How to play
- Goal
- Ski the three laps and shoot the ten targets as quickly as you can.
- How it ends
- Finish the last lap after both shooting bouts and every penalty loop; a race ends unfinished if ten minutes run out.
- Record
- Each course keeps the ten fastest finished races, including time spent shooting and skiing penalties.
- Ski three laps and shoot ten targets as quickly as you can. Choose any course, then race: the clock runs through skiing, both shooting bouts and every penalty loop.
- Tap Pole or Space when the beat turns green. Repeated off-beat strokes waste energy. Hold Recover or Shift as the range approaches to glide more slowly and arrive with steadier hands.
- After lap one shoot five targets prone; after lap two shoot five standing, with larger target circles. Select a target with its button or 1–5, then adjust with arrows or drag. The green cross shows the actual impact, including wind and sway.
- Release Recover when you reach the range, then hold Steady or Shift. Fire when the green cross is inside black. Release before the breath bar empties and let it refill; holding too long makes the rifle shake more.
- You have five cartridges for each bout. White plates are already hit; shooting white wastes a cartridge. Every target left black requires one full 150 metre penalty loop before the next lap. Finish the third lap before ten minutes to get a time.
Controls
| Space / Pole / Fire | Pole stroke on the snow; one cartridge at the range |
|---|---|
| Shift / Recover / Steady | Recover while skiing; steady the rifle while held |
| 1–5 / target buttons | Choose a black target |
| Arrows / drag | Adjust the rifle aim |
| Escape / Pause | Pause; the race then counts as personal only |
Tips for Gnome Biathlon
- Arrive rested Use the Recover cue before the range. An exhausted skier has more sway and less time to hold breath.
- Watch the cross Aim for the moving green impact cross rather than the middle of the screen. Wind and sway are already included.
- Spend every cartridge carefully A miss costs a full loop. A short pause to steady the rifle can save more time than rushing a shot.
Questions about this game
Why is my race personal only?
Pausing, hiding the game or a long interruption keeps your local time but prevents a record. A ranked race must run continuously from Go to the finish.
Are these full-length competition courses?
These are shortened arcade courses. The three-lap sprint, prone then standing shooting, five cartridges per bout, target-size ratio and 150 metre penalty loops follow biathlon rules.
What is checked before a Top 10 time is accepted?
The records worker rides the complete input replay, counts hits and penalty metres, and computes the finish time. A supplied time alone is never accepted.
Personal bests and medals stay in this browser under morass.gnome-biathlon.v1. Music and effects have independent arcade-wide switches. The complete Burrow Run music bed, gnome, pines, lamps, rifle, sounds and display font come from the Morass warehouse. No ads or analytics run inside the game.
About Gnome Biathlon
A gnome races through snowy pines, trading speed on the skis for steadiness with a small-bore sporting rifle. Time your pole strokes, recover before the range, and settle the moving impact cross inside each black plate.
All sixty courses are open across twelve venues, from the morning woods at Burrow Pines to Northwatch under the night sky. Three short ski laps surround prone and standing shooting. Every missed target sends you around a real 150 metre penalty loop. Each course has medal times, your personal best and a replay-checked Top 10.
