Skateboarding Games

Skateboarding games put you on a board to ride through streets, parks and ramps. There are around 45, all free and with nothing to download, mixing tricks, jumps and races where you have to reach the end without bailing.

What you do on the board

There are three common setups. In the first, the course is the challenge: you move along a route and have to reach the end without falling, dodging obstacles and picking up items on the way. Skate Rush Challenge, Flip Skater Rush 3D, Sewer Skater and Rooftop Skater go this way. In the second, the score is what matters: you string together jumps and flips to rack up points. Street Sesh, Street Skate, Skate Parks, Skateboard Master and Skate Board City are closer to this idea. The third plays with the setting: Cyber Surfer Skateboard, Sky Skater and Sky Roller Skates offer futuristic worlds or ones up in the clouds.

With familiar characters, Scooby Doo Skate Race, Shrek Shreds, Ben 10 Skateboarding, Ben 10 Gravity Skater, Bart on Skate and Stan Skates are more lighthearted and tend to appeal to younger players.

A little vocabulary

The trick names come from real skateboarding. The ollie is the basic jump: you pop the tail of the board to lift it without using your hands, and almost every other trick starts from it. The kickflip spins the board around in the air, and a grind means sliding the trucks along an edge or a rail. If a game mentions them, now you know what they are.

To fall less

• Learn the jump and the landing first. Until you land well, there's no point going for tricks.
• If the game scores combos, don't risk every trick: a shorter but clean chain usually earns more points.
• On courses, look ahead of the board. Obstacles show up early and you have time to jump.
• When you miss, repeat the same stretch before moving on. The pattern can be learned.