How To Play

On the first screen you get to choose how to start the game by clicking one of the buttons shown, which are a First Time Here and I Know How To Play button. When you click the First Time Here button it will show a pop up window with basic instructions on how to move the skier whereas clicking the I know How To Play will take you straight to the game.

Basically you have control of a downhill slalom skier as seen from above. To move the skier use the arrow keys on your keyboard. The UP arrow moves the skier forward and increases speed as you hold it down, so it's probably not a good idea to keep your finger on it as you will end up going at full pelt the whole run. Pressing the LEFT and RIGHT arrows moves the skier to the left or right and the DOWN arrow key applies the brakes. You can change which keys or joypad/joystick (if you have one) are used to move the skier by clicking Choose Player's Keys Or Joypad in the top menu.

Colliding with a tree is not a good idea as it can hurt sometimes. If you do, a pop up window should appear giving you the option of starting your run again or leaving the game (presumably to get hospital treatment!!). Some daredevil players may decide to collide with a tree if their run is not going particularly well, so they can start from the beginning again. I'll leave that up to you.

The idea of the game while moving downhill is to pass through the Gates. These are shown by two blue or red flags close to each other, which you have to try and pass between. If you don't manage to pass between the flags, four penalty seconds are added to your time for each gate missed. If you hit a flag this reduces your speed by 5 mph each time, so to get a quick time you should try and pass between the flags without touching them. There are thirty gates of blue and red alternately set along the track and the number of ones you pass through or not are shown in the score panel at the bottom of the screen, in Gates Cleared and Gates Missed.

The grey score panel at the bottom of the screen shows your time taken for the current run on the left. When the run is completed, then a score is given relative to your time and a further panel will appear giving you the option of adding your score to the High Score Table by clicking that button. The other buttons in this panel will allow you to have Another Go, Quit the game or see an Action Replay of your last successful run. Please note that clicking the Another Go button will set your score back to zero, so if you have a good time, it might be worth visiting the High Score Table to see if it can be added. If you have a score that is higher than the top ten shown (all empty when you first get the game), then you will be asked to type in your name to add to the table.

This option, which you can choose from the final panel which appears only at the end of a run, or the Top Menu, plays back your last successful run so you can see where you could do better and/or where you ran really well.

Game: Selecting Game in the Top Menu will produce the following Menu items:

New Game - Will restart the program so you can choose to play a new game. Any current scores will be lost and reset to zero (though the High Score Table stays in tact),
Pause - Pauses the game, click OK to continue,
Choose Player's Keys Or Joypad - Allows you to change the keys used to control the skier or alternatively choose a joypad or joystick if one is connected to the computer. A pop up window will appear showing 4 players by default but only the Player 1 boxes are relevant in this game. You will see there is a cross in the box next to Keyboard. Click this cross and a further window will appear which allows you to change the keys used. If you want to use a joypad or stick then click the box next to Joystick 1 or 2,
Quit - Exits the program.

Options: Selecting Options in the Top Menu will produce the following Menu items:

Play Sound - By default this is ticked (checked). The only sound in the game is the crowd cheering at the end. To stop hearing this, untick (uncheck) this option,
Play Music - By default this is ticked (checked). To stop the James Bond theme midi music while you are playing, untick (uncheck) this option,
View High Score Table - Takes you to the High Score Table,
View Last Action Replay - Plays back the last successful run that was made in the game. In certain circumstances i.e. if you chose this option during a game, then the score and time shown on this screen may be zero.

Help: Selecting Help in the Top Menu will produce the following Menu items:

How To Play - Selecting this produces this help page.
About - Tells you the name of this game and who made it i.e. me.
Grey Olltwit Online - Clicking this will connect you to the Internet and take you to my website where you will find lots of other free software games and screen savers for download.

To Uninstall this game go to the Control Panel and double click on Add/Remove programs. Select Grey Olltwit's Ski Run in the drop down list of programs. Double click to remove it.

N.B. This was made on a Pentium 166 virus free machine and may not run as well on older machines. No responsibility is accepted for any loss or damage caused by installing this game.

All my games and screen savers are freeware and are made to help raise awareness to the condition of ADD/ADHD. You can find out more about ADD/ADHD at our main website, adders.org at http://www.adders.org