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Play Snake Online

Eat, grow and avoid your own tail in the arcade classic.

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Snake

How to play Snake

  1. Steer the snake around the board to eat the red food. Each piece makes the snake longer.
  2. Do not hit the walls or the snake's own body — either one ends the game.
  3. The snake gets faster as you eat, so plan your turns ahead of time.
  4. Your score is the number of food pieces eaten. Tap or press any arrow key to start.

Controls

Desktop
Arrow keys or W A S D to steer.
Mobile
Swipe in the direction you want to turn.

About Snake

Snake is one of the oldest and most recognisable video game ideas. Its roots go back to the 1976 arcade game Blockade, and it became a worldwide habit in the late 1990s when it came pre-installed on Nokia mobile phones. The idea has barely changed since: guide a line around the screen, eat to grow, and do not run into anything, including yourself.

This version runs on an 18 by 18 grid. Every piece of food adds one point and one segment to the snake, and the snake speeds up a little with each one until it reaches a top speed. Turns are buffered, so if you press two directions quickly the snake performs both in order, which makes tight corners easier on a keyboard. On a phone you steer by swiping on the board, and a single long drag can chain several turns.

The challenge changes as the snake grows. At first you can go straight for the food, but past thirty or forty segments the snake takes up a real share of the board and you need a route that always leaves an exit. Players who survive for a long time usually follow a repeating path instead of reacting move by move. Your best score is stored in your browser so you can try to beat it, and the game pauses automatically when you switch tabs.

Tips and strategies

  • Hug the walls while the snake is short and keep the middle of the board open for turning.
  • Build a simple loop pattern, like a lawn-mower path, once the snake gets long.
  • Look two or three squares ahead — you cannot reverse direction, so every turn is committed.
  • Do not chase food straight into a corner you cannot escape from.

Snake FAQ

Can the snake go through walls?

No. In this version the walls are solid, so touching them ends the run.

How do I control Snake on a phone?

Swipe on the game board in the direction you want the snake to go. You can chain several swipes in one drag.

Does the snake speed up?

Yes. Every piece of food you eat makes the snake a little faster, up to a maximum speed.

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