Snake Game: how to play, survive longer and score higher

What the game is and how the rules work

You control a snake on a square board. The snake moves one square at a time and never stops, so the only choice you have is which way to turn. An apple appears on a random empty square. When the snake’s head reaches it, the apple is eaten, you score points, the snake grows by one square and a new apple appears somewhere else.

A round ends in one of two ways. If the head leaves the board, you have hit the wall. If the head runs into any part of the body, you have bitten your own tail. In both cases the round is over immediately, and your score is shown together with your best result in this browser. In the rare case that the snake fills the entire board, you win with a perfect game.

Controls and how to start

Press the start button and a short countdown gives you a moment to get ready. The snake then begins to crawl to the right. The controls work on phones, tablets and computers.

The game pauses by itself when you switch to another tab or app, and you can also pause it yourself, so a phone call or a message never costs you a round.

• On a phone or tablet, swipe on the board in the direction you want to go. You do not need to swipe far, a short flick is enough.
• With a keyboard, use the arrow keys or the W, A, S and D keys.
• You cannot turn straight back into yourself, so pressing the opposite direction does nothing.
• You can queue two quick turns in a row, which helps with tight corners.
• Press P, Escape or the pause button to pause, and tap Resume to carry on.

Strategy: how to survive longer

Early on, the game is easy because the snake is short and there is plenty of room. The trouble starts when the snake is long, so build good habits while it is still small. Try not to hug the apple at any cost. Instead, plan a path that keeps open space in front of you and avoids sealing the head into a pocket.

A popular technique is to travel in a wide loop or a zigzag across the board, so the body forms tidy rows rather than a tangle. Keep the head away from the edges when you can, because a corner leaves you with only one escape direction. Before you turn, look one move further than the apple: ask where the tail will be by the time you get there, since the tail square frees up as you move.

When the snake becomes long, leave yourself an exit and never turn into a dead end. Slow, careful turns beat risky shortcuts, especially at the higher speed levels where you have very little time to react.

A short history of Snake

The idea is older than most people think. A 1976 arcade game called Blockade, made by Gremlin, had two players draw ever-growing trails and try to force the other to crash. Many home computer clones followed through the late 1970s and 1980s, and the version with a single snake that eats food became the standard.

Snake reached a worldwide audience in 1997, when a version designed by Taneli Armanto was included on the Nokia 6110 phone. For many people it was the first game they ever played on a mobile phone, and it shaped how a whole generation thinks about simple games. The same idea has since appeared on almost every platform, from calculators to smartphones and web browsers.

Speed levels, scores and privacy

Every few apples you reach a new speed level. The snake moves a little faster and each apple is worth slightly more, so a long, fast run is rewarded. The speed stops rising after a while so the game stays fair. The end screen shows your score, the number of apples you ate and the highest speed level you reached.

Your best score is stored only in this browser. When a round ends, your score is sent anonymously to our server so that we can show how you compare with other players. That comparison appears only when there are real scores to compare with. You can share your result with friends using the buttons on the end screen and challenge them to beat it.