Snake game strategy
In the snake game the danger is never the apple, it is your own body. The rule that keeps a snake alive fits in one line, and the run below follows it: take the shortest way to the apple only if your head can still reach your tail after eating. The course is drawn by the same map generator as the daily, with the apples of an unlimited round.
What a run costs
The daily counts steps, so two numbers matter: the straight-line distance from your head to each apple, which nobody can beat, and the detours, which you can cut.
Plan around walls before you turn
A wall bar between you and the apple adds steps whichever way you go round it. Pick the side before you reach the bar, and turn early: a swipe only takes effect on the next step, so a late one overshoots and costs two more.
- the route
Never cut yourself off from your tail
A long snake that takes the shortest way can wall itself in: after eating, the head sits in a pocket of the board, and the tail, the one cell sure to free up, is on the other side. Before a short cut, ask whether your head can still reach your tail when you get there. If not, take the long way round.
- the route
- the pocket it would close
When boxed in, follow your tail
The cell your tail is leaving is the one cell sure to be free on the next step. A snake that chases its own tail can circle for as long as it likes, which buys time until the body unwinds and the way to the apple opens. Hugging the walls does the same on a larger scale: it keeps the open part of the board in one piece.
Questions
- Is there an end to the snake game?
- In endless snake, a run ends only when the snake crashes or fills the board. The daily here ends at 30 apples, and its score is the number of steps you took.
- Is this the Nokia snake game?
- It plays by the rules that Nokia phones made famous from 1997: steer, eat, grow, and never touch a wall or yourself. Ours adds a daily course with the same map and apples for everyone.