During the entire SUPER-SOBER development process for the “Gamedev.js Jam 2025”, I hadn’t found the Flash game that gave me the idea for my game.

I did a quick search on Flashpoint-Archive and found nothing. Since it had been about two decades since I played it, I thought it might be a false memory, or maybe the game had nothing to do with what I was remembering. So I decided not to waste time with that during the Jam.

It was only after I had already submitted the game, and while producing a devlog about it, that I researched it more thoroughly.

Searching for “drunk flash game,” I found what looked like the game. It was on one of those super sketchy websites full of ads, titled “Walk home drunk Online Game”. And it was only after all the ads finished and the game loaded that I was sure. The game really existed and it was exactly how I remembered it… That all-blue color palette really stuck in my memory.

When I was a kid, I thought the language in that game was bizarre… You can understand a few things like “Start” and “Meter,” but the rest is completely alien.

Another thing that always caught my attention was the “Wagen Schenke” logo. I always thought it was the game developer. In fact, when I found the game again, that was how I knew I was right, that logo is way too nostalgic. I even thought: could we find more games by “Wagen Schenke”?

Looking more closely at the menu screen, you can see that the actual title is “Home Run”, not “Walk Home Drunk”. And it was by searching for that name that I found the game on the Internet Archives. Under the name Albanifest 2004 – Home Run.

My first thought was that it could’ve been a game festival, and that this game was one of the entries… right?

Not exactly… Digging into Albanifest, I found out it’s a big annual festival that takes place in Winterthur, Switzerland, on the last weekend of June. It’s kind of like their Oktoberfest, a huge Winterthurian carnival.

But what the hell would a big Swiss party have to do with this classic Flash game? Even after deeper research, unfortunately, I still don’t have all the answers.

One clue might be in that logo… After looking into it, we can see it’s not actually from a game developer. It’s from a brewery or wine cellar, something like that. A liquor store located in… Winterthur, Switzerland. Coincidence? I don’t think so!

Even though I don’t have any confirmation, the most likely explanation in my opinion is that the game was created to promote Wagen Schenke’s participation in the 2004 Albanifest. Since this event seems to be a big deal for the local community. About 100,000 visitors attend every year, and it’s known for its community spirit, great food, and entertainment. It’s been celebrated annually since 1971.

It seems totally reasonable that they would’ve made a game as part of their 2004 advertising campaign.

The game itself is more or less how I remembered it. I didn’t remember the character facing the camera tho, and for some reason I thought you controlled it with the arrow keys. I even thought I was being original by making my game use mouse controls, but “Home Run” already did exactly that in 2004.

By moving the mouse, you try to stop the drunk guy from falling to the sides while scoring in meters. Maybe this is the true father of today’s endless runners, a game with no end where you just keep scoring forever. “Home Run” is also way easier than I remembered. In my mind, it was nearly impossible to walk with the drunk guy, but in reality, after a few tries, it’s easy to get the hang of it.

Nothing out of this world… aside from the weird language, which I think is German. The game is funny on its presentation and fun to play, it delivers way more than just an animation for an ad campaign. It’s honestly hard to believe that’s all it was. I’m sure it was part of many people’s childhoods around the world.

See you next time!