How to play Raft Rider online
- Pole the raft across the river: up and down arrow keys, then let go so the push can happen
- Stop a turn early: a quick tap on the left arrow while the raft is swinging
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- River speed: F4 (left difficulty switch): A makes the current speed up faster, B keeps it slower
- Moose behaviour: F9 (right difficulty switch): A makes the moose move upstream quickly, B leaves them standing still
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it
The fire button is not used in this game.
Gameplay
The river flows toward the right of the screen, and you want to get as far downstream as possible. Rocks and moose stand in the water, and now and then a beaver runs across the screen: the crashing sound that follows means he has cut down a piece of tree, which can drop anywhere in the river. Each stretch of river you survive is worth 125 points.
You start with three rafts. Gold nuggets appear in the river, and you collect one by touching it with your pole. Each shows up as a money bag in the lower left corner, and three bags buy you an extra raft. You can hold at most four rafts at once, counting the one on the river.
Tips
- Keep to the middle. From the centre of the river you can reach nuggets and gaps on either side more quickly.
- Don’t zigzag. Every crossing carries you further downstream, which leaves you less time to react to what is coming.
- Line up nuggets early. Move into a nugget’s path as soon as you see it, then make small corrections so the pole is pointing right at it.
- Listen for the beaver. When you hear a tree come down, be ready to move, because you don’t know where it will land.
History
U.S. Games was owned by the cereal company Quaker Oats, which hoped to build a line of family-friendly cartridges. By product number, Raft Rider was the second-to-last cartridge in its catalogue, just before Entombed. None of the company’s games became a hit, and Quaker shut the division down during the video game crash of 1983. Game databases credit the programming to Dave Hampton, with Patrick King also named on one of them.