Snake
The classic snake game, free in your browser. Eat, get longer, and do not touch yourself. A 17x17 board, three starting speeds, and no end to it.
- Free
- No ads
- No account
- No download
- Works offline
- Single player
How do you play?
- Touch to start - The snake is waiting for you. It will not move before that.
- Swipe a direction - Or use the arrow keys. You cannot turn back into yourself.
- Eat the apple - The snake grows by one, and a new apple appears somewhere free.
- Miss the wall and yourself - Either one ends the run immediately.
- Touch again - Straight into a new run, same speed you picked, clean board.
About this game
Swipe a finger, or press an arrow. The snake turns. It does not move until you touch it, so it never dies before you were looking.
The board is 17 by 17, which is 289 squares, and the snake starts three long. That gives the one number that genuinely caps this game: 286 apples and there is nowhere left to grow. Nobody gets there. That is fine. It is a ceiling, not a goal.
Speed climbs on its own. Every five apples the snake takes eight milliseconds off its step, down to a floor of 60. Here is the thing worth knowing before you choose one, though. All three speeds arrive at exactly the same floor. On fast that happens after 20 apples, on normal after 45, on slow after 70. Crossing the board takes 2.9 seconds at the start on slow and 1.5 on fast, and for every one of them it ends up at the same flat second. The choice is not how fast the game gets. It is how long you have before it gets there.
After that point nothing in the game gets harder. Only you do. Your own snake is now the biggest obstacle on the board, and it grows with every apple.
Every five apples drops coins into the wallet, with no confetti and no pause in the run. The record is checked once, at the moment you die, because a snake score only ever climbs and there is no sense asking the same question thirty times a run.
What does it teach?
Thinking ahead
Every turn decides which turns are still available. Two steps of lookahead is the whole difference.
Fine control
This does not need fast fingers, it needs timing. Turning early is as costly as turning late.
Managing space
The board runs out. Learning not to trap yourself is the entire strategy.
Restarting without drama
One touch and the board is clean. No defeat screen and nothing to wait through.
Tips
Hug the edges
A snake running through the middle blocks itself on two sides. A snake running the perimeter keeps the whole centre available.
Do not chase the apple
The shortest route is not always the right one. Ask where you will be afterwards, then take the route that leaves you an exit.
The tail moves too
The square your tail is standing on clears on the next step, so a gap that looks blocked is sometimes open exactly in time. That trick is the difference between 30 and 80.
Start on slow
Not because it is easier, but because slow gives you 70 apples before it hits top speed and fast gives you 20. More time to learn the board before it starts asking.
What age is it for?
5 to 6
Slow speed, and no expectations about score. At this age the fun is that the snake obeys a finger.
7 to 9
Slow or normal. This is where planning a turn replaces reacting to one.
10 and up
Normal, then fast. Twenty apples on fast and you are already at top speed.
Grown-ups
Fast. Watch for the tail clearing and you will find your ceiling was somewhere else.
Accessibility
Play by swiping on a touch screen or with the arrow keys, and the two are completely equivalent. Nothing needs holding down and no precise dragging is required: a short swipe in a direction is enough. The snake and the apple differ by shape rather than only colour. There are no fast flashes and no sound the game depends on, so it plays fine in silence. Nothing moves until your first touch, so there is no way to start before you were ready.
Playing together
Swap on death
Hand the phone over every time a run ends. Highest score of the evening takes it.
One drives, one navigates
One person holds the phone, the other calls the turns. Much harder than it sounds, which is the funny part.
A target instead of a record
Name a number, say 25, and play until somebody reaches it. A close target beats a distant record for a child who just started.
Eat nothing
Try surviving a full minute without touching a single apple. A completely different game on the same board.
Common questions
Is the snake game free?
Yes. No payment and no in-game purchases. All 21 games on the site are open from the first second.
How do I play it on a phone?
Swipe a finger in the direction you want to turn. One touch starts the run and another starts a fresh one after you die.
What is the maximum score?
286. The board is 17 by 17, which is 289 squares, and the snake starts three long, so after 286 apples there is nowhere left to grow. That is a theoretical ceiling rather than a target.
Does the game speed up?
Yes, every five apples, by eight milliseconds a step, down to a floor of 60. Fast reaches the floor after 20 apples, normal after 45 and slow after 70. Speed stops changing from there.
Which speed should I pick?
They all end at the same top speed, so the only question is how long you get before it. Slow gives you 70 apples to learn the board, fast gives you 20.
Can I play offline?
Yes. After one visit the game is stored on the device and runs with no signal.
How is the record measured?
In apples, where more is better. It is checked once at the end of a run, because a snake score only ever climbs.
Are there ads?
None. No banners, and nothing that plays between runs.
What age is it for?
About five and up, on the slow speed. There is no reading anywhere in the game, so a child who cannot read yet plays alone.