Snake Games: The Nokia Classic, io Arenas and Runners

The rule has not moved in thirty years. You start small, every piece of food stretches you by one unit, and each unit of length makes turning a little harder. Touch a wall, an obstacle or your own tail and the attempt is over. A minute is enough to learn it, which is why it suits any age. The real lesson comes later: the danger is not the arena, it is managing your own growth. Rushing ends early, planning a route lasts.

Over time the genre split in three. On one side stands the boxed grid where you chase a score alone. On another sit the io arenas, where dozens of snakes share a space. A third branch moves the snake onto a straight running track. All three are below, so pick by the pace you are after.

For the original, begin with Nokia 3310 Snake, rebuilt pixel for pixel for the browser and steered with the arrow keys or on-screen buttons. Snake Color Challenge bolts a colour rule onto the same grid: your snake changes colour and only balls of the current colour are safe to eat. Train Snake swaps food for passengers, hooks a carriage on for each one and gives you an arrival point to reach.

The arenas are for players who want company. Snake io war keeps the classic mechanics but fills the space with rivals, and the chunks a dead rival leaves behind grow you in seconds. Inky Snakes draws the same arena on paper and burns a slice of your length whenever you boost. Angry Slither Worm makes the space tighter, where brushing a rival body ends you on the spot. Trains.io 3D lays the idea on rails, where screws and toolboxes add carriages and a rival that runs into you breaks apart.

If you would rather drive down a track, two runners are here. Snake Run Run has you swiping between lanes for stars, and the stars you bank unlock new looks. Snake Run turns it into a contest of length: you eat the snakes shorter than you and change your line to avoid anything longer.

All of these run in the browser on a phone or a computer, with no download and no registration. Open the page, press Play and use a finger or the arrow keys. For games with a similar pulse, try Arcade, Running and Jumping and Animals.

How do these games play?

The controls fit in a sentence: the snake moves by itself and you only pick the heading. There is no brake. Each piece of food adds a unit of length, and that length becomes your next obstacle. Touching a wall, an obstacle or your own body ends the attempt. The difficulty arrives from the inside, not from anything the game throws at you.

How you steer depends on the branch. On the classic grid the arrow keys turn you through four directions. In the arenas the cursor or your finger sets the heading and a boost is available, but boosting costs length, so Inky Snakes and Snake io war both save it for a cut or an escape. On the running tracks the whole job is swiping left and right between lanes. Every one of them has touch controls, so a keyboard is optional.

Getting good is about route planning rather than reflexes. A longer body widens your turning circle, which is why wide curves beat sharp corners once you stretch. On the grid, sweeping tidy lines along the edges and keeping the middle free for emergencies is the oldest advice there is. In an arena, stay off the centre while you are short, feed along the rim, and only join the crowd once you have length. When a big rival bursts and leaves a heap of pellets, plan the way out before you dive in between bodies.

Which one should I pick?

Left column is the game, the two right columns say whether it runs on a phone and how many people can play.

• Nokia 3310 Snack Game - Free Classic Snake: Pixel grid steered with the arrow keys; the only aim is a score record.
• Snake Color Challenge - Free Snake Game Online: Your colour keeps changing and only balls of that colour are safe.
• Train Snake - Free Passenger Pickup Arcade Game: Passengers instead of food; each one adds a carriage and there is a destination.
• Snake io war - Free Snake io Game Online: Cut a rival off and it bursts, leaving pellets that stretch you fast.
• Inky Snakes - Free Paper Snake io Game: Paper-drawn arena; boosting eats your length, so it is spent sparingly.
• Snake.IO : Angry Slither Worm - Free Worm Arena: The worms are packed in, and touching one body ends the attempt at once.
• Trains.io 3D - Free io Train Battle Game: Screws and toolboxes add carriages; your own tail is the real danger.
• Snake Run Run - Free 3D Snake Runner: Swipe between lanes for stars, and banked stars unlock new looks.
• Snake Run - Free Eat and Grow Snake Game: Eat the shorter snakes to grow and steer clear of anything longer.

Frequently asked questions

Further reading

For more, browse the 👾 Arcade, 🏃 Running & Jumping, 🐾 Animals categories.