Snake Game — play free online

Six modes · daily challenge · power-ups · combos · smooth 60 fps · keyboard, swipe, d-pad or gamepad · no login · no ads

Score0

Best0

Length4

Level1

PAUSED

Space or P to resume

GAME OVER

Best0

Length0

Max combo×1

Time0:00

Space play again · Esc modes

SETTINGS

Board size

Speed

Look

On-screen d-pad

Sound

Vibration

Effects

Guide — from first bite to a high score

Every mode keeps its own best score, saved in this browser. The daily challenge has a new best every day.

1Pick a mode

Classic, Endless (no walls), Maze, Time attack, Zen or the Daily challenge.

2Steer

Arrow keys or WASD, swipe on a phone, the on-screen d-pad or a gamepad. Quick double turns are queued.

3Chain your bites

An apple is worth 10 × level × combo. Eat again within 4 seconds to raise the combo, up to ×8.

4Use power-ups

Ghost, slow-mo, double points, magnet and shrink. Golden apples are worth 50 × level, but vanish fast.

5Survive the speed-up

Every 5 apples is a new level and a faster snake. In Maze and Daily you also get a new layout.

Quick reference

KEYSControls

←↑→↓ / WASD: Steer; up to three turns are queued
Space / Enter: Play, pause and resume
P · M · F · Esc: Pause · sound · full screen · menu
swipe · gamepad: Steer on touch screens or with a controller

POWER-UPSWhat each one does

ghost: Slide through your own tail for 6 s
slow-mo: The snake moves slower for 6 s
×2: Double points for 8 s
magnet: Apples crawl towards you for 8 s
shrink: Cuts 4 tail segments, +20 × level

SETTINGSMake it yours

board: Small 16², medium 20² or large 26²
speed: Relaxed, normal or fast
look: Neon, sunset or a Nokia LCD
effects: Calm mode turns off glow, shake and particles

Snake, explained

This is a free Snake game that runs in your browser, with no download, no account and no ads. You steer a snake around the board, eat apples to grow, and the run ends when your head hits a wall, an obstacle or your own tail. The snake moves smoothly between cells at 60 frames per second, but the game itself still steps cell by cell, exactly like the original, so every turn is precise.

The six modes

Classic is the traditional game: the edge of the board is deadly. Endless removes the walls, so leaving one side brings you back on the other and only your tail can stop you. Maze puts obstacles on the board and swaps in a new layout every level: corner blocks, a cross, pillars, corridors, a box with four doors and a zigzag. Time attack gives you 60 seconds with two apples on the board at once; a golden apple adds three seconds. Zen has no game over at all: you can cross your own tail and simply grow, which is nice on a tablet at the end of the day. The Daily challenge uses the same maze and the same apple positions for everyone on the same day, so you can compare scores with friends.

Scoring and combos

An apple is worth 10 × level × combo. Eat the next one within four seconds and the combo rises by one, up to ×8; the bar under the level counter shows how much time you have left. At level 4 with a ×6 combo, a single apple is worth 240 points, so short and direct routes pay off far more than playing it safe. Golden apples are worth 50 × level and grow the snake by two, but they disappear after about five seconds.

Power-ups

After an apple there is a small chance that a power-up appears; it disappears again after seven seconds and blinks just before it goes. Ghost lets you slide through your own body. Slow-mo gives you time to thread through a crowded board. ×2 doubles every point, combo included. Magnet pulls the apples towards your head. Shrink cuts four segments off your tail when you are getting too long.

Speed and levels

Every five apples you reach a new level and the snake gets about 6% faster, until it reaches its top speed. Choose relaxed, normal or fast in the settings to set the starting pace. In Zen mode the speed never changes.

Tips for a higher score

Keep your combo alive: plan the route to the next apple before you eat the current one.

Move along the edges and leave the open middle free for turning.

Turn early. Up to three turns are queued, so a U-turn along a parallel line takes two quick key presses.

Save ghost for the moment you are boxed in by your own tail, and grab ×2 when a long combo is running.

In Endless and Time attack, crossing an edge is often the shortest way to the next apple.

Phone, tablet, gamepad and full screen

On a touch screen you swipe anywhere on the board, and you can change direction again in the same swipe. Prefer buttons? The on-screen d-pad appears automatically on touch devices and can be switched on or off in the settings. A connected gamepad works too: the d-pad or left stick steers, A plays and pauses. Press F or the full-screen button to fill the screen. The game pauses itself when you switch tabs.

A short history of Snake

The idea goes back to Blockade, a 1976 two-player arcade game by Gremlin in which each player left a growing wall behind them. Home computer versions followed through the 1980s. Snake became a household name in 1997, when it was preloaded on the Nokia 6110 and later on millions of other Nokia phones. The Nokia LCD look in the settings is a nod to that green screen.

Saving and privacy

Best scores, statistics and your settings are kept in your browser's local storage. Nothing is sent anywhere, so clearing your site data resets them and another browser starts from zero. Scores from the previous version of this game are carried over automatically.