Flying further on the K90 hill in Ski Jump
Ski Jump in Games by Zaweba: three jumps on a K90 hill. Spring at the lip, balance against gusts and land a telemark for distance and style marks.
Ski Jump puts you at the top of a K90 hill with three jumps to make. In this game on the Skill & sport shelf of Games by Zaweba, every jump has four moments that matter: the push off, the spring at the lip, the balance in the air and the landing. Get them all right and you fly far and land well.
Scoring a jump
Your score is distance points plus style marks. Reaching the K-point earns 60 distance points, and every metre beyond it adds two more. Style marks come from five judges, and the highest and lowest marks are dropped, as in the real sport. Three jumps are added together for your total.
So distance matters, but so does landing well. A long jump with a poor landing can lose to a slightly shorter one landed cleanly.
The run and the take-off
Click to push off down the in-run. Then click right at the lip to spring. The timing of that click is the biggest single factor in how far you fly. Too early and you spring before the lip, too late and you drop off it without the push.
With the keyboard, Space does the clicks.
Balance in the air
Once you are flying, gusts tip you about. Move the mouse up to lean back, and down to lean forward, and keep the marker in the green. On the keyboard, Up and Down do the same job.
Keeping the marker in the green as the gusts change is what carries you down the hill. Watch for the gusts and correct early, with small movements. Big corrections tend to overshoot and push the marker out the other side.
The telemark
Click just before you touch down to land in a telemark, the classic ski jumper's landing with one foot ahead of the other. The timing again is the key. A good telemark is what the judges are looking for, and it helps your style marks.
Putting it together
The most common mistake is focusing only on the lip. A perfect spring is wasted if you lose balance in the air or forget to land properly. Try to treat a jump as one smooth sequence: push off, spring, balance, land.
Practise the lip timing on its own first. Make a few jumps where you think only about that click, and notice how the distance changes. Once it feels natural, add the balance and the landing.
Use your three jumps wisely. If the first is cautious and clean, you have a score in the bank, and can push a little harder on the second and third.
Close relatives of Ski Jump
Ski Jump is a winter partner to Curling Stones on the Skill & sport shelf of Games by Zaweba, and its gusts share the wind-to-beat theme of Bullseye Archery, Long Drive and Skimming Stones. At the end of three jumps it shows your score and your best, so you can see whether that last telemark was worth it. Press Esc to pause, F11 for full screen and F1 for the rules.
