SkiFree, a
computer game programmed in 1991 by Chris Pirih. SkiFree is a simple game developed for Microsoft's Windows 3.1, and to this day, I still find myself playing it to kill time. The game features a small man on skis who skis downhill in one of three modes of play; Slalom, Free Style, and Tree Slalom. The controls are very simple; move the mouse left to move left, right to move right. The farther that you move the mouse, the sharper the turn your character makes. Left clicking will make your him jump, and if you're already in the air, clicking will make him
preform a
flip or a stunt.
In Slalom mode, you have to pass a series of flags on the side that they designate. (I.e. if the flag has a left arrow, pass it on the left side.) For each flag that you pass on the wrong side, you are assessed a five second penalty. In Tree Slalom, the object is the same as in Slalom, except there are trees in the playing field that you must dodge. Free Style mode has you going downhill, trying to rack up as many points as possible by doing jumps and tricks.
While progressing downhill in any of the modes of play, you will encounter obsticles like trees, rocks, dogs, obnoxious snowboarders, and rookie skiers. There are also ramps, which you can use to launch yourself into the air for a chance to score lots of points in free sytle mode.
After you complete the event you compete in, you're shown your score compared to your previous scores for that event. In Slalom and Tree Slalom, you're given the time that it took to complete you're run, plus the time penalties, if any. In Free Style, you're showed your score compaired to your previous scores.
After completing an event, you can progress downhill for fun hitting ramps and jumps for about one thousand meters until suddenly, a big, grey snowman runs after you, and eats you when it catches up. The snowman moves twice as fast as you do, so it is impossible to escape him.