Play Snake online — free, instant Runs natively — no emulator
Snake, playable right now — no download, no sign-up, nothing to install. Eat the food, grow longer, and try not to run out of room. Styled after the monochrome handheld version, with a choice of speed and the classic wrap-around walls option.
Your game saves itself — close the tab and open this page again to pick up exactly where you left off.
Controls — what does what
| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Steer | Arrow keys, WASD, or swipe on a phone. |
| Pause | P |
| Wrap the edges | Turn Walls off. |
| Change pace | Slow or Fast — both speed up as you eat. |
How to play Snake
You steer a snake that never stops moving. Each piece of food adds a segment, so the longer you survive the less room you have — the difficulty comes entirely from your own body.
Walls on or off
With walls on, touching the edge ends the run. With walls off you wrap to the far side, which turns the board into a torus and makes long games far more achievable.
Speed
Every five pieces of food the snake moves faster. Starting on Slow gives you room to learn; Fast is the real test.
Strategy that actually helps
- Follow the walls. Hugging the edge keeps the middle open for when you need to manoeuvre.
- Never cut off your own tail. Before you turn, check the space you are turning into has an exit.
- Take food on the way past. Detouring across open board is how you end up boxed in.
- Think in boustrophedon. Sweeping up and down in lanes uses space efficiently once the snake gets long.
- Turn early, not late. A turn made one square sooner is nearly always the safer one.
Frequently asked questions
How do you play Snake?
Steer the snake around the board and eat the food. Every piece you eat makes the snake one segment longer, so the board fills with your own body. Run into a wall or into yourself and the game ends. The whole game is managing the space you have left.
What does the Walls option do?
With walls on, hitting the edge ends the game. With walls off, you wrap around to the opposite side — much more forgiving, and the version many handheld editions shipped with.
Why can't I turn back on myself?
Reversing straight into your own neck would be instant death every time, so the game ignores it. Turns are also queued one per step, which stops a fast double-tap from folding the snake back on itself.
Does it get faster?
Yes. Every five pieces of food the snake speeds up. Pick Slow or Fast at the start to set the base pace.
Do I need to download or sign up for anything?
No. It runs directly in your browser as plain JavaScript — no emulator, no download, no account, and nothing is uploaded.
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Put Snake on your own site
This one is ours — written from scratch, not emulated — so you are welcome to embed it anywhere, free, with no permission needed. Paste this where you want it:
Keeping the credit line is the only thing we ask. Games we host but did not write are not offered for embedding, because those are not ours to hand on.