Chapter 6: A Peak Experience

 5… 4… 3… 2… Frantically, you pull the tenth flag from a hole you just dug in the sand. 1! BANG! The pirate fires a shot in the air. “Har har, har har! Looks like ye got all ten flags! Nicely done.”

You collapse, panting, onto your knees, clutching the ten flags. “Why… did… you… make us… do this?” you manage to get out, in your exhaustion. Melvin is just as exhausted.

“Like I told ye, fer yer safety!” says the pirate. It’s dangerous up there on that mountain, ye know. There’s eagles, polar bears, water slides…”

“Water slides? Like at a water park?”

“No, no… but you’ll know ‘em when you see ‘em. Now, where was I? Oh yes… water slides, falling rockslides, flying rocks…”

“Flying rocks? What does that even mean?”

“Stop interrupting, would ye? Avalanches, abominable snowmen, sno-bees, and of course, freezing to death.”

“Is that all?”

“Aye. No wait… ye might also slip and fall from a great height. Many climbers die that way.”

“You sure that’s all?”

“Aye. That’s all I know about, anyway.”

Melvin pipes up. “No problem! It’ll be easy!”

“Aye,” agrees the pirate. “At least, it should be, with all the flags ye’ve got.”

“I don’t understand how flags are supposed to keep us safe,” you say, with irritation. “If you really want to keep us safe, you’d give us that pistol, so we could fight off the eagles and bears and whatever.”

“Abominable Snowmen,” say Melvin and the Pirate in unison.

“Yes, right, exactly! Wouldn’t we be safer with your pistol?”

The pirate shakes his head, then uses the pistol to cock his hat. “If I gave ye my pistol, how could I keep other climbers safe?” BANG! He accidentally shoots a hole in his hat.

Melvin backs away, “Well, if we’re going up there, we should probably go now.”

“Yes,” you add nervously. “Thanks for the… flags, and everything.”

“Farewell,” he says, waving his pistol. “Be safe!”

The two of you look up at the long, long path up the mountain.

BANG! A bullet grazes the top of Melvin’s pixel. He turns back, furious. “WHY DID YOU DO THAT?”

“Har har, har har,” replies the pirate, who turns and limps away on his peg leg.

Melvin sighs. “At least we’re rid of him. Ready to do some climbing?”

“Do we really have to do this? It sounds deadly.”

Melvin nods, “No, it isn’t… well, okay, yes, actually, it’s going to be horrible. But that’s what reset buttons are for, right? Speaking of which…”

“Oh, right,” you say, taking out the reset button. You don’t relish the idea of dying over and over. You take one last look at the ocean, the pirate and his ship, and then stare up at the enormous mountain. “At least we have these flags,” you sigh. Then you press reset, and start walking.

Put the Spike’s Peak cartridge into your Atari 2600. Set the left and right difficulty switches to ‘b’. Play until you reach the top of the mountain. Post a link to a video in the comments section of yourself completing the challenge.