How to play Snake

What the snake game is

Snake is one of the oldest video game ideas. You steer a line of squares around a grid. It never stops moving, and it can only turn left or right, never reverse. Each piece of food it eats makes it one square longer. The run ends when its head hits a wall or its own body, so the better you play, the harder it gets. The idea goes back to a two-player arcade game of 1976, and it reached millions of people as a game built into mobile phones in the late 1990s.

Playing Snake on AllFun

AllFun Snake has three ways to play. In Classic the walls are deadly and the snake starts at six squares a second, gaining a little speed with every fruit until it reaches fourteen. Zen has no walls: leave one edge and you come back on the opposite one, at a steady speed. Levels are 60 boards in five worlds, with portals, keys and doors, and blades that slide along tracks; each one has a goal, and a fast finish earns up to three stars.

Swipe anywhere to turn, use the arrow buttons from Settings, or play with the arrow keys or WASD on a computer. After a crash you can carry on at your full length, and the first Continue in a run is free. Snake is one of the games on our arcade games page.

The rules

Moving

The snake moves one square at a time in the direction it faces. A turn takes effect on the next square, so two quick turns make a tight U-turn. A command to go straight back into your own neck is ignored, since it would end the run at once.

Growing and scoring

Every fruit adds one square to the tail. In AllFun Snake a fruit scores 10 points and a golden fruit 50, adds five squares at once and fades after a few seconds. Eat fruit within about three seconds of each other and a combo multiplies the points, up to five times.

What ends a run

• Driving the head into a wall, in modes that have walls.
• Driving the head into any part of your own body.
• In the levels, running into a closed door or a moving blade.

Power-ups

Some versions add items to the board. On AllFun a magnet pulls nearby fruit in, a clock slows time, a ghost lets you pass through yourself and a potion trims the snake shorter. A tray of helpers by the board adds a Shield that turns your next crash into a stop.

Six tips for a longer snake

1. Keep the middle open. When the snake is long, travel along the edges and leave the centre of the board free, so there is always a way out.
2. Follow your tail. The square your tail is leaving will be empty when you get there. Heading towards your own tail is the safest move on a crowded board.
3. Sweep in rows. A snake that runs back and forth in long, even rows can fill almost the whole grid. The most patient players plan a route that visits every square.
4. Never turn into a pocket. Before you go into a corner or a gap, check that you can get out. A dead end two squares deep is still a dead end.
5. Chain fruit early. Combos are easiest while the snake is short and the board is open, so build your score in the first minute.
6. Let a golden fruit go. It is worth five fruits, but not worth a crash. Chase it only when the path is clear.

Snake game FAQ