Snake Game
Steer the snake to the food, grow one cell at a time and don't run into the walls or your own tail.
How to play the snake game online
- Choose a board size: Small 15×15, Medium 20×20 (the default), or Large 25×25.
- Choose a speed: Slow, Normal (the default), or Fast.
- Choose walls: Solid walls (the default) or Wrap around. Changing any select starts a new game, so set these before you play.
- Start the game with Space, a tap or click on the board, a swipe, an arrow key or W, A, S, D, or the on-screen buttons.
- Steer with the arrow keys or W, A, S, D. On a touch screen, swipe on the board or use the Up, Left, Down, and Right buttons under it.
- Press Space or P to pause, and press them again to resume. On a phone, a tap while playing does nothing, so you won’t pause by accident.
- When the game ends, read the reason in the dialog: you hit the wall, you ran into yourself, or you filled the board. It also shows your score and length, and “New best score!” when you beat the best for these settings. Press New game or N to play again.
- Keep an eye on the Score, Best and Length chips above the board while you play.
Press F for fullscreen, which uses the full screen height for the board. Press Esc to leave fullscreen or close the dialog.
Snake game rules
The snake starts three cells long in the middle of the board, heading right. Each tick it moves one cell forward, and the game ends if its head leaves the board or runs into its body. Only one food item is on the board at a time, placed on a random free cell, so it never appears under the snake.
Eating food adds one cell to the snake and one point to the score. The point value is the same on every speed. There are no bonus foods, power-ups, levels, or obstacles, so food is the only way to score.
With solid walls, moving past an edge ends the game. With wrap around, leaving one edge brings the snake in on the opposite edge, and walls never end the game.
Your own tail is a special case. The cell the tail is leaving on the same move counts as free, so you can follow closely behind it. A direct reversal, such as turning left while heading right, is ignored rather than ending the game.
Speed sets how many moves the snake makes per second: about 6 on Slow (160 ms per move), about 9 on Normal (110 ms), and about 14 on Fast (70 ms). Speed does not increase during a game.
If the snake fills every free cell, you win. The highest possible score is the number of cells minus 3: 222 on Small, 397 on Medium, and 622 on Large.
Snake game strategy
The most useful snake game strategy is to keep an escape route open. Before each turn, check which cells are free ahead, because the snake cannot stop or reverse.
As the snake grows, its body takes up more of the board. Circle along the edges and leave the middle open, instead of cutting straight across it. Many long runs end because the snake traps itself in a pocket.
In wrap mode, the edges are not dangerous, so the far side of the board works as a shortcut. Use it to reach food on the opposite side without a long detour.
Choose the speed to match your reactions. Slow gives you more time to plan, while Fast leaves little room for mistakes. Practise on Small, then move up to Large when you want a higher possible score.
Snake game tips
Use the turn queue to make fast combinations. Up to two turns wait for the next moves, so pressing up and then left within one tick will not lose the second turn. A third press is ignored until a move uses one, so avoid pressing many keys at once.
Pause with Space or P when you need to think. The game also pauses by itself when the tab is hidden or the window loses focus, and it stays paused until you press Space, P, or tap.
Compare scores only within the same settings. Each of the 18 combinations of board, speed, and walls keeps its own best score, so a Fast Large score cannot be compared directly with a Slow Small one.
Frequently asked questions
Is snake game free, and do I need to sign up?
Yes, it is free, and you do not need to sign up or make an account to play. The game runs in your browser, has no online leaderboard, and sends nothing anywhere.
Can I play snake game on a phone?
Yes. The board fits a 320 px or 375 px screen without sideways scrolling. On touch devices, Up, Left, Down, and Right buttons appear under the board, and you can also swipe on the board. Swiping on the board does not scroll the page.
Is my game saved?
A game in progress is not saved. Reloading the page or changing a setting starts a fresh game. Your settings and best scores stay in your browser on this device.
Why does my Best score show a different number?
Best is saved for each combination of board size, speed, and walls. When you change any of these, the Best shown is the one for the new combination.
What does wrap around change?
Walls never end the game in wrap mode. Leaving one edge brings the snake in from the opposite edge, and the board border is drawn dashed instead of solid.
How do I pause the game?
Press Space or P to pause and press them again to resume. On a touch screen, tap the board to resume when paused.
What is the highest score I can get?
The highest possible score is the number of cells minus 3. That is 222 on Small, 397 on Medium, and 622 on Large.
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