbo boosts or earning a score of 6,000 or higher with a specific driver.

Always try to complete all the challenges on a challenge board, because you earn bonus coins by getting a bingo when you finish all the challenges in a row (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal).

Why does it matter if you get more coins through bingo?

Karts, drivers, and gliders can be outright bought for coins in the shop. The more options you have available, the more likely to get a favored course combo on a track for maximum stars.

That’s all you need to know about earning more MKT stars! Still need to figure out how to complete any other challenges, earn extra coins, or pull the best drivers? Take a look at our growing list of Mario Kart Tour guides here, including: