Players have taken sandbagging to a whole new level and created a top-tier strategy to ensure an incredible win rate inMario Kart World. Fans of theMario Kartseries have been playingMario Kart 8and its improved, deluxe version since 2014, becoming incredibly familiar with the ins and outs of the game. When the newest entry in the series,Mario Kart World, was announced to be releasing alongside the Switch 2, the community was over the moon with joy.
As soon as the Nintendo Switch 2 launched on May 22, 2025,Mario Kartfans picked it up as well as their copy or codes ofMario Kart Worldand got down to business. Players wanted to learn every secret and shortcut in allMario Kart Worldcourses, but it would take some time, as there are over 30 different ones to try out. While mostMario Kartgames have eight or 12 competitors,Mario Kart Worldtook things up a notch with its 24-player races. This, of course, made races much more chaotic and harder to win.
The chaos and the high number of players ineachMario Kart Worldcoursemade it more difficult for players to remain in first place for longer, leading many to invent new strategies. Gyrodos, aMario KartYouTuber, shared a strategy in which they avoided getting the starting boost and focused on sandbagging to get better items. Then, when they got the optimal item loadout, they would attempt to get ahead and use the powerful items to move into first place and create a significant distance between them and the second-place racer to avoid ever falling behind again.
How to Utilize the Mario Kart World No Starting Boost Strategy
For those unfamiliar with the term, sandbagging inMario Kartis when players purposely fall behind so they can get better loot in item boxes. In this case, the objective is to miss thestarting boost inMario Kart World, as the game tends to push the Triple Mushroom item a fair bit when this happens. Since there is a high number of players, if players get close enough to the top placements and use the item at the right time, they can easily overtake them, reach first place, and continue to boost ahead.
The Mushroom items are best used in shortcuts, as they tend to have more complicated roads that won’t be any trouble with a Mushroom boost. There are dozens ofshortcuts inMario Kart World, which is why this strategy works so well in this game.