A girder climbing game with barrels to dodge

Girder Climb is a retro climbing game in Games by Zaweba, set on a building site of sloping girders. A grumpy goat at the top kicks barrels down at you while you climb the ladders to reach your lunchbox. There are six screens to beat before the bonus runs out. It's free, original and offline.

Drawn in an 8-bit home computer style, it sits on the Retro arcade shelf with 25 other original arcade and platform games.

Climbing to the lunchbox

Climb the ladders to the top girder, where the goat is guarding your lunchbox. Walk with Left and Right, climb ladders with Up and Down, and jump with Space or X.

Not every ladder is useful. Broken ladders don't reach the top, so check before you commit to one. And a long fall is fatal, so don't drop off a girder unless the next one is close beneath.

Jumping and smashing

Barrels and boulders roll down the sloping girders towards you. Jump over them for 100 points. Or grab a hammer and smash them for more. While you hold the hammer you can't climb or jump, so it's a choice: safety and points now, or the freedom to keep climbing.

A good rhythm is to watch the barrels for a moment, pick a gap, then move. Jumping too early lands you on the barrel; too late and it hits you.

Beating the bonus

There are six screens to beat before the bonus runs out. The bonus counts down as you play, so it rewards a quick, confident climb. But a lost life costs more than a few seconds, so don't rush into barrels.

Learn each screen. After a few goes you'll know which ladders lead up, where the hammer is, and which girders are risky. That knowledge is what turns a hard game into a fun one.

The 8-bit style is drawn in the spirit of a 64K home computer, with bright girders against a dark sky and chirpy synthesised sounds. Each screen is short, so a failed attempt never costs much time, and you can try again straight away with what you learned. Over a few goes the screens become familiar, and beating all six in one run becomes a realistic goal.

If a screen keeps beating you, slow down and watch a full cycle of barrels before you move. The pattern is easier to read from a safe spot than in the middle of a jump.

Starting the climb

Girder Climb is on the Retro arcade shelf of Games by Zaweba. Press Ctrl+F and type girder to find it. The title card explains how to play, F1 explains it again, Esc pauses and F11 makes it full screen. If you switch windows the game pauses itself.

Your best score and plays are kept on the game's tile, in a scores file on your own PC. There are no adverts and no accounts, and every barrel and bleat is drawn and synthesised in code. If you like platforms, Castle Knight on the same shelf has a small knight storming a castle, with a gargoyle at the top instead of a goat.