What a mess! ‐ Imagine you enjoy sailing in winter, happily floating on the river, dreaming of a hot cup waiting at the harbour. And than you just find out Santa crashed his sleigh right into YOUR river. All the presents are now drifting downstream. That is the call you have been waiting for your whole life! To save Christmas for everybody! Collect as many gifts as you can get, dodge the shallows and watch out for the orcas lurking in the water, You must deliver the parcels to Santa waiting at the pier.
Endless holiday runner • Swipe to steer • Manage pingers to scare off the orcas!
Your choice to stay in the well marked fairway or increase your high score fast by picking up the boxes closer to shore. But wandering into uncharted depth is a dangerous play.
Save the floating boxes and bring them to Santa at the pier.
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What People Say
“I always love fun games.” — says my AI persona
“I love it! Let me know what you think!” — Hinnerk (programmer)
“I want to play this!” — Roman (who played the early alpha already last winter)
Core Features
Classic Game play:
Collect & Deliver
Steer the boat near to a drifting present to collect it. You can store alot of them in your boat but eventually you see a pier with a waving Santa. steer into the delivery zone to unload al the parcels and earn massive scores.
Stay in the Fairway
The safe water channel is marked with real cardinal and lateral buoys. Shallows lurk outside — but some gifts will be too tempting to let them drift by...
Orca Encounters
Ok, Fun aside. There a nasty Orcas in the River and when you hit them they bite little pieces off your rudder. The smaller your rudder, the harder the steering gets. Fortunatly you can scare them off by dropping a pinger over board. But you only have two. Use them wisely because they only work once. Keep an eye open they also float in the river occasionally.
Latest News
0.7 - Android Closed Beta
Likewise to the Apple Testflight, "Christmas on River" is now (almost) available in Google Play Store . If you hold an Android Device and you want to become a tester (basically get the app for free but provide me some feedback), you are welcome to register with your google email address. I will add your address to the list of testers and the game will be available for you to play before it even is public in the store. – Like if it is already Christmas!
Having you on board here is even more critical to me since I am not even owning android hardware to test the game on. (My most recent tablet runs on Android 7 – Jepp, that is like 10 years old.) So as much as I am convinced it works nice on the simulator, having some real experiences would be extremely helpful.
thx!
Hinnerk Weiler
05. Oct 2025
0.7 – Testflight Release
Exciting News! Ready for winter season here in the northern hemisphere and the first (single)player version of "Christmas on River" is now in Apple Review. Once it passes it will be available FOR FREE to the first 100 sailors who register at https://christmasonriver.aufmboot.com.
What is a Testflight?
Apple iOS offers a so called "Testflight Release". the app will be reviewed like it would be for the app store passing all the safeguards needed. Than people will be invited to test the app. Instead of installing via the app store you need the Testflight App to download this release of "Christmas on River. If you want to participate you can apply using the form at https://christmasonriver.aufmboot.com.
For Free? – What is the catch?
You will always be able to play the "next version, see add-ons before others do and have all the fun. On the other side you agree to run a test version. That means things might be buggy and are not really 100% polished. Also I would LOVE to hear your feedback on gameplay and where polishing is needed. So the "catch" if you want to say so is that I ask you to really play the game and tell me what you think.
Thank you so much for helping me (and Santa!)
Hinnerk Weiler
04. Oct 2025
How to Play
Watch out for Orcas they are sometimes hard to see...
1. Swipe to steer
Steering is easy: Simple left/right swipes on your touch screen keep you in the fairway and on the gifts.
2. Tap to deploy
Tap the Deploy button to cast a pinger and push orcas away – but beware to not run out of them.!
3. Deliver to Santa
Just enter the green drop off zone at each pier and watch your collected presents return.
The Story
Register your name and "Go Sailin!" to save Christmas.
Santa may have enjoyed a touch too much Glühwein. His sleigh’s down, presents are adrift, and time is ticking. The river is cold, the buoys mark the way, and orcas are curious. You’re at the helm—save the season one delivery at a time.
Get Launch News
Be first to play and get behind-the-scenes updates. I am currently gathing beta testers for iOS.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
FAQ
Make Christmas for everyone! Deliver the lost gifts to Santa.
What features are in the making?
Compete against your Sail Club, Work Collegues at School, ... Next thing is a Team Play Function that enables you to create a team and invite other players to join that team. In a team you play against each other
When can I play?
iOS Version is in the final makings, I hope to have Android ready by end of in October as well.
Can I pay to win?
No, but you can pay me to make more levels, scenes and features.
Another data collector?
Nope! - You do not need any sort of account. Only if you use the planned "Team"-feature the app will conect to my servers for updating the leaderboard. We do not care who or what you are as long as you have fun.
Are ther ads I must endure to watch?
No. Skill, timing, and good seamanship win the day!
Are the Buoys real?
Yes, you can learn to navigate using them. The river uses real-world navigation for safe water fairways. Actually I was playing with Blender 3D and made a set of realistic cardinal and lateral marks. So I wanted to see them in action and created a little river and a boat and ... However, here we are and if you stray outside the marked safe waters it might become a bit shallow there... And if you hit too many buoys they might sink your boat!
What People Say