You can play Tux Racer directly in your browser here: Play TuxRacer.JS
TuxRacer.js is a port / rewrite of Extreme Tux Racer, which itself is based on the original Tux Racer game. This project allows you to enjoy Tux Racer directly in your web browser, supporting all major desktop and mobile browsers.
Note: This project is in an early development stage and far from complete. However, some courses are already functional enough to provide a fun experience (at least for me!).
How to Run TuxRacer.JS
Prerequisites
A recent version of Node.js (I'm using v22, but other versions may work as well)
Steps
Clone or download the repository: git clonehttps://github.com/ebbejan/tux-racer-js.git cd tuxracer-js Install dependencies: npm install Start the development server: npm run dev Open the URL provided in the terminal output in your web browser. Enjoy!
How to Play
Controls
Desktop: Use either the keyboard (WASD or arrow keys) or the mouse to control Tux.
Use either the keyboard (WASD or arrow keys) or the mouse to control Tux. Mobile: Control Tux using touch input via a virtual joystick.
Tips
Paddling forward helps Tux gain initial speed but is slowing down once he reaches high velocity.
helps Tux gain initial speed but is slowing down once he reaches high velocity. Braking is useful for mastering tight turns.
is useful for mastering tight turns. Terrain types significantly impact Tux's acceleration and handling.
Selecting a Course
By default, the game starts on Bunny Hill, but you can switch to a different course using the course URL query parameter.
To play a specific course, add ?course=course-name to the URL. For example:
http://localhost:5173/?course=frozen-river
Below is a list of available courses and their corresponding parameters:
Course Name URL Parameter Bunny Hill (default) bunny-hill Frozen River frozen-river Challenge One challenge-one Chinese Wall chinese-wall Downhill Fear downhill-fear Explore Mountains explore-mountains Frozen Lakes frozen-lakes Hippo Run hippo-run Holy Grail holy-grail In Search of Vodka in-search-of-vodka Milos Castle milos-castle Path of Daggers path-of-daggers Penguins Can't Fly penguins-cant-fly Quiet River quiet-river Secret Valleys secret-valleys This Means Something this-means-something Tux at Home tux-at-home Twisty Slope twisty-slope Wild Mountains wild-mountains Bumpy Ride bumpy-ride
Changing the Environment
The game also supports different environments, which can be selected using the environment URL query parameter.
To change the environment, add ?environment=environment-name to the URL. For example:
http://localhost:5173/?environment=night
Here are the available environments:
Environment URL Parameter Sunny (default) sunny Night night Cloudy cloudy
You can also combine parameters, for example:
http://localhost:5173/?course=downhill-fear&environment=night
This would start the game on Downhill Fear with a Night environment.
Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Feel free to submit issues, feature requests, or pull requests.
Credits
Original Extreme Tux Racer Team
Steven Bell
Kristian Picon
Nicosmos
R. Niehoff
Philipp Kloke
Marko Lindqvist
Original Tux Racer Authors
Eric Hall
Jasmin Patry
Mark Riddell
Patrick Gilhuly
Rick Knowles
Vincent Ma
Music
Grady O'Connell
Kristian Picon
Karl Schroeder
Joseph Toscano
Graphics
Nicosmos
Kristian Picon
Daniel Poeira
TuxRacer.js Development
Developed by Jan Ebbe
License