How to play Mogul Maniac online
- Lean forward to speed up (and to leave the starting gate): up arrow key
- Lean back to slow down: down arrow key
- Lean left and right to steer: left and right arrow keys
- Choose one of the nine courses: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Start a run: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Novice or expert gate rules: F4 (left difficulty switch)
- Moguls on or off: F9 (right difficulty switch)
- Board or joystick steering: F2 (the Colour / B&W switch)
The Colour / B&W switch changes how steering feels. In Colour, the “real skiing” mode, leaning left makes the scenery slide to the right. In B&W, the joystick mode, pressing left moves the picture to the left. Use whichever feels natural.
Gameplay
Each gate is a pair of poles of the same colour, red or blue, and you have to ski between the two matching poles. Open gates stand side by side across the slope; closed gates are staggered one behind the other, which makes them harder to line up. Before each course starts, the screen shows its number, how many gates it has and its top speed.
The clock only starts when you lean forward through the starting gate. Every skier gets two runs on a course, and the result is the combined time of both: after the first run the timer stops, then carries on from the same point during the second. Any number of people can take turns, but only the fastest time stays on the screen.
The left difficulty switch decides how missed gates are punished. In the novice position each missed gate adds five seconds. In the expert position a single miss disqualifies you, and your time is set to 9:59.9. The right switch adds moguls, the bumps on the slope that give the game its name, in the expert position and removes them in the novice position.
Tips
- Learn the course with moguls off. Use the novice position on the right switch until you know where the gates are.
- Brake for closed gates. Because the poles are staggered, you need to turn early; lean back a little to give yourself time.
- Save the expert rules for later. One miss ends your chances, so switch to expert only once you can clear a course cleanly.
The Joyboard story
The Joyboard came out in 1983. Underneath it sat the four direction switches of a joystick, and leaning the board pressed them. At the time, Amiga Corporation was also developing the computer that later carried its name. Amiga made two more games that work with the board: Surf’s Up, a surfing game that was actually the first one developed for the Joyboard but was never released at the time, and Off Your Rocker, which can be played with either the Joyboard or a normal joystick.
The board left a curious mark on computer history. Early work on the Amiga computer’s operating system was plagued by crashes, and to calm down the developers would try to sit on the Joyboard so still that none of its switches triggered. That game of stillness is where the “Guru Meditation” error message of early AmigaOS versions got its name.
Similar games to play next
- Skiing – Activision’s downhill and slalom game, seen from above
- Ski Run – another skiing game on the 2600
- Surf’s Up – Amiga’s surfing game, the first one developed for the Joyboard
- Off Your Rocker – another Amiga game that works with the Joyboard