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Snake Arena

The snake you know, on a bigger board, with company. For 90 seconds you and up to five computer snakes chase the same apples, and anyone whose head meets a wall or a body is out. The longest snake still moving when the clock reaches 0:00 wins.

Free
No ads
No account
No download
Works offline
Single player

How do you play?

Start - Press Play, then an arrow or a swipe. Your mint snake and every bot wait on the board until your first direction, so nothing moves before you are ready.
Steer - Arrow keys or WASD on a PC, a swipe or the four buttons on a phone. The Controls setting swaps the buttons for a joystick, or for a stick that appears wherever you touch the board.
Grow - Run your head over an apple to grow one segment. Burst snakes leave a line of apples behind, worth racing for if the path is clear.
When you are out - The round stops and shows where you finished. Watch plays the rest at three times the speed so you can see who wins, and Play again deals a fresh round straight away.

About this game

Everyone moves at once. That is the whole difference.

Every step, all the snakes move together, one cell each, at the same speed. The rules are the ones you already know from the classic: a head that runs off the board or into any body is out, your own tail included. Two heads that meet are both out, whoever is longer, so a head-on is never a way to win an argument. When a snake goes out it bursts, and every cell its body covered becomes an apple, which is why the spot where a long snake crashed is suddenly the busiest place on the board.

Apples keep coming. There are always at least two more on the board than there are snakes, and each one you eat makes you one segment longer. Every snake starts at 3 segments, spread round a ring and heading clockwise, so nobody starts face to face.

The round lasts 90 seconds. If only one snake is left before then, it wins on the spot. Otherwise the longest snake still alive at the bell takes it.

You pick how many computer snakes you face: 3, 4 or 5. They are called Bolt, Moss, Echo, Pip and Fizz, each wears its own colour, and its name floats over its head. On a PC the board is 30 cells by 20 and a live ranking runs beside it. On a phone it turns to 23 by 32 so it fits the screen upright.

What does it teach?

Reading moving things

Six things move on the board at once, and there is one step to decide. That is reading a whole scene rather than a single target.

Planning space

A snake that eats is a snake that takes up more room. Keeping an exit open is planning a few moves ahead.

Risk and reward

The best apples sit next to the worst dangers, and the game asks you to choose every few seconds.

Tips

Leave yourself a way out

Before turning into a gap between two bodies, look at where it leads. A dead end gets very short the moment another snake closes the mouth.

Do not race a head to the same apple

If a bot is one cell from the apple you want, let it have it. Two heads in one cell put both of you out, and the apples a bot leaves when it bursts are worth more than one apple anyway.

Length is a lead, and a risk

A long body walls off the board for everyone, you included. When you are ahead late in the round, stop chasing and stay in open space until the bell.

Watch the bots

Each bot heads for the nearest apple it can reach and keeps out of pockets smaller than itself. Now and then one slips and takes a random turn, and that is your moment.

What age is it for?

From 6

A younger player can steer with the big buttons and learn to stay away from bodies. With 3 bots the round is forgiving, but going out still ends it.

8 to 12

4 bots, a real race for apples, and the moment you learn that a head-on costs you both.

Teens and adults

5 bots on the full board, where staying alive to the bell is a skill of its own.

Accessibility

You steer for the whole round, with keys, a swipe or four large buttons, and a step comes about 7 times a second, so the game asks for steady attention for 90 seconds. Nothing needs a fast double tap or a precise drag: every control is a single press, the buttons are 64 pixels across, and pausing freezes the round exactly where it is.

Playing together

Take turns

Play the same bot count in turns and compare how long you got. The record is kept separately for 3, 4 and 5 bots.

One plays, one warns

One of you steers while the other watches the board and calls out when a bot is heading your way.

Watch the end together

When one of you goes out, press Watch and guess the winner before the bell.

Common questions

Is Snake Arena free?

Yes. There is nothing to sign up for and nothing to buy, and it plays in the browser.

How do you win?

Be the longest snake still alive when the 90-second clock runs out, or be the last snake left before that.

What happens when two snakes crash head-on?

Both are out, whatever their length. Two heads moving into the same cell, or straight through each other, count the same way.

Why did apples appear where a snake was?

A snake that goes out bursts: every cell of its body becomes an apple. That is where the fast growth is.

How many bots can I play against?

Three, four or five. You choose on the start card, and on a PC in the panel beside the board as well.

How is the score kept?

Your record is the longest your snake got in a round, saved on this device for each bot count. Every 5 apples you eat also earns a coin.

Can I pause?

Yes, the pause button stops the round and the clock. Switching away from the tab holds it too.

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