Who doesn't like snowboarding? And with global warming set to make all the snow disappear, what better way to experience the thrills of sliding down a mountain than with a mobile game? Best not to answer that, actually.

Anyway, Blocky Snowboarding came out last week, and it's actually not completely terrible. In fact it's so not completely terrible I thought I'd write up some tips and tricks to make sure you're getting the most out of shredding the powder. I don't know if that's a snowboarding term and quite frankly I don't care.

Anyway, enough passive aggressive preamble. Here's a breakdown of some of the skills you're going to have to master, as well as a few ideas you're going to have to wrap your head around, if you want to become the greatest blocky snowboarder what ever lived. Uh huh.

Shuffle it

In a strange way the game owes a lot to Snake. And yes, I am talking about Snake on the Nokia 5110. Because of course I am. The key to success here is to make little shuffling movements along the snow.

This makes taking some of the tighter corners a lot easier. Don't tap too frequently though or your boarded will just stay in the same place and smash into whatever it was you were trying to avoid. And no one wants that.

Straights and gates

It's important to hit the gates if you can, because they'll give your score a really big boost. The icons showing you where they are aren't always the most accurate, so try and ensure that you're ready to make a swift change if you need to.

Another great way to score points is by moving in a straight line. When you've been doing it for long enough you'll set on fire and start earning. If you've got your multipliers working as well then you'll be laughing all the way to the point bank.

Videos for videos

More often than not if the first two videos you put into the gacha machine are the same and the third one isn't, it's worth watching a video to get another go. If the first two don't match, then it's likely that the fourth video isn't going to help you out too much.

That said, it's 20 seconds of your time that you're getting rid of, and you've probably got that much to spare.

Challenges

Make sure you know what the current challenge is, and that you're trying to beat it. This will unlock new boards for you to use, but it also makes the game more interesting in-and-of itself.

Life is always more fun when you're chasing a specific outcome, and when you manage to smash the challenge you'll get a warm feeling somewhere in that part of your body where you think your soul used to be.