Snake is the classic arcade game where you guide an ever-growing serpent around a 20x20 grid, hunting glowing apples while staying clear of the walls and your own tail. First popularised on early Nokia phones and arcade cabinets, it has remained one of the most recognisable games of all time thanks to its simple, addictive one-more-go loop.
This free online version of Snake runs entirely in your browser with no downloads or sign-ups. Every apple you eat adds ten points and lengthens your snake by one segment, so the board fills up and the challenge ramps as your tail becomes the biggest hazard. Choose Easy, Medium or Hard to set how fast the snake slithers, then weave through tight gaps, set up safe paths, and push for a perfect board. A live score, best-score tracker and length counter let you measure each run and chase a new personal record.
Snake's family tree runs straight through arcade history. The idea debuted in Gremlin's 1976 arcade game Blockade, spawned dozens of home-computer clones, and then achieved world domination in 1997 when Nokia engineer Taneli Armanto built Snake into the 6110 handset. Shipping on hundreds of millions of phones, it became many people's very first video game — played on a monochrome screen with four buttons.
Snake is also a favourite of programmers because perfect play is a real mathematical problem: a snake that follows a Hamiltonian cycle — a loop visiting every cell exactly once — can never die, but takes ages to score. The fun, for humans and algorithms alike, lies in safely cutting corners off that perfect route, which is exactly the risk-versus-greed tension you feel as the snake fills the board.
Eat as many apples as you can to grow the snake and rack up points without crashing into a wall or biting your own tail.
Steer with the Arrow keys or W A S D. On touch screens, swipe or use the on-screen d-pad. Press Space or P to pause and resume; any direction also un-pauses.
Each apple is worth 10 points and grows your snake by one segment. Your current score, snake length and best score are shown above the board, and your best is saved between sessions.
You cannot reverse straight back on yourself, so plan turns ahead. Leave yourself escape routes near the edges, hug the outer walls to keep the middle open, and slow down a notch on Easy or Medium while you learn the timing.
How do you play Snake?
Steer the snake to eat the food; it grows longer with each bite. Avoid hitting the walls or your own tail.
Is Snake free to play?
Yes — free, unlimited Snake in your browser with no download.
How do I control the snake on mobile?
Swipe in the direction you want to turn, or use the on-screen control pad.
More classic games: Pong, Brick Breaker, Flappy, Infinite Runner, Space Rocks, and all 100 free games.