After playing Nintendo’s Mario Kart Tour for a bit, you’ll unlock rankings. What do these ranks do, and should you be paying attention to them? Learn more in our Mario Kart Tour ranking guide!

How to Unlock Mario Kart Tour Rankings

The ranking system in Mario Kart Tour isn’t available from the start. Rankings will unlock after the third cup in the current tour–in this case, after beating the Yoshi Cup. When the Yoshi Cup is completed and the Koopa Cup is unlocked, rankings will unlock along with the Friends List.

More Mario Kart Rush:

Mario Kart Tour Multiplayer Guide – How to Add and Play with Friends

What Do Cup Rankings in Mario Kart Tour Do?

When racing in the Koopa Cup (or the fourth cup in the current tour) you’ll be scored against nineteen other racers and ranked accordingly. Where you land in this ranking after you’ve completed the three races in the cup will determine your rewards and whether or not you’ll move up tiers in the rankings. The racers do not change throughout the course of the ranked time period; you don’t need to worry about things getting shaken up and

In the beginning, everyone starts on Tier 1. Depending on your performance within Tier 1, you’ll receive rewards and move up the tiers accordingly. The breakdown of rewards are:

First place – 20 Rubies, 1,000 Coins, 3 Driver Points Up Tickets, 3 Kart Points Up Tickets, 3 Glider Points Up Tickets
Second place – 15 Rubies, 1,000 Coins, 2 Driver Points Up Tickets, 2 Kart Points Up Tickets, 2 Glider Points Up Tickets
Third place – 10 Rubies, 1,000 Coins, 1 Driver Points Up Ticket, 1 Kart Points Up Ticket, 1 Glider Points Up Ticket
Fourth to sixth place – 5 Rubies, 500 Coins
Seventh to tenth place – 300 coins
Eleventh place and below – No reward

Rubies are Mario Kart Tour’s premium currency, and 20 Rubies are a big reward compared to most of the game’s other Ruby rewards. Challenges that rewards Rubies on completion usually only give one or two Rubies, while the subscription-based Gold Pass offers the occasional 3 Ruby present. With Nintendo being so stingy with giving away premium currency, getting a high score in the rankings is the best way to amass Rubies without spending your money.

Ranking high in a Cup means more than good rewards, though. You’ll also be able to move up in Tiers:

First to third place move up three tiers
Fourth to seventh place move up two tiers
Eighth to tenth place move up one tier
Eleventh and below stay in their current tier

Moving up tiers means that you’ll be pitted against better players, making the competition harder each time. It’s not known yet if the rewards also get better, though–right now, the first ranked event has not ended.

These ranked cups last a week. After the week is up, the rewards are given out, and the mad dash to first place begins again.

Tips for Getting First in Mario Kart Tour Ranked Cups

Your ranking for the week is determined solely on the points you earn in the three full races of the ranked cup. The score you get on the fourth challenge of the cup does not count towards this total.

How do you maximize your point earnings? Here are some tips below:

If possible, use the favored racer for each track. Using a favored racer actually does not increase your score, but each item box you get offers three items, as opposed to one or two. Not only do you get points for item usage, but having more items makes it easier to obtain and stay in first place, which will give you the biggest point score at the end of the race.

Also, use the favored karts and gliders… with a couple of exceptions. Using the favored karts and gliders, unlike the racer, actually does increase your score in the form of multipliers. The only exception to this is when there’s a stage that ends with the letter T. These T stages are variations of the normal stages that have a ton of ramps and gliding sections added in. In these stages, it may be better to forego the favored kart for a kart that has an ability that earns you more points for Super Jumps or gliding hang time.

You can retry the races if you need to. If you don’t get a high enough score, you have until the end of the ranked period to try and improve it. It may be worthwhile to level up your racers and kart parts and come back later so you gain extra points while racing.

What Do Friend Rankings in Mario Kart Tour Do?

When looking at the rankings for a ranked cup, there is a Friends tab, which you can look at and see how your friends ranked in the same cup. Right now, these friends rankings don’t do anything in Mario Kart Tour. They’re basically there to see how you compare to your friends, with no rewards at this time.

There’s also an overall tour ranking you can check that pits your friends’ scores against your own. Since everyone progresses through the tours at different paces, this is less an indicator of skills and more just who is the farthest along. At this time, these ranking don’t factor into anything in the game.

This may change when multiplayer goes live in Mario Kart Tour, but at this time, the Friends Rankings are just numbers.

Mario Kart Tour Ranking System Guide - Tips for Earning Ranks and Tiers

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