Snake (video game genre)
A genre of growing-line action games originating in 1976.
Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0
Snake is an action video game genre in which players guide the tip of a continuously growing line, frequently depicted as a serpent. The core challenge is to avoid crashing into walls or the line's own body, a task that becomes increasingly difficult as the line extends. This genre traces its roots to the 1976 arcade game *Blockade* by Gremlin Industries, a two-player competition where the objective was to outlast your opponent. Because the concept is simple and demands little in the way of hardware, countless variations have been created over the decades. Interest in the genre surged after a version simply titled *Snake* came pre-installed on Nokia mobile phones in 1998.
In the original *Blockade* and its many imitators, two players each control a "snake" from a top-down view. The snake's head moves forward constantly, cannot stop, and grows longer as the game proceeds. Players steer left, right, up, and down to avoid walls and the bodies of both snakes, and the last one standing wins. Single-player versions are extremely common and far more numerous than two-player versions; they often pit the player against computer-controlled snakes or challenge them to survive as long as possible. In the typical single-player game, the snake has a fixed length, so when the head advances, the tail follows. Eating items—such as apples in *Snake Byte* or abstract objects in *Nibbler*—causes the snake to lengthen.
The genre began with *Blockade* in 1976, created by Lane Hauck and Ago Kiss for Gremlin Industries. That same year, a clone called *Bigfoot Bonkers* appeared. In 1977, Atari released two games inspired by *Blockade*: the arcade title *Dominos* and the Atari VCS launch title *Surround* (also sold by Sears as *Chase*). Also in 1977, a similar game called *Checkmate* launched for the Bally Astrocade. Mattel’s *Snafu* arrived for the Intellivision in 1982. The first known home computer version, *Worm*, was programmed by Peter Trefonas for the TRS-80 in 1978, with later ports for the PET and Apple II. An authorized version of the arcade game *Hustle*—itself a *Blockade* clone—was published by Milton Bradley for the TI-99/4A in 1980.
The single-player *Snake Byte* (1982) appeared on Atari 8-bit computers, Apple II, and VIC-20, where a snake eats apples to complete levels and grows longer. In *Snake* for the BBC Micro (1982), by Dave Bresnen, the snake is steered with
- origin
- 1976
- first_game
- Blockade (Gremlin Industries)
- creators
- Lane Hauck and Ago Kiss
- notable_early_clone
- Surround (Atari VCS, 1977)
- key_mobile_version
- Snake (Nokia, 1998)
- museum_recognition
- Nokia port selected for MoMA collection in 2012
Lore & Background
The Snake genre began with the 1976 arcade video game Blockade, written by Lane Hauck and Ago Kiss and published by Gremlin Industries. It was cloned as Bigfoot Bonkers the same year. In 1977, Atari released two Blockade-inspired games: the arcade game Dominos and the Atari VCS game Surround, which was one of the nine Atari VCS launch titles in the US. The first known home computer version, Worm, was programmed by Peter Trefonas for the TRS-80 and published by CLOAD magazine in 1978. Single-player variants emerged, such as Snake Byte (1982), where a snake eats apples to complete a level, and Nibbler (1982), a faster arcade game where the snake fits tightly into a maze. The 1982 Tron arcade game included snake gameplay for its Light Cycles segment, which is primarily a two-player competitive mode, not a typical single-player example.
Reader's Guide
The Snake genre's significance lies in its enduring simplicity and adaptability across platforms. Starting with the two-player competitive Blockade in 1976, the genre evolved into single-player variants where eating food lengthens the snake and increases the challenge of self-collision. The 1998 Nokia mobile phone version brought Snake to a massive audience, leading to numerous reiterations like Snake II and Snake EX. The genre has been incorporated into Google applications, including a hidden game in YouTube (2010), a Google doodle (2013), and a Google Maps April Fools' prank (2019). In 2012, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City announced the Nokia port of Snake as one of 40 games it wished to add to its collection. The genre continues to inspire new games, including online .io variants like Slither.io (2016) and Snake.io, and educational adaptations such as Snakeleev (2025), which uses gameplay to teach the periodic table. Its legacy is also seen in programming education, where Python Snake is often used to teach Python and Pygame.
Did You Know?
- The first known home computer version of Snake was called Worm, programmed for the TRS-80 in 1978.
- In 2010, YouTube added Snake as a hidden game inside its video player.
- In 2023, users recreated Snake using GPT-4.
- In 2025, the travel competition series Jet Lag: The Game played a season in South Korea based on Snake.
Origins and the Shift from Competition to Solo Play
The Snake genre traces its roots to 1976, when Lane Hauck and Ago Kiss created Blockade for Gremlin Industries. This was a competitive two-player arcade game in which each participant steered a continuously advancing line from a fixed starting position, trying to outlast the opponent by avoiding walls and the rival's body. The early wave of clones—including Bigfoot Bonkers the same year, Atari's Dominos and Surround in 1977, Bally's Checkmate, and Mattel's Snafu for the Intellivision in 1982—remained purely abstract, never invoking snake or worm imagery. The concept gradually shifted toward single-player design, where a line with a head and tail grows longer each time it consumes food, raising the stakes of self-collision. By 1982, titles like Snake Byte (eating apples), Nibbler (navigating a tight maze), and the light-cycle segment in Tron had established the single-player template that would define the genre for decades. The BBC Micro version by Dave Bresnen added escalating speed and a single-life constraint, pushing difficulty even further.
The Nokia Mobile Era and Its Aftermath
In 1998, a version simply titled Snake was preloaded onto the Nokia 6110 mobile phone, and the game became a cultural phenomenon. Nokia followed up with an extensive lineup of sequels and variants—Snake II, Snake EX, Snake EX2, Snake III, Snakes, Snake Xenzia, and Snakes Subsonic—each building on the previous iteration. The game's popularity was so significant that it became synonymous with early mobile gaming itself. However, as the series progressed, the graphics and gameplay grew more complex, and the title's popularity gradually waned. The Nokia era demonstrated that Snake's core appeal lay in its accessibility and minimal technical demands, qualities that made it ideal for the limited hardware of late-1990s phones. When HMD Global later revived the Nokia brand, they replaced Snake Xenzia with a fresh 2017 Snake build pre-installed on Series 30+ and Kai OS devices, acknowledging the franchise's enduring place in the company's identity.
Core Mechanics and the Elegance of Self-Collision
At its core, Snake demands that the player steer a perpetually moving head in four directions while avoiding walls and, critically, the snake's own body. In the two-player Blockade format, both snakes grow continuously and the match ends when one collides. In the more common single-player variant, the snake begins at a fixed length and extends with every item consumed—apples in Snake Byte, abstract objects in Nibbler—making self-collision increasingly probable as the body fills the play area. The BBC Micro version compounded difficulty by accelerating the snake's speed as it grew and allowing only one life. Nibbler compressed the action into a tightly packed maze, demanding faster reflexes than most snake designs. The genre's power lies in this elegant escalation: the very mechanic that rewards progress (growing longer) simultaneously increases the risk of failure, creating a self-contained tension loop that requires no narrative, no complex graphics, and no high-end hardware.
Proliferation Across Platforms and the Modern Era
Snake's simplicity has spawned hundreds of versions across every platform. After the Nokia era, the concept migrated to Pocket PCs in 2002, TIM Wap Fast downloads in 2004, and even a 2010 puzzle inside Nokia's Symbian life simulator Creebies. The .io wave brought multiplayer snake battles to the browser: Slither.io in 2016, followed by Snake.io, which later appeared on Apple Arcade, Netflix, and Nintendo Switch. Google wove Snake into its ecosystem repeatedly—a hidden YouTube player game in 2010, a Doodle easter egg in 2013, a Google Maps April Fools' prank in 2019, a Chrome browser game, and a 2025 Doodle relaunch for the Chinese New Year. More recent entries include Snake Rewind (2015), Snake Core with shooter elements (2020), PAKO Caravan (2020), Quetzi featuring Quetzalcoatl (2024), and MageTrain, a roguelike snake game (2025). In 2023, users even recreated Snake using GPT-4, and Spotify embedded it as a downloadable game within long playlists.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Snake video game genre?
Snake is an action genre in which you steer the head of a line that keeps getting longer, usually depicted as a serpent. The core challenge is avoiding the walls and your own tail, a task that grows harder with every added segment.
What was the first Snake-style game ever made?
The genre traces back to Blockade, a 1976 two-player arcade title from Gremlin Industries designed by Lane Hauck and Ago Kiss. In that game, players competed to outlast each other by drawing ever-longer lines.
How do you actually play Snake?
You guide the tip of a continuously extending line, typically shaped like a snake, while dodging the boundaries and your own body. Difficulty ramps up naturally because every turn adds another segment to your trail.
Why did Snake become so iconic on mobile phones?
Nokia shipped a built-in Snake game in 1998, and its minimal hardware needs made it a perfect fit for early phone screens. The Nokia port was later selected for the Museum of Modern Art's collection in 2012, cementing its cultural status.
Who invented the Snake genre and what came next?
Lane Hauck and Ago Kiss are credited with the foundational concept through their 1976 Gremlin Industries arcade game Blockade. Atari followed up with a notable early clone called Surround in 1977 for the VCS console, helping spread the idea to home players.
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