How to Play Snake

The rules

• You control a snake that moves constantly; you only choose its direction: up, down, left or right.
• Eating food makes the snake one segment longer and scores points.
• The game ends if the snake hits a wall or any part of its own body.
• The snake cannot reverse: if you are moving right, pressing left does nothing.

Controls on this site

All our games share one control scheme. On desktop use the ↑ ↓ ← → arrow keys or W A S D, with P to pause, R to restart after a game over and M to mute. On phones and tablets, swipe anywhere on the board or use the on-screen d-pad. In 2 Player Snake, Player 1 takes WASD and Player 2 takes the arrows.

Beginner: the three mistakes that end every early game

• Double-tapping. Pressing two directions quickly queues two turns and folds the snake onto itself. One deliberate press per corner.
• Chasing the apple in a straight line. Approach so that after eating you still have an open exit, especially near walls.
• Ignoring the tail. Your tail vacates its cell every step. Learning to trust (and time) that gap is the first real skill in snake.

Intermediate: sweep, do not wander

Once your snake is longer than a dozen segments, random pathing dies. Adopt a sweep: move in long S-shaped passes across the board, like mowing a lawn, deviating only briefly to collect food before rejoining the pattern. Sweeping keeps your body organised in parallel lines with predictable gaps instead of a chaotic tangle.

Advanced: space partitioning

Elite play is about the board, not the apple. Every move divides remaining space into regions; the fatal mistake is entering a region smaller than your body length, because the exit closes before you escape. Before committing anywhere, high-level players do an instinctive count: can I fit through, and what closes behind me when I do? On wrap-around boards like Infinite Snake this thinking bends further, because regions connect through the edges.

Mode-specific pointers

• Classic: hug edges early, keep the centre open for late game.
• Snake 2: when the level changes, stop hunting and re-map the new walls first.
• Speed: efficiency beats safety; a crash wastes seconds, but timidity wastes more.
• Maze: never enter a corridor without knowing your exit.
• Portal: check what surrounds the exit portal before you enter.
• Vs AI: control the centre and use your body to lengthen the AI's routes.