Natural sound: Home dashboard sound
Narrator: The sound of sci-fi themed music greets the player as they are brought to the opening page of the video game. The player customizes their car, selects one of 13 tracks recommended by a friend, and tries to beat their record time. Polytrack, a new, addictive website game, pushes students to compete in groups trying to get the fastest lap time around a multitude of tracks. By allowing players to compete with their own and friends’ personal records in the form of a “shadow car,” it encourages student friendships to take on a new track in competitiveness.
Ninth grader Nicholas Gulyayev said that the game is designed for competition among players, even though they might not be playing together.
Nicholas: “Yeah, there’s a lot of leaderboards for all the tracks, so there’s like 13 main tracks that have leaderboards for, like, anyone who can play, and people can also make their own tracks and share them, and it’ll be leaderboards for those as well.”
Narrator: While Polytrack is mainly a solo game, students have turned it into a group challenge by tracking their best times and informally ranking each other’s performances.
Nicholas: “I mean, it’s usually pretty competitive, but it’s nothing completely serious. Like, I know that some kids, I’m not really like part of the things yet, like, but they’re kind of making, like, a scoreboard among themselves to see if we can get the fastest time on all the tracks.”
Narrator: Even though only one person can race at a time, the game still brings players together. Many students gather to compare their rankings.
Nicholas: “It’s usually self-playing because it’s only one at a time. You can’t play it physically with each other in the same game, but you’ll see each other’s scores in the leaderboards. So maybe you would wanna get together to show each other your scores, but other than that, it’s a pretty single-player game.”
Sounds of car driving
Narrator: Polytrack’s browser-based setup is another key reason behind its rising popularity.Unlike some games which require downloads, installations, or complex sign-ups, Polytrack is simple to access for anyone with an laptop.
Nicholas: “Well, it’s just, it’s a browser game. It’s, like, really easy—just type it in your browser, play, and it’ll automatically give you, like, a little account. ”
Narrator: Played with the typical W-A-S-D keys or arrow keys, Polytrack is easy to learn. This makes it appealing to both competitive players striving for the best times and casual players looking for a fun, relaxing game.
Nicholas: “I mean, if you’re really competitive, you can play the game for, they go really long time, get early good score, but if you’re casual, it’s also just fun to just, like, play to relax. It’s a pretty, like, not very mentally, like, training game at all. It’s, like, pretty chill.”
Narrator: Beyond racing, Polytrack also allows players to create their own tracks with various components and share them with others via a simple code. This allows players to race on unique private tracks built by their friends and compete for a group personal best.
Nicholas: “Well, I haven’t really shared mine much. I mean, I have, like, the when you build one, you get, like, a little code, you can give it to other people, they can type it into their game and play the same track. So that’s pretty fun, and your name will show up on the scoreboard.”
Narrator: The game builds on social bonds among students, with many playing in groups, sharing tracks, and competing to see who can top the leaderboards.
Narrator: With its balance of competition, accessibility, and creativity, Polytrack has become more than just a game — it’s a way for students to engage with each other, challenge themselves, and strengthen friendships.
This is Gabriel Wang reporting for the U-High Midway.
