About the Ski Slalom
The slalom is a race where the clock runs at the same speed for everyone and the only thing that changes your result is how many gates you miss. Twenty gates, two seconds each. It adds up fast.
How it works
Your skier travels down the slope at a steady pace. Gates appear from the bottom of the screen: pairs of poles in red or blue. You have to pass between the two poles of each pair.
The skier follows your finger or pointer, but not instantly. There is a short glide as he moves across, as there would be on snow. A gate that is missed turns grey, the skier flashes red, and two seconds are added to your time.
The gates are placed at random each run, anywhere up to a good distance left or right of the last.
Skiing a clean run
Look down the hill. The gate you are passing is already decided. Your eyes should be on the next one, and your finger should be moving towards it as soon as you are through the current pair.
Move early. Because of the glide, the skier arrives a moment after your finger does. If you wait until a gate is level with you, it is too late.
Aim for the centre of each gate. The gap is generous, but the edges are not forgiving, and the centre leaves room for the glide to be slightly off.
Take the shortest line. After passing a gate, go straight to the next. Swinging wide and coming back wastes the little time you have.
If two gates are far apart sideways, start across the instant you clear the first.
A clean run, with no misses, is the gold medal time almost exactly. One miss is silver. For steering-based HTML5 games, the lesson is always the same: look ahead.