In Skeet Shoot, designed by Kieth Wild, one up to five players can compete in a game of skeet shooting, where clay targets (pigeons) are shot at various angles from two opposite houses. Each player has two and sometimes four shots from each of the eight positions between the houses for a total of 24 shots. From each position between the houses, a clay target is shot from the left house, then from the right house, and on certain positions also from both houses simultaneously. The player with the highest score (most destroyed targets) wins. Before each game, the pigeon size, pigeon speed and shotgun choke can be set for a higher or lower difficulty.
Skeet Shoot was the third game On-Line Systems ever released, shortly after Trap Shoot and Mystery House. According to the book "Hackers", Apple II game programmers in the early 80s were so quick in continuously surpassing the technical quality of their programs that Ken Williams removed Skeet Shoot from the company's line-up only a few months after its release because it already looked too primitive and dated in comparison to other products. It is a very rare collectible these days.
Skeet Shoot is an alternate version of Trapshoot, which was released shortly before Skeet Shoot. It uses the same game play, but in Trap Shoot the player shoots from 5 different positions and clay pigeons are shot from one central trap in front of the player for a total of 25 shots (5 single shots from each position).
Both Trapshoot and Skeetshoot were only released for the Apple II. Mystery House, Trapshoot and Skeetshoot were all featured in Sierra's very first advertisement in the magazine Micro 6502 in May 1980.