How to play › ARCADE
SERPENT
A serpent in a walled garden, an endless supply of apples and an appetite that does not know when to stop. Serpent is the snake game you know, with rival serpents to out-eat, a tail you can shed, and a book of puzzle gardens.
PLAY NOW ▶The goal
Eat apples to grow and score, and never run into a hedge, your own tail or a rival serpent. One bad bite ends the run.
How a run plays
Every six apples the gardener rearranges the hedges into a new garden and your serpent speeds up. There are ten hand-planted gardens, from THE LAWN to THE OLD MAZE, and after that the gardener starts improvising.
Eat the next apple within 18 steps of the last to build a chain worth up to six times the points. Gold fruit appears every few apples for a bigger payout, but it does not wait around. Every third garden a rival serpent slithers in for a duel over the fruit: BRAMBLE first, then COPPERCOIL, then NIGHTVINE. Be first to the target number of apples, or box the rival in so it has nowhere left to turn. Beat all three rivals in one life for the garden crown, then keep going as long as you dare.
You can also shed your tail: C drops your last three segments as husks. They never hurt you, but a rival cannot cross them. You get one charge per garden, and a gold fruit grows another.
Controls
| Keyboard | Pad | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Arrows | Stick / d-pad | Steer |
| Q / E | L / R | Turn left or right of your current heading |
| X | B | Hold to sprint |
| C | C | Shed your tail as husks |
| Z / Space | A / START | Start or restart |
On a phone or tablet, a see-through joystick and A, B, C, L, R and SPACE buttons appear over the game and do the same as the keys above.
Gamepad: the stick or d-pad moves and the buttons follow the Pad column (Start is START). Esc, P or Back pauses, and the HOW TO PLAY button over the game shows the basics any time.
Modes
On the title screen you choose your pace:
- LEISURE (x1 points): steady hedges, small bites.
- GARDEN (x1.5): a garden with teeth.
- VIPER (x2): for serpents with no fear.
- DAILY: the daily garden, below.
- THE GARDENER'S BOOK: twelve puzzle gardens. The fruit must be eaten in its numbered order (the faint one is next), and every step you take is counted against BRAMBLE's count. Match or beat BRAMBLE for three stars. Turn the pages with left and right on the book row.
Mastery stars
Each star pays tickets the first time you earn it.
- Bronze: Score 400.
- Silver: First Blood in the Grass: win a duel against a rival serpent.
- Gold: The Garden Crown: beat all three rivals in one life.
Daily challenge
Yes. The DAILY GARDEN plays at GARDEN pace on NORMAL, with hedges generated from the date so everyone gets the same layout. You have one life and a separate best score for the day.
Beginner tips
- Chains are where the points are. Plan a route that reaches the next apple within 18 steps rather than taking the safest long way round.
- Leave yourself an exit. Before turning into a corner or a pocket of hedge, check that your body will not close it off behind you.
- Use Q and E if the arrow keys feel confusing when your serpent is heading down: they always turn relative to the direction you are moving.
- Save the husk charge for the duels. Dropping husks across a rival's path can box it in, and a trapped rival pays a bonus.
- Sprint only on long straight runs toward fruit. At full speed it is easy to overshoot a turn.