About Ski Slalom
Ski Slalom sends you racing down an endless snowy slope. Steer your skier between pairs of red gate flags to score, and dodge the pine trees that appear along the way. Miss five gates or hit a single tree and the run is over.
How to play
- The run starts when you first steer. The skier then heads downhill on their own; you only control left and right movement.
- A gate counts as passed if you are between its two flags as it goes by. Passed gates turn green.
- Missing a gate adds one to your missed count. Five missed gates ends the run.
- Hitting a tree ends the run immediately.
- Your downhill speed rises steadily as you cover more distance, until it reaches a maximum at about 1,040 metres. Gates and trees also appear more often the further you go.
- Your final score, which is saved as your best, is 10 points per gate passed plus 1 point for every 10 metres travelled.
Controls
- Keyboard: hold Left and Right arrows, or A and D, to steer.
- Mouse: the skier steers towards the pointer's horizontal position while the pointer is over the slope.
- Touch: touch and hold the slope; the skier steers towards your finger. Lift it to stop steering.
Tips and strategy
- Trees are worse than gates. A missed gate is one of five chances; a tree is instant game over, so never clip a tree just to make a gate.
- Position early. Gates and trees appear from the bottom of the screen, which gives you plenty of warning; move into line well before you reach them.
- Aim for the middle of each gate. The flags are wide apart, but you need to be clearly inside them, not on the edge.
- Gates are worth 10 points, the same as 100 metres of skiing, so taking every gate you can safely reach is the fastest way to a big score.
- As speed builds, use smaller steering corrections; the skier moves sideways at a fixed rate while the slope comes at you faster.
Background
Slalom is one of the technical events of alpine skiing, in which racers zig-zag between closely spaced gates on a steep course. The modern slalom was devised by the British skier Arnold Lunn, who set out a course at Murren in Switzerland in 1922. The word comes from Norwegian and refers to a sloping track. Slalom has been an Olympic event since the 1948 Winter Games. In real racing, missing a gate disqualifies the skier, so this game's five missed gates is far more forgiving.
Questions
- How many gates can I miss?
- Four. The run ends when your fifth gate is missed, or immediately if you hit a tree.
- Does it get faster?
- Yes. Speed increases with distance until about 1,040 metres, and gates and trees appear more often until about 1,100 metres.
- How is my best score worked out?
- 10 points per gate plus 1 point per 10 metres skied. It is stored in your browser's local storage on this device.