Icy Tower

Icy Tower, first released in 2001 by the Swedish outfit Free Lunch Design, is a vertical platformer stripped down to a single irresistible idea: jump upward as far as you can without falling behind. You play a baggy-trousered character named Harold the Homeboy, bouncing from ledge to ledge up an endless tower while the screen slowly scrolls upward and threatens to leave you behind. Miss too many platforms and it is game over.

The clever twist is in the momentum. Rather than just hopping, you build horizontal speed by running along platforms, and the faster you go the higher and further you leap. String together big jumps that skip multiple floors and you rack up combos worth enormous point bonuses, which is where the real skill and addiction live. Chasing an ever-higher score, and bragging about which floor you reached, was the whole social hook.

It became a fixture on school and home computers throughout the 2000s, spread by being free and cheerfully lightweight, running happily on the most modest hardware. The chunky graphics and upbeat music give it an unmistakable early-2000s freeware charm. There is no story and no ending, only the pull of one more attempt to beat your last record. That simplicity is exactly why it remains so playable today, an honest reflex-and-rhythm challenge that anyone can pick up in seconds.