The worldly famous videogame Garfield Kart, praised for being a masterpiece of gaming is extremely complex and full of depth, therefore this guide is here to help you understand a few things about this game. This has a lot of my opinions over the characters, so if you disagree, please leave a comment with them (as long as you aren't a Nermal fan).
This guide is divided into 8 sections: Introduction, Basic Mechanics, Maps, Items, Characters (part 1), Characters (part 2), Boosts and Tier List.

There are some important mechanics i must go over before talking about all the rest of the game and they will be covered here.

Combos: Every character has a combo and they can be seen in the little picture with colors on the left whenever you are choosing your character. If all the colours match, then you have that character's combo, however due to a glitch the golden Nermal spoiler counts towards the combo for Liz.

Drifting: Drifting is an extremely important mechanic in the game and is used in many skips throught the game. It's not hard to master and is very smooth to use on both keyboard and controller.

Bumping: You will very commonly bump against other racers and lose your speed on the process. If you are playing against bots however, they do not lose speed despite hitting you. This happens all the time, deal with it.

Bots: The difficulty on the bots chnges only their max speed, rubber banding distance and item usage. The AI will commonly go faster than you in a straightaway even when you have the best speed stat. That is common and does not affect much of the gameplay as long as you play well.

Skips: I will highlight them on the "maps" section and tell which ones need springs and which don't. They are always worth going for and sometimes skip half of the map.

Coins: Garfield kart is a mobile game/3ds port, so the coins were the way they made money on the phones. The best way to farm coins is to replay the fist cup on 50cc. You will be getting an average of 30 coins per race and an extra 120 if you get first place on the cup.

Stats: There are 3 stats: Speed, acceleration and maneuverability. Speed and acceleration are pretty self explanatory, however maneuverability is a stat that barely affects your gameplay, just pretend it does not exist.

Boosts: They are consumables that help you during the race, they will all be explained on the "boosts" section

Puzzle pieces: Collectables that will reward you with some images, they will not be covered in this guide.

These are all the maps and its skips. I am not taking into account clipping through the map using speedrun strategies as skips.

Catz In The Hood: The very first map, quick and easy to finish. There are 2 skips, one near the start behind the closed road (REQUIRES SPRING TO ACCESS) and another near the end, with the muddy road. I reccomend using a lasagna, perfume or a tier 2 drift to cross the muddy road.

Crazy Dunes: The first of many desert maps in the game, this one is very short and has one "skip" at the beggining that is hard to do and barely saves any time, which is the big wall in the curve (REQUIRES SPRING TO ACCESS).

Palerock lake: A huge map that takes place on a mountain. This map has no skips but many speed pads.

City slicker: A big map that takes place in a city. There is only one skip very near the end, where there are barricades blocking the access, forcing you to go around the statue (REQUIRES SPRING TO ACCESS). It's a hard skip to do because of the awkward angle you have to start drifting to save time, but if done right, it saves a couple seconds.

Country Bumpkin: A race that takes place in a farm. This map has 2 skips, one at the very beggining of the map, at the left of the barn, behind a few hay bales (REQUIRES SPRING TO ACCESS) and another at the very end of the map, where you cross through some grass to avoid a turn. The first skip has a speed pad behind the hay bale, making it worth if you have a spring. The second skip can be done with a tier 2 drift, however its better if you use a lasagna or perfume, it saves a nice amount of time if you do it in the 3 laps.

Spooky Manor: A race that takes place on a hill that is near a big mansion. This map has 2 skips and one sudo-skip, the first one being in a small hill at the left (REQUIRES SPRING TO ACCESS) and the second one is in another hill at the entrance of the cave (REQUIRES SPRING TO ACCESS); the sudo-skip is going through the parking lot, a straightaway. The first skip is a little bit faster, however i do not reccomend doing it, and rather saving you spring for the second one. The second skip saves more time than the first one and leaves you almost at the exit of the cave, ignoring the whole slow turn you have to do.

Mally Market: This track takes place in a parking lot, being one of the smallest maps in the game. This map has 2 skips, one that is similar to the one in city slicker, however you jump above a few plants, instead of barricades and another that has you doing a drift boost between some pillars (REQUIRES SPRING TO ACCESS). Did you know this map has a bug where the UFO gets stuck in a specific area, therefore not activating?

Valley of the Kings: The second desert map in the game, features incredible 0 skips.

Play Misty For Me: A race in a busy parlor. There are 2 skips in this map, the first one you jump above the gap to reach the yellow crane(REQUIRES SPRING TO ACCESS) and the seond one has you jump to the detached road, right after the yellow crane(REQUIRES SPRING TO ACCESS).

Sneak-A-Peak: This track makes you go up and down a huge mountain. One important thing about sneak-a-peak is that after the first jump,there is a huge snowman and a few rocks, DO NOT HIT THEM, they are run killers and obstacles that can absolutely ruin your races. There are multiple skips in this map, the 2 main ones involve jumping in the higher road inside the cave(REQUIRES SPRING TO ACCESS) and jumping through the second turn in the pit(REQUIRES SPRING TO ACCESS).

Blazing Oasis: The third desert map. Just like the last two, this map also has no skips.

Pastacosi Factory: A race inside the factory, going through conveniors, freezers and more. This map has 4 skips, the first one is at the beggining, in a separated container at the left that gives you a ramp to ignore a turn inside the container room(REQUIRES SPRING TO ACCESS), the second one is a hole in the fence on the parking lot of the factory, the third one involves jumping into a corridor at the right side near a claw (REQUIRES SPRING TO ACCESS) and the fourth one has you drive over the grass to ignore a small turn near the the finish line. The second and fourth skips can be done through tier 2 drifts, perfume and lasagna. The second skip is basically obligatory to do, since it saves so much time.

Mysterious Temple: The last desert map has you go through a pyramid. This is the only desert map that has useful skips, with 2 good ones. The huge green pit in a room of the pyramid is the first skip (REQUIRES SPRING TO ACCESS) and the second one has you jump above a big pit in the statue room (REQUIRES SPRING TO ACCESS). The first skip needs to be done while drifting, otherwise you will fall into the hole or hit the wall.

Prohibited Site: This takes place in a construction site and is one of the biggest maps in the game. This map has no skips.

Caskou Park: Probably the biggest map in the game, takes place in a huge park. This map has 1 skip, thatinvolves going through the basketball court, it needs a lasagna or a perfume to be done, a tier 2 drift will not suffice.

Loopy Lagoon: The beach map with a waterfall and a pier. This map has one good skip that involves going slow when falling down the waterfall or drifting in order to go to the other side of the road, ignoring the turn you have to do.

Not all of them fit in the maps section so they are all here

Catz In The Hood
-Blocked off road:

-Muddy road:


Crazy Dunes
-The "skip":


City Slicker
-The barricade (this one is awful to do):


Country Bumpkin
-The one on the barn:

-The one where you drift above the grass:


Spooky Manor
-The one over the hill:

-The one in the cave:

-The parking lot:


Mally Market
-Between the pillars:

-The jump:


Play Misty For Me
- The jump to the crane:

- The detached road:


Sneak-a-Peak
-The ice cave:

-The second pit jump:


Pastacosi Factory
-The container in the left:

-The hole in the fence:

-The jump inside the factory:

-The grass field:


Mysterious temple
-The green pit:

-The red pit:


Caskou Park
-The basketball court


Loopy Lagoon
- The fall:

This section will give insightful information about all of the items in garfield kart, with a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ graph i made on ms paint that i refuse to explain to people that didnt understand it. (The graph doesn't have the spring because of its map dependency, but on maps with skips its basically one of the best items to have and on maps with no skips its useless)

Pie: The pie is a mix between mario kart's koopa shell and banana, that breaks upon impact with a wall. It is a simple but useful item. It can be blocked if a pie is thrown into it.

Tracking pie: The tracking pie is the exact same as the pie, but it tracks the player ahead of you whenever you throw it forward. It can be dodged by using a spring or be deflected by throwing a pie backwards, with this being the main item used whenever second place is trying to take first place.

Diamond: Similar to the bomb in mario kart, the diamond causes an explosion that can be thrown forward or be left backwards. Whenever a player passes very close to the diamond, he picks it up and will carry it until it either blows up or the player passes through a speed pad/ use a lasagna. Its useful for dealing with a packed group of players right in front or behind you.

Magic Wand: The magic wand is unquestionably the worst item in garfield kart, switching places, speed and momentum with the player that is hit. Just like the pie, whenever it hits the wall, the wand is destroyed, however it cannot be thrown backwards. Although this might sound good, the wand often bounces of something that makes it go above the other racer or is too slow to be able to hit anyone, the wand will also usually fall in a situation where you get it on second place while just overtaking first place, rendering it useless since you have no one to use it on first place. The magic wand is extremely situational and most times can be a wasted slot, where you could have gotten a tracking pie or a perfume. Out of 10 wands, you will hit 2 or 3 of them, and most "misses" aren't exactly your fault, but rather the way the item interacts with everything else.

Perfume: The perfume is the best item in Garfield Kart, giving you invincibility and a speed boost, both being able to be buffed by certain characters. It is a very common item, that can be gotten even in third place, albeit rarely, and is almost always what you will be hoping for in any placement below second place.

Lasagna: Lasagna gives you a speed boost when used that can get rid of diamonds that are sticking to you. Said boost is equal to the one received by a speed pad and are useful in a few shortcuts throught the course.

UFO: The UFO is an item used to stop the person in first place that sends 3 UFO's, with two of them stopping the person that gets hit and one letting them through. The one that allows the player to go through is raandom and cannot be known until you pass through it. The UFO is an efficient item, but can be dodged in many maps by going off the road and leaving it to second place. In the map Mally Market, the UFO can get bugged in a specific part of the map and will simply never activate its effect until the item despawns.

Pillow: The pillow is not a very good item that can be obtained on the last placements and slows down all other racers for a very brief moment. Its uses are mainly to make people fall into pits or hit walls whenever they are doing turn. The main problem with this item is in the fact that it does not stop the other players, who get some residual momentum that makes them not lose much placements and becomes an useless item against first place, since whoever used it probably cannot reach first soon anyway.

Spring: Spring is at the same time the best and the most mid item in the game. It allows for many skips in various maps, be thrown backwards to hit otherplayers and can be used to dodge tracking pies, however only half of the game's maps have spring skips (which will all be mentioned in the "maps" section of this guide), when thrown backwards, the spring will not act exactly like a pie, since it cannot deflect any pies or tracking pies and it's a very rare item to get.

There are 8 characters in Garfield Kart. I will highlight their combos, strong and weak points, best hats and overral playstile in this section.

Important: Keep in mind the stats shown in all characters take their combos as basis since it is almost always the most efficient way to play with them. I only used different sets when omparing characters (such as Nermal and Squeak).

Garfield: Garfield has medium speed, very high maneuverability and high acceleration. He is very good due to his hats, the Space Bubble and the Beddy-bye Cap.
i) The Space Bubble is a great hat to keep you in first place when you are getting stomped by UFO's. If you have the lead, its extremely useful, but loses its functionality if you cannot maintain that spot. Only use the Space Bubble if you're confident you can keep 1st place and leave others in the dust.
ii) The Beddy-bye Cap buffs the pillow powerup by making it longer. The pillow is not a very good item, since the carts keep some speed whenever the drivers are asleep and will basically only affect those in sharp turns or very near pits. Although not extremely useful and counterable by Harry, it still has its footing as a somewhat usable hat that can make you go up a few placements if you do have the pillow powerup. The biggest problem with this hat is that you only get the pillow if you are at the last places, so you end up becoming more of an annoyance than a contender for first place. I reccomend you only use this if the race is very competitive, with everyone near each other and making constant overtakes.
Garfield is a good character that can be used in both first and last place with two versatile hats that will manage to get you in the top 3. His best hat is the Space Bubble and his playstile involves mostly trying to deal with very item heavy races. His combo uses the Formula Zzzz, Bombastic Spoiler and whichever of his hats you choose.

Jon Arbuckle: Jon has little below medium speed and maneuverability with very high acceleration. He is an extremely item dependent character that uses pies to their maximum potential and can be a demon in first place if you choose the right hat. His hats are the Pizzaiolo Hat and Whizzy Wizard, with one buffing pies and the other buffing wands.
i) The Pizzaiolo Hat is one of the best hats in the game, being able to get up to 2 extra pies. This ability is extremely useful whenever you are in first or second place, for the high chance of getting either a pie or a tracking pie. This is extremely versatile, being able to spam pies in the road and making some paths unusable by racers. Dropping pies on speed boosts, sharp turns and narrow paths make this hat extremely overpowered, making whoever uses it be a major nuisance to others. You can pretty much guarantee the lead, since you might get 6 tracking pies, making overtaking you impossible. The greatest problem with this hat is that if you get 3 tracking pies in last place, you will not get any extras, so this hat makes Jon a "be first or be last" character due to his stats. You will also need to pray to the rng gods so that you don't keep getting diamonds instead of pies whenever you are in first place.
ii)The Whizzy Wizard is and awful hat, mostly because it buffs the magic wand, the worst item in the game, by giving extra wands whenever you get the item. The magic wand item has been expanded more on the "items" category, but in case you ignored that part, it basically teleports you to the player you hit it with, switching both placement and speed. Its extremely hard to hit other players with and is basically a wasted item slot whenever you do get it for a variety of reasons already explored before. Giving more magic wands is somewhat useful, by giving you more chances to hit the player ahead of you, but still cannot be called good due to how miserable the item really is.
Jon is one of the best characters, capable of keeping the lead with his pie spam and tracking pie machine gun, but cannot deal with the lower placements becasue of the loss of his hats abilities. His playstile involves dropping as many pies as you can in the most inconvenient spots and making good use of speed boosts while making them unusable to other racers. His best hat is the Pizzaiolo Hat, making him a force to be reckoned with. His combo uses the Abstract-Kart, Whacky Spoiler and whichever of his hats you choose.

Arlene: Arlene has high speed, medium acceleration and a little above medium maneuverability. She is a very forgettable, but fearsome foe in your races if mastered, with great stats and not so great hats. Her hats are the Aristo-catic Bicorn and Chef's Special.
i) The Aristo-catic Bicorn buffs the duration of the perfume, being a great hat since its such a common item in lower placements. The perfume is one of the best items in the game and when paired with a character with good stats, we have a scary duo. This hat is mostly useful in case you end up falling to a lower placement but still has a chance to overtake your competitors. It is a nice hat to have in very close races and supports Arlene in a simple, yet effective way.
ii) The Chef's Special buffs the speed of your thrown pies. It's not very useful since most of the times your pies are guaranteed to hit other racers without the need of the extra speed, with its effects being extremely situational. The most common scenario where its usefulness shows itself is when you get a tracking pie and the person in front of you is close to reaching the finish line. It can also be used against people that are using lasagnas, being able to hit them right after the powerup ends its effect. Although less useful when compared to the Aristo-catic Bicorn, but it can have its moments, with said moments being very rare.
Arlene is a very well balanced character that can be trouble when used by a good player and be a challenge to people on the middle placements. Her playstile consists of staying in the front and overtaking people with her perfume, with sometimes even risking going back a few placements just for that perfume. Her best hat is the Aristo-catic Bicorn for buffing the best item in the game. Her combo uses the Kissy Kart, Foxy Spoiler and whichever of her hats you choose.

Liz: Liz might look like a Jon clone, due to the similarity in their stats, but their hats make them completely different character. She boasts both the Tic-Toque and Bunny Band as hats and is a very timing heavy character.
i) The Tic-Toque makes the diamond's explosion timer shorter, which can be helpful when attempting to steal first place with only a diamond. The timing being different is weird to get accostumed to and does not affect much when the diamond is thrown backwards, however its a practical hat to use that when mastered, can make for some very cool plays.
ii) The Bunny Band gives you extra springs in a similar fashion to the Pizzaiolo Hat and is very useful in maps that have spring skips. The greatest flaw with this hat are the same flaws of the spring, with it being rare and half of the maps not having spring skips, so in order to use this hat efficiently, you must choose the right cup/ track to compete.
Liz is a very simple character with not much to comment on her hats, with both of them being useful in their own way. Since both using the spring and throwing the diamond require a bit of timing, mastering her hats might take a while, however she is not a bad choice of character. She is the only character where none of the hats overshadow each other, with this in mind, her best hat is the Bunny Band, for having more applications than the Tic-Toque. Her combo uses the Medi-Kart, Superfit Spoiler and whichever of her hats you choose.

Harry: Harry also shares Jon's stats but still plays completely different, with hats that strongly differ from his. His hats are the Stink-O-Rama and Mule Head.
i) The Stink-O-Rama will make the perfume damage other racers when you touch them and make it go even faster. These are great additions to an already incredible item that can give you an edge on the races and will help you get back in case you start lagging behind the pack.
ii) The Mule Head makes the stun of the pillow shorter. Although this may sound very useful, in reality its not very practical, since you still lose speed when the pillow is used and the stun is already very short. This hat gets its use when faced against a Garfield with the Beddy-bye Cap, making it a great counter, however it does not have much use outside of that.
Harry is versatile and can be troublesome to deal with when paired with the Stink-O-Rama, and he is the only character that has a hat that directly counters another character's hat. He might not have the greatest stats, but can efficiently follow the top placements by attacking his opponents with the perfume. His best hat is the Stink-O-Rama, for its usefulness and buffs. His combo uses the Muck-Madness, Stained Spoiler and whichever hat you choose.

Odie: Odie is by far the best character in the game, with very high speed, high acceleration and medium maneuverability. His hats are the Elasto-Hat and Joe Montagna.
i) Elasto-Head is extremely useless, making Odie jump higher. This hat is very lackluster and its uses limit themselves to getting all puzzle pieces.
ii) Joe Montagna makes the lasagnas have a longer duration, which when paired with an already super fast character makes a terrifying duo. If Odie ends up lagging behind for whatever reason and gets a lasagna with this hat, getting bak into first or second is basically guaranteed.
Odie might be simple, but his stats combined with a hat that guarantees you will always be in the top 3 puts him at the top of the Garfield Kart meta. His playstile can be summarized by "go fast = good". His best hat is the Joe Montagna, ofr clearly overpowering th Elasto-Hat. His combo uses the Woof-Mobile, Cyclobone Spoiler and whichever hat you choose

Squeak: Despite being one of the coolest looking characters in the game, Squeak in unquestionably the worst character in Garfield Kart for his awful stats and ♥♥♥♥♥♥ hats. He has low acceleration, high speed and very high maneuverability. His hats are the Apprentice Sorcerer and Viking Helmet. Squeak may look like a viable option if you use the Woof-mobile with the Cyclobone spoiler, however you need to keep in mind that nermal has the exact same stats as him in most cars, and the ones that differ have nermal with better stats than squeak.
i) The Apprentice Sorcerer is a bad hat that buffs the wand's speed. Buffing the wand already makes the hat bad, however making the wand faster helps fixing one of the many problems of the wand (that being that racers ususally outrun the wand until they reach a turn and then dodge it). This hat doesn't make Squeak much better and I do not reccomend using it.
ii) The Viking Helmet is Squeak's best hat by far, giving extra lasagnas whenever you get one. This helps in compensating for squeaks greatest flaw (the low acceleration), making getting back in the race actually possible.
Squeak is very bad, since he is just a Nermal downgrade in every possible way, being unable to compete with the incarnation of Satan. Being able to get multiple lasagnas helps you at staying in the middle/high placements, however once you are down at the bottom placements, there's nothing you can do other than pray for multiple perfumes in a row. His playstile can be reccomended for crazy people or for someone that is trying to do challenge runs in Garfield Kart. His best hat is the Viking Helmet. His combo uses the Rat-Racer, Holey Moley Spoiler and whichever hat you choose.

Nermal: Everyone knows Nermal has a degenerate and despisable personality, however he is extremely good in Garfield Kart. He can keep his lead by mixing high speed and a nice defense against whoever chucks diamonds at you. He has very high speed, low acceleration and high maneuverability. He has the Toutankhameow and Cutie-Pie Crown as his hats.
i) The toutankhameow makes the explosion of the diamond have a smaller stun time. This hat makes Nermal an absolute tank of diamonds that has no problem staying at first place. This hat helps soften some blows for Nermal players.
ii) The Cutie-Pie Crown will make the UFO's go faster, which is a pointless hat, since you will probably always be in first, therefore never sending any UFO's. There is really not much to comment on this hat.
Nermal is very fast and lacks Squeak's fatal flaw, by being able to completely outspeed anything that is thrown at him. The higher max speed makes Nermal a dominator of the top spots. You might hate him, but he's good unfortunately. Nermal's playstile consists on being too fast for anything to hit you or to have anyone catch up. His best hat is the Toutankhameow, for making explosions much more manegeable.

A simple explanation of what every boost does

Cannon ball: A small speed boost at the beggining of the race.

Leader: Makes you start as first place in the race (in case you didnt manage to be first in the previous races)

Power 4: Losing still gives you 4 points. This does not give you extra 4 points if you get higher placements

Lasagana lover: Gives a higher chance to get lasagnas at lower placements and can give lasagnas if you are in higher placements (this is the best boost).

Easy as pie: Gives a higher chance to get pies (great combo with Jon)

Puzzle-o-matic: Makes a loud noise when you are near a puzzle piece, does not show you where it is though, so if its hidden you might have trouble fnding it (just google the locations)

Second chance: Let's you restart a lost race in a grand prix (useless as long as you never lose)

Boing boing: Higher chances for springs, relatively helpful in some maps and can make getting some puzzle pieces easier.

Power 2: The exact same thing as power 4 but 2

Character tier list:

S) Odie, Nermal
A) Jon, Liz
B) Garfield, Harry, Arlene
C) Squeak

Personality tier list:

S) Odie, Garfield, Jon and Squeak
A) Harry and Arlene
B) Liz
C) ---
D) ---
F) Nermal