Eat, grow, survive in Snake
Arrow keys, WASD, swipe or the D-pad to steer · space to pause.
Snake is the iconic arcade game where you guide an ever-growing snake around the board, gobbling food to score. Every bite makes you longer — and the longer you get, the harder it is to avoid crashing into the walls or your own tail.
How to play
Snake in 5 steps
Pick your pace
Before you start, choose Slow, Normal or Fast. The setting locks in once the snake begins moving and resets for each new game, so you can tune the challenge to your reflexes.
Steer the snake
Use the arrow keys (or swipe on touch) to turn up, down, left or right. The snake never stops moving.
Eat the collectibles
Guide the head onto the glowing collectible — a different Unicode symbol appears in a new neon colour each time. Every one you eat grows your snake by a segment and bumps your score.
Avoid yourself
As you grow, the board gets crowded. Running into a wall or into your own tail ends the run.
Beat your best
There is no finish line — just keep eating to push your score as high as you can.
Controls
- Slow / Normal / Fast
- Set the speed before the snake moves
- Arrow keys / W A S D
- Turn the snake
- Swipe
- Turn the snake (touch devices)
- Space
- Pause / resume
- R
- Start a new game
Strategy
Tips to play better
Hug the walls
Travel along the edges and fill the board in tidy rows. Wandering through the middle leaves gaps you'll trap yourself in later.
Leave yourself an exit
Before you commit to a turn, check there's a clear path out. Boxing the head into a dead end is the most common way to lose.
Slow your hands, not the snake
Plan a few cells ahead rather than reacting one tile at a time. Smooth, deliberate turns beat frantic ones.
Use the whole board
A back-and-forth "boustrophedon" sweep — up a column, over one, down the next — lets a long snake survive far longer.
About Snake
The Snake concept dates to the 1976 arcade game Blockade, but it became a global phenomenon in 1997 when Nokia pre-loaded a version on its mobile phones. For millions of people, Snake was the first video game they ever carried in their pocket.
Its genius is in the escalating difficulty curve: the only thing that makes you fail is your own success. Each point you score literally lengthens the obstacle you have to avoid, so a great run is a slow-motion exercise in spatial planning under gentle, mounting pressure.
This Unicode edition renders the snake, the food and the field entirely from characters on a tidy grid, so it runs smoothly anywhere — phone, tablet or desktop — with crisp, retro charm. Pick your starting pace — Slow, Normal or Fast — to match your reflexes, and your high score is saved locally in your browser between sessions.
FAQ
Snake questions
How do I control the snake?
Can I pass through the walls?
Can I change the snake's speed?
Is my high score saved?
Is it really free?
Keep playing