Snake Game
The ordinary rules: eat, grow, do not hit the wall and do not hit yourself. It speeds up as you go, and the best score is kept on your device.
What this tool does
The classic game, at sixteen squares by sixteen. Eat the food, the snake gets longer, and the tick gets slightly faster with every item until it reaches a floor at about half the starting speed. Walls kill. So does running into your own body — with one exception, which is that following your own tail is legal, because the tail cell is moving out of the way in the same tick. That rule is the difference between a game that feels fair and one that kills you for something that looked safe.
You can steer with the arrow keys, with WASD, or with the on-screen buttons, which exist because a phone has no arrow keys. Keys are only intercepted while a game is actually running, so the page still scrolls normally the rest of the time. The best score is kept in your browser and survives a reload; the read is wrapped so that private browsing, which throws on storage access rather than returning nothing, does not break the game.
How to use it
- Press Start to begin, or press any of the direction buttons, which starts the game and turns in one action.
- Steer with the arrow keys or WASD on a keyboard, or the buttons underneath the board on a touchscreen.
- Press Pause to stop the clock; the button becomes Resume. Press Reset for a fresh board at any time.
- Eat to score. The tick shortens with each item, and the board fills up if you get long enough — filling it completely ends the game as a win.
Common use cases
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A two-minute break
A run takes under a minute, and the speed ramp means most runs end quickly, so it is easy to stop at one.
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On a phone
The direction buttons make it playable without a keyboard, and the board is sized to fit a narrow screen.
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Beating your own score
The best score persists between visits, which turns it into something you can come back to.
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Testing your reflexes
The tick floor at half the starting speed is the real difficulty. Most runs end in the last twenty seconds.
Frequently asked questions
How do I control it on a phone?
Use the four direction buttons under the board. The arrow keys and WASD work on a keyboard, but a phone has neither, which is the only reason the buttons exist.
Why did I die when I went into my own tail?
You should not have — following your own tail is legal, because the tail cell moves out of the way in the same tick. If the snake is long and you turn tightly, what you hit is usually the second or third segment rather than the tail itself.
Does it get faster?
Yes. Every item eaten shortens the tick by a few milliseconds, down to a floor of about half the starting speed. It stops getting faster after that, so a long game stays playable rather than becoming impossible.
Is the best score saved?
It is kept in your browser and survives a reload. Nothing is uploaded — it never leaves your device, and it is gone if you clear your browsing data.