Each year, the Independent Games Festival (IGF) holds a competition to showcase innovation in the indie gaming community. This year, a group of developers got together and submitted the 2012 IGF Pirate Kart, a collection of "cheap", fast-made games packaged together in a single release. The kart features more than 300 titles created by over 100 developers, including some highly-recognizable names such as Terry Cavanagh, Adam Saltsman, Petri Purho, Bento Smile, Andy Moore, and plenty of others. It's a massive 1.4GB download, but this much random craziness is a true wonder to experience. Check out this collection of reviews for opinions on nearly all of the games, and if you want to know the deeper meaning of this kart's submission, DIY Gamer has a good rundown with plenty of developer comments.

No more stalling! Check out just a few of our favorites from the 2012 IGF Pirate Kart below!

Warning: The pirate kart download contains over 300 games, some of which contain adult content. See our ratings guide before proceeding. Mac and Linux users note that although some of the pirate kart games will run on your OS, not all of them will, so download at your own risk.

ABOVE v. BELOW - A sort of collection of classic arcade games presented in a frantic, 4 Second Frenzy kind of way, pitting you against the computer AI in a series of simple tests. The problem is, the screen flicks through the games while you're playing, forcing you to stop, change control schemes and strategies, and continue kicking AI butt.

/Escape\ - A vertical, one-button escape game that has the ability to frustrate you without even trying! Press the [esc] key to jump from wall to wall, timing your moves to avoid spikes, the giant looming laser barrier, and plenty of other obstacles. It's all about knowing when to jump and when to slide down the wall a touch, and it makes for a challenging and surprisingly satisfying experience!

Hold Right to Make a Metaphor Unfold - Well, do it. See what happens. Also, try not holding right and seeing what happens. It's probably metaphor-related. In fact, it definitely is metaphor-related. This is an art game. It's artistic because... well, it just is. Look, there are pictures and metaphors. Think about it. Or just look at the decades-old clip art, it's your choice!

Fish Soup - It's got all of 60 seconds of gameplay, but, you know, it's cool, text-driven multiple choice gameplay! You play as a fish flopping around on the ground. That sun looks pretty hot, doesn't it? Might want to flop around a bit, just to be on the safe side. Or don't, it's your choice. Maybe if you do the right things, somebody will come along to say hello to you?

Download the 2012 IGF Pirate Kart

Note: All games have been confirmed to run under Windows 7 and are virus-free. Mac users should try Boot Camp, Parallels, or CrossOver Games to play Windows titles, Linux users can use Wine. If you know of a great game we should feature, use the Submit link above to send it in!