Saturday, November 05, 2005
pingu smackers' hall of fame
a new hall of fame where all you pingu smackers can show off your scores was released. in fact, this is a new hack named "the highscore hack". this was created especially for the unofficial yeti and pingu home. visit the hall of fame for a list of all the highscore for both bounce and head-first game modes. enjoy!
Friday, November 04, 2005
smack the penguin
a website about that game where the yeti smacks the penguin with a club.
in january of 2004, an unusual, yet addictive flash game started spreading across the internet. it is a version of home run derby where a yeti wielding a club attempts to hit a penguin as far as possible across an icy field. aside from the inherent humor in a yeti smacking a penguin with a club, the game's simple, addictive play caused it to spread across the internet like wildfire, as players repeatedly tried to beat their (and each others) high scores. no one was certain at the time who the author of the game was, where it was originally hosted, or even what it was called. the only text in the game is a cryptic message written on a rock, reading "1978 reinhold + yeti."
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
the game has been referred to by various names, including pinguin (or pingu), smack the penguin, yeti & penguin baseball and probably several others. chris hilgert, from the austrian game company edelweiss medienwerkstatt, is the inventor of the game, now formally known as yeti sports (part 1).
chris tells me that the original game was a demo version, created in 4 days and intended for his membership game site at 1moregame.com. he showed the demo to a few friends, and one of them posted the link to a .net mailing list on january 18, 2004. chris's test server was slashdotted several hours later.
on monday, january 19, 2004, links to the game started appearing in blogs, forums and newsgroups across europe. by wednesday the 21, the game had spread across the pond to america. dozen of sites have hosted the game, and many soon went offline after using up all of their bandwidth (including this one!). the game's addictive nature has disrupted office productivity at many workplaces, if the emails in my inbox were of any indication ;-)
two hacked versions of the game were already available that week: the "longshot" version (a hacked version of the original where the penguin flies even farther), and the graphically-enhanced yeti sports version by edelweiss medienwerkstatt, released on january 22. since then, the original demo has been hacked several times more to make the penguin fly even farther, and a few obligatory parodies and tributes were released.
the yetisports series appears to have turned into a profitable franchise for chris and edelweiss. many more sequels have been released, mobile phone versions are available, and a variety of merchandise is available for sale (only in europe though!)
this particular website was created to document the various hacks of the original yetisports 1 demo. the popularity of this page peaked around march 2004 (we got farked on march 5!) and still gets around 300-400 visitors a day. at this point, this site exists as a historical document of a popular, but short lived meme, and will probably no longer be updated.
this is a good score. can you do better?
about the game
to play the game, click the mouse once to get the penguin to jump. then, as the penguin is falling, click your mouse button again to swing. if you hit the penguin, it will fly across the icy field. the objective (obviously) is to get the penguin to fly as far as possible.
hint: after the penguin begins its jump, hold down your mouse button and then let go at the exact moment you want to swing to improve your accuracy.
the penguin will land in one of two ways: head-first or bouncing. if you hit the penguin high, it will fly through the air belly-first, soaring upward (sometimes off the screen) and landing in the snow head first. hit the penguin at its highest point in the freefall to get the most distance.
while landing the penguin head-first looks really cool, you'll need to bounce the penguin to get the high scores. hit the penguin just a little lower to get him soaring nose-first through the air. if you hit the penguin too low, it won't glide very far. hit it just right to get him gliding high. the penguin will bounce a few times before skidding to a stop.
common scoring variations include getting the highest bounce score, the highest head-first score, or even the lowest score. because there are so many scoring variations in the game, people still haven't gotten tired of playing it (yes, this means you!)
versions
here is a comprehensive listing of all the versions of the game that i am aware of. the games themselves are being hosted elsewhere, and this site exists primarily for historical purposes.
links to the original websites are given where available, otherwise, all of these games can be played at geekfocus or lethal penguin.
yeti sports part 1
this is the finished version of the game that is being distributed by its creators, edelweiss medienwerkstatt. yeti sports has better graphics and game play, along with a high score display. a downloadable version is available for play on your computer, and the online version has a high score database that will allow you to compete with other players over five attempts. the game play is identical to the original, with the exception that the penguin (and the score markers) fall quicker, making for faster and slightly more challenging play.
top score is 323.5 for bounce, 207.6 head-first.
smack the penguin original version
the original version of the game that first made the rounds is a crude flash demo that is identical in gameplay to yeti sports part 1. all of the longshot hacks are based on this version.
smack the penguin longshot version i
in the first hack of the original, the penguin soars nearly twice as far. there are no markers past the 300 point, so it appears that the programmer(s) simply hacked the game to make the penguin fly farther.
in the longshot versions, it is much easier to hit the penguin head-first into the snow. the hard part though is getting the penguin to bounce. you'll have to hit the penguin just a tad lower than in the original game to get it to bounce.
the longshot versions are a bit more challenging than the original, since it is more difficult to bounce the penguin. once you get tired of the original game, you can try this for a change.
top score: 593.5 for bounce, 493.6 for head-first.
smack the penguin parphenos version
a hack of the longshot version by parphenos. this version has markers past the 300 mark, and the penguin can fly even farther, well over the 1000 mark! you'll have to hit the penguin even lower to get it to bounce, though.
top score: 1224.1 for bounce (fzr 1000, fabrice david), 793.4 head-first (matt welch, abe senerchia).
smack the penguin longshot version ii
similar to the first longshot hack, but the penguin flies much farther. contrary to the other versions, you have to land the penguin head-first to get the high scores (hint: hit the penguin at its highest point in the fall).
top score is at least 3629.7
smack the penguin "ridiculous" longshot version
penguin minus gravity. as with the other versions, you'll have to hit the penguin very low to get the high scores. this penguin will bounce for a long time, so go eat a sandwich, read a book, and do your taxes while waiting for your score to pop up.
top score: 22865.2 (jason phillips)
smack the penguin popfly version
this penguin shoots straight up, no matter how you hit him. you'll wonder if he's ever coming back down!
top score: 1883.4 (ws6fire)
smack the penguin random bouncing penguin version
this game-with-a-twist features a penguin that bounces randomly (even backwards!) with increasing momentum. the game is a little buggy; if the penguin bounces backwards off the right edge of the screen, the game will need to be reloaded.
top score: 1009.7 (ws6fire)
smack the penguin gory version
this latest, crude hack features lots of blood, a dismembered bouncing penguin head and landmines!
top score: 3211.4 (joseph molina)
1978 reinhold + yeti
the mysterious club-wielding yeti
the mysterious phrase inscribed on the rock, "1978 reinhold + yeti" refers to the legendary mountain climber reinhold messner. in 1978, messner climbed to the summit of mt. everest without supplementary oxygen, which was at the time a herculean feat. in 1986, he claimed to have seen a yeti, otherwise known as the abominable snowman; the himalayan version of bigfoot. he spent the next 11 years trying to solve the legend of the yeti, and in his book, my search for the yeti, he comes to the inevitable conclusion that the yeti is likely a large brown himalayan bear.
in january of 2004, an unusual, yet addictive flash game started spreading across the internet. it is a version of home run derby where a yeti wielding a club attempts to hit a penguin as far as possible across an icy field. aside from the inherent humor in a yeti smacking a penguin with a club, the game's simple, addictive play caused it to spread across the internet like wildfire, as players repeatedly tried to beat their (and each others) high scores. no one was certain at the time who the author of the game was, where it was originally hosted, or even what it was called. the only text in the game is a cryptic message written on a rock, reading "1978 reinhold + yeti."
src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">
the game has been referred to by various names, including pinguin (or pingu), smack the penguin, yeti & penguin baseball and probably several others. chris hilgert, from the austrian game company edelweiss medienwerkstatt, is the inventor of the game, now formally known as yeti sports (part 1).
chris tells me that the original game was a demo version, created in 4 days and intended for his membership game site at 1moregame.com. he showed the demo to a few friends, and one of them posted the link to a .net mailing list on january 18, 2004. chris's test server was slashdotted several hours later.
on monday, january 19, 2004, links to the game started appearing in blogs, forums and newsgroups across europe. by wednesday the 21, the game had spread across the pond to america. dozen of sites have hosted the game, and many soon went offline after using up all of their bandwidth (including this one!). the game's addictive nature has disrupted office productivity at many workplaces, if the emails in my inbox were of any indication ;-)
two hacked versions of the game were already available that week: the "longshot" version (a hacked version of the original where the penguin flies even farther), and the graphically-enhanced yeti sports version by edelweiss medienwerkstatt, released on january 22. since then, the original demo has been hacked several times more to make the penguin fly even farther, and a few obligatory parodies and tributes were released.
the yetisports series appears to have turned into a profitable franchise for chris and edelweiss. many more sequels have been released, mobile phone versions are available, and a variety of merchandise is available for sale (only in europe though!)
this particular website was created to document the various hacks of the original yetisports 1 demo. the popularity of this page peaked around march 2004 (we got farked on march 5!) and still gets around 300-400 visitors a day. at this point, this site exists as a historical document of a popular, but short lived meme, and will probably no longer be updated.
this is a good score. can you do better?
about the game
to play the game, click the mouse once to get the penguin to jump. then, as the penguin is falling, click your mouse button again to swing. if you hit the penguin, it will fly across the icy field. the objective (obviously) is to get the penguin to fly as far as possible.
hint: after the penguin begins its jump, hold down your mouse button and then let go at the exact moment you want to swing to improve your accuracy.
the penguin will land in one of two ways: head-first or bouncing. if you hit the penguin high, it will fly through the air belly-first, soaring upward (sometimes off the screen) and landing in the snow head first. hit the penguin at its highest point in the freefall to get the most distance.
while landing the penguin head-first looks really cool, you'll need to bounce the penguin to get the high scores. hit the penguin just a little lower to get him soaring nose-first through the air. if you hit the penguin too low, it won't glide very far. hit it just right to get him gliding high. the penguin will bounce a few times before skidding to a stop.
common scoring variations include getting the highest bounce score, the highest head-first score, or even the lowest score. because there are so many scoring variations in the game, people still haven't gotten tired of playing it (yes, this means you!)
versions
here is a comprehensive listing of all the versions of the game that i am aware of. the games themselves are being hosted elsewhere, and this site exists primarily for historical purposes.
links to the original websites are given where available, otherwise, all of these games can be played at geekfocus or lethal penguin.
yeti sports part 1
this is the finished version of the game that is being distributed by its creators, edelweiss medienwerkstatt. yeti sports has better graphics and game play, along with a high score display. a downloadable version is available for play on your computer, and the online version has a high score database that will allow you to compete with other players over five attempts. the game play is identical to the original, with the exception that the penguin (and the score markers) fall quicker, making for faster and slightly more challenging play.
top score is 323.5 for bounce, 207.6 head-first.
smack the penguin original version
the original version of the game that first made the rounds is a crude flash demo that is identical in gameplay to yeti sports part 1. all of the longshot hacks are based on this version.
smack the penguin longshot version i
in the first hack of the original, the penguin soars nearly twice as far. there are no markers past the 300 point, so it appears that the programmer(s) simply hacked the game to make the penguin fly farther.
in the longshot versions, it is much easier to hit the penguin head-first into the snow. the hard part though is getting the penguin to bounce. you'll have to hit the penguin just a tad lower than in the original game to get it to bounce.
the longshot versions are a bit more challenging than the original, since it is more difficult to bounce the penguin. once you get tired of the original game, you can try this for a change.
top score: 593.5 for bounce, 493.6 for head-first.
smack the penguin parphenos version
a hack of the longshot version by parphenos. this version has markers past the 300 mark, and the penguin can fly even farther, well over the 1000 mark! you'll have to hit the penguin even lower to get it to bounce, though.
top score: 1224.1 for bounce (fzr 1000, fabrice david), 793.4 head-first (matt welch, abe senerchia).
smack the penguin longshot version ii
similar to the first longshot hack, but the penguin flies much farther. contrary to the other versions, you have to land the penguin head-first to get the high scores (hint: hit the penguin at its highest point in the fall).
top score is at least 3629.7
smack the penguin "ridiculous" longshot version
penguin minus gravity. as with the other versions, you'll have to hit the penguin very low to get the high scores. this penguin will bounce for a long time, so go eat a sandwich, read a book, and do your taxes while waiting for your score to pop up.
top score: 22865.2 (jason phillips)
smack the penguin popfly version
this penguin shoots straight up, no matter how you hit him. you'll wonder if he's ever coming back down!
top score: 1883.4 (ws6fire)
smack the penguin random bouncing penguin version
this game-with-a-twist features a penguin that bounces randomly (even backwards!) with increasing momentum. the game is a little buggy; if the penguin bounces backwards off the right edge of the screen, the game will need to be reloaded.
top score: 1009.7 (ws6fire)
smack the penguin gory version
this latest, crude hack features lots of blood, a dismembered bouncing penguin head and landmines!
top score: 3211.4 (joseph molina)
1978 reinhold + yeti
the mysterious club-wielding yeti
the mysterious phrase inscribed on the rock, "1978 reinhold + yeti" refers to the legendary mountain climber reinhold messner. in 1978, messner climbed to the summit of mt. everest without supplementary oxygen, which was at the time a herculean feat. in 1986, he claimed to have seen a yeti, otherwise known as the abominable snowman; the himalayan version of bigfoot. he spent the next 11 years trying to solve the legend of the yeti, and in his book, my search for the yeti, he comes to the inevitable conclusion that the yeti is likely a large brown himalayan bear.
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