Free winter games

What makes a good winter game

Winter games are set in snow and ice, and the cold is part of how they play. Skis carve and tuck, sleds pick up speed down a slope, ice sends you sliding and snowballs are packed and lobbed in an arc. The games on this page share that setting, but they spread across racing, sports, physics, shooting, tower defence, tycoon and 3D games, so you can choose a quick downhill run or a long evening building a resort.

Most of them are on the site all year. Four belong to the Christmas category and appear only while that category is in season; the rest stay whatever the month, for anyone who wants a slope, a frozen lake or a snowball fight in July.

Winter games to start with

Snow Rider is an endless 3D sledding run down a moonlit mountain: steer round trees, snowmen and rocks, jump the stumps and logs, and spend the gifts you scoop up on new sleds, from a Red Racer to a bathtub. Downhill Dash is skiing against the clock, through red and blue slalom gates with kickers for spins, on three runs and an Endless mountain. Ski Jump is the patient sport: hold the tuck down the in-run, let go at the edge of the table, lean in the air and land for distance and the five judges' style marks.

Snowball Fight has you crouched behind a snow wall, pulling back to lob snowballs at grinning snowmen and ducking when they throw back, over forty quick rounds and four bosses. Curling Club is forty curling puzzles in which you choose the turn, release the stone and sweep in front of it, plus matches against a bot or a friend. Frost Line is tower defence on the snowfields: penguins, a walrus and a yeti crew the towers, freeze the raiders into statues and shatter them before they reach the igloos. Ski Resort is a tycoon game in which you drag lifts up and pistes down, grade the runs, groom them at night and keep the queues short.

In the Christmas season four more appear. Snowball Arena is a top-down snowball fight against three elf rivals, Sleigh Run hops a sleigh across the rooftops dropping gifts down chimneys, Ice Fishing has you strike on the bite through a hole in the ice, and Reindeer Dash is a five-track reindeer race for one player or two.

Controls and tips for snow and ice

On a keyboard the arrow keys or A and D steer in Snow Rider, Downhill Dash and Reindeer Dash, and Space, W or Up jumps in Snow Rider and Downhill Dash, where S or Down tucks for speed. Ski Jump uses one key, Space or W, held to tuck and released to jump, with the arrows to lean. Snowball Fight and Curling Club are played by dragging back and letting go with the mouse, and Frost Line and Ski Resort by clicking pads and tools. P pauses and M mutes throughout.

Every game here also works on a phone or tablet. In Snow Rider you hold the left or right half of the screen to steer and tap JUMP; in Downhill Dash you slide your thumb to carve. On touch you drag back from the stone in Curling Club and rub the ice ahead of it to sweep. A tip for the slopes: in Ski Jump, timing the release at the very edge of the table matters more than anything you do in the air.

Frequently asked questions