I wasn't able to get it to work on Mint 19, but in Mint 18 I got good results by extracting the .zip to a folder called 'opt' in my home folder (might not be necessary, but it worked) navigating to where the install script is in the extracted folder inside 'opt', and then executing it as root with the 'sudo' command. That worked, while installing it as the current user didn't. If you try it in 19 and it works, pls let me know. Thx
From what I can see it needs its own special driver.
If that is the case then it is NOT 100% compatible as described.
Most Arduinos including most clones are supported out of the box.
You cannot currently add drivers to Arduino CREATE yourself so I would say you might have a board that will not currently run on the platform.
You might want to ask freetronics about the issue and if it will not run on create then get a refund.