Joy Rush - Retro Gaming with Ikon Pass
For the seventh year of the Ikon Pass, our campaign message was (Joy) More — a reminder that skiing and snowboarding pull us out of the day-to-day grind and back into what makes winter fun.
To excite guests ahead of the season, we launched a retro-inspired game called Joy Rush that anyone can play on their phone or computer. The gameplay is straightforward: ski left or right, avoid obstacles, and collect power-ups. We partnered with brands like Blenders, US Ski & Snowboard, Under Canvas, Sixt car rental, and others who allowed us to pixelate their identity into unique in-game boosts.
Our agency partners at Evans Hunt conceived the concept and brought it to life just in time for the campaign launch. Definitely go play it.
Over the summer, I wanted to bring the game to more places, so I dusted off my Linux and Python skills — with a bit of vibecoding — and built a native console version. Along the way I added features like controller support, a leaderboard, and separate builds for Raspberry Pis and Intel NUCs. It was refreshing to get hands-on with the code again and expand the reach of an already great game for some of our Ikon Pass stoke events.
What started as a single prototype quickly became something the sales team wanted more of. There are now roughly ten consoles in the wild, and Ikon Pass holders seem to be having a great time playing them.
A few shots the team captured from a few Ikon Pass stoke events.
