Kongregate Racing

Kongregate Racing is a 2007 online multiplayer racing Flash game developed by Jacob Grahn.
One of the first online Flash games, it received praise for its fluid multiplayer performance and addicting gameplay."Kongregate Racing Review". Jayisgames. May 17, 2007. It was runner-up in Kongregate's weekly contest and received 6th place for their monthly one."The Last Stand wins weekly contest". Kongregate. May 8, 2007."May contest winners announced". Kongregate. June 29, 2007. It was soon overshadowed however by Platform Racing a month later, which borrowed much of its UI and lobby design. Jayisgames later nominated it for best multiplayer game of the year, while it was also a launch title for Meebo's game service alongside PR1."Best of Casual Gameplay 2007 - Multiplayer". Jayisgames."Meebo's Got Game". TechCrunch. November 20, 2007."Meebo's Got Game". Yahoo! Finance. November 20, 2007."Q&A: Meebo's Sternberg On Integrating Games And Chat". Gamasutra. November 20, 2007.
This was Jiggmin's first online game to have a rank system, though it doesn't provide in-game benefits. It was also originally exclusive to Kongregate, only being added to his site in 2009."Jiggmin.com" (May 2007 archive)"Jiggmin.com - Kongregate Racing" (February 2009 archive)
==Gameplay==
Players control a bumper car-esque bubble in underwater mazes with the goal of reaching the finish line first.
Various blocks are found throughout maps that cause different effects when bumped; such as one that pops players to briefly take them out of the race. Finishing courses increases a person's rank, which are used for high scores along with their completion times.
People signed into their Kongregate account are automatically logged in to the game with their username and profile pic. Otherwise they can type a name of their choice and select one of the 7 default pics. Afterwards they're taken to the lobby where they can race on 12 levels with up to 4 other people.
==Levels==
Courses don't have minimum rank requirements, allowing anyone to race on any level from the start.
===Very Easy===
===Easy===
===Medium===
===Hard===
===Really Hard===
===omygosh===
===Push/Pull===
===The Deep===
===Hulk SMASH!===
===Mrs. Richards===
===Deathville===
===Variety Platter===
==Blocks==
As these aren't given names in-game, their file name is used.
Block	Name 	Description
 	Arrow 	Pushes racers forward.
 	Block 	Basic block players can rest on.
 	Finish 	Marks the end of the race.
 	Death 	Briefly knocks players out of the race.
 	Invisible	Unseen until hit.
 	Sticky 	Makes racers stick to it.
 	Shove 	Flings players in the opposite direction.
 	Weak 	Crumbles away when hit repeatedly.
==Music==
Main article: Songs
Audio	Song 	Length
 	Drums – Jiggmin	0:35
==Updates==
Updates after 1.1 are based on user reports since no official changelog was maintained."Comments for Kongregate Racing on Kongregate" (oldest)
===1.1===
- New quit button in matches.
- Added a 2 minute timeout to kick idling people out of rooms.
- Fixed a couple minor bugs.
===1.2===
- New "Push/Pull" level and arrows on the lobby to access it.
===1.3===
- New "The Deep" and "Hulk SMASH!" levels.
===1.4===
- New "Mrs. Richards" level.
===1.5===
- Lobby redesigned, added a zoom out button so players can see all levels at once.
- Sound icon moved to the bottom-right corner.
- New quit button design.
- New "Deathville" and "Variety Platter" levels.
==Shut Down==
Although the game's server had been down for several months at that point, Jiggmin announced in September 2015 that he was dropping support for Kongregate Racing along with most other multiplayer games besides Platform Racing 2. He said: 
"Managing [game] servers is another time drain. They'll need to be streamlined or removed. I plan to keep PR2 running at least until PR4 is out, though.""Platform Racing 4 and the Future!". Freegoose. September 9, 2015. 
The announcement coincided with the launch of his new forum Freegoose.
===Revival===
A fan-made server was set up in September 2018."Totley Tuesday: Goliathe Racing". JV Revival. September 11, 2018. Like his other revived games, this server was coded from scratch since the official code hasn't been released.
This version features a few changes, such as adding Click Upon Dots' menu theme and removing the limit of only allowing one group of players in a level at a time.
==Trivia==
*This was Jiggmin's only game to have support for matches with more than 4 people until Platform Racing 3.
*Kongregate's co-founder Emily Greer was addicted to the game at one point."Featured Developer - Jiggmin". Kongregate. June 14, 2007.
==Links==
*Play Kongregate Racing
*Full Screen Link
==References==
Category:Games
Category:Multiplayer Games
Category:Online Games
Category:2007 Games