Mario Kart World’s Knockout Tour contains six intermittent checkpoints.
Knockout Tour is a long-form elimination race in which competitors travel through multiple parts of Mario Kart World instead of completing four isolated Grand Prix races. The checkpoints divide that journey into stages and provide the moments when the field is reduced.
The game begins with 24 racers, and four racers are eliminated at each of the six checkpoints. This structure gradually narrows the competition before the final section of the route. The result is closer to a continuous road trip than to a traditional cup of separate circuits.
The checkpoint count is easy to confuse with the number of racers removed at each checkpoint. Six refers to the number of checkpoint stages; four refers to the eliminations at each one. Knockout Tour is one of the major new modes introduced in Mario Kart World.