SkiFree

SkiFree

Windows 3 - Screenshot - Title.

Developer Microsoft Publisher Microsoft Published 1991-??-?? Platforms Windows 3 Genres Racing, Sports Themes Cartoon, Sports Distribution Commercial, Freeware

SkiFree is a skiing video game developed by Chris Pirih and published by Microsoft for Windows 3 in 1991 as part of the Microsoft Entertainment Pack 3, and re-published in the Best of Microsoft Entertainment Pack in 1994. On 2005-04-04, Pirih found his original source code, and recompiled the game to work on 32-bit Windows machines, and released it as freeware.

Personal

Own?	No.
Won?	No. There are no win conditions. If you don't restart, and avoid the yeti long enough, the hill just loops.

I first played this game shortly after it was released because a friend of mine had the third Entertainment Pack. I didn't become much of a fan of the game because there is so little to do, but I did appreciate the various quirks added by the designer.

I didn't own Entertainment Pack 3, but I have played this game many times. A 32-bit version was made freely available by the creator.

Review

2	3	4	1	2

Best Version: Windows 3

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The game is quirky. Examples include, the yeti eats the player when they get too far, hitting the dog several times causes it to pee, trees will sometimes be seen walking along the mountain, dead trees burst into flames when you collide with them, hitting a stump will turn it into a mushroom, etc.
• Getting caught and eaten by the yeti when you get too far down the mountain is hilarious, and trying to avoid him is always a fun challenge.

Bad

• Because the game's view port scales to the size of your screen, players with higher resolutions will have an easier time playing the game.
• The yeti doesn't fairly catch you, but instead teleports to your position if you get too far ahead.

Ugly

• The game has very little to do. There are two slalom races and a freestyle race, each lasts about one to two minutes, and none are very impressive. This means you can see everything the game has to offer in about 5 minutes, excluding Easter eggs.
• The game doesn't come with any documentation or even a help file, and there are a lot of undocumented commands.

Media

Graphics

• 

  SkiFree graphics.

• 

  The game's icon.

• 

  The game's icon during beta.

Screenshots

• 

  Lovely programmer art at the game start / title screen.

• 

  Weaving around flags in the slalom.

• 

  Not bad for a beginner.

• 

  Catching a dead tree on fire.

• 

  A hungry yeti has caught me!

Videos

Review - Nostalgia Nerd.

Dorkly comic.

Real life SkiFree.

Evading the yeti.

Play Online

Windows 3

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	There are no female characters.
Bechdel test?	Fail	There are no female characters.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	All of the characters are white.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Download

SkiFree was released as freeware by the game's creator. The download below includes the original 16-bit version and a re-compile for 32-bit Windows.

• Download (Info) - All versions.

Links

       

• everything2.com/title/Skifree - Game details.
• xkcd.com/667 - xkcd.