Chapter 7: All Downhill from Here

You planted flags all the way up the mountain, and you plant your last flag at the very top, then briefly collapse from exhaustion. It's too cold to just lie there, though, so in a moment you scuttle to the other side of the peak to get out of the icy wind, and squint down at the panoramic view. As the chill winds freeze every part of you, the distant ocean seems to curve away from you in all directions. You can barely make out the dotted islands that you drove along to get here, and you see vast continents beyond. You truly seem to be on top of the world. “M-M-M-Melvin,” you say through chattering teeth, “w-w-where is the c-cave?”

Melvin peers around in all directions. “I d-d-don’t kn-know.”

“W-what do you m-mean, you d-don’t know?! I th-thought you’d b-been here before?”

Melvin is sheepish. “I n-never had a P-player g-get this f-far. I j-just assumed the c-cave was up here.”

“Oh great! N-now what do we d-do?”

“The p-p-pirate said p-people lived up here. M-maybe we can f-find them?”

You look around. On the far side of the peak, you see something that looks like it might be a village far below. “There’s a village d-down there… but it’s so far, we might freeze before we g-get there,” you shout into the icy wind.

“N-not if you use the sk-skis the Pirate gave us.”

“B-but I’m not much of a skier.”

“W-well, this seems as good a t-time to l-learn as any,” shouts back Melvin.

You strap on the skis and point them at the village. The locals must ski up here, because someone has laid out a series of helpful red and blue gates to guide your way down.

“One more minute out here,” you shout, “and I think we’ll freeze solid! H-here g-goes n-nothing!”

Place the Mogul Maniac cartridge into your Atari 2600. Set the Color/B+W switch to Color if you are using the Joyboard, and to B+W if you are using a joystick. Set both difficulty switches to b. Choose game select #6. To avoid freezing to death, complete the course (just a single run) in less than one minute. Post a link to a video in the comments section of yourself completing the challenge.