Snake (video game genre)

Snake is the common name for a video game concept where the player maneuvers a line which grows in length, with the line itself being a primary obstacle. The concept originated in the 1976 arcade game "Blockade", and the ease of implementing "Snake" has led to hundreds of versions (some of which have the word "snake" or "worm" in the title) for many platforms. After a variant was preloaded on Nokia mobile phones in 1998, there was a resurgence of interest in the snake concept as it found a larger audience. There are over 420 "Snake"-like games for iOS alone.
Gameplay.
The player controls a dot, square, or object on a bordered plane. As it moves forward, it leaves a trail behind, resembling a moving snake. In some games, the end of the trail is in a fixed position, so the snake continually gets longer as it moves. In another common scheme, the snake has a specific length, so there is a moving tail a fixed number of units away from the head. The player loses when the snake runs into the screen border, a trail, other obstacle, or itself.
The Snake concept comes in two major variants:
History.
The "Snake" design dates back to the arcade game "Blockade", developed and published by Gremlin in 1976. It was cloned as "Bigfoot Bonkers" the same year. In 1977, Atari released two "Blockade"-inspired titles: the arcade game "Dominos" and Atari VCS game "Surround". "Surround" was one of the nine Atari VCS (later the Atari 2600) launch titles in the United States and was also sold by Sears under the name "Chase". That same year, a similar game was launched for the Bally Astrocade as "Checkmate".
The first known personal computer version, titled "Worm", was programmed in 1978 by Peter Trefonas of the US on the TRS-80, and published by "CLOAD" magazine in the same year. This was followed shortly afterwards with versions from the same author for the Commodore PET and Apple II. A microcomputer clone of the "Hustle" arcade game, itself a clone of "Blockade", was written by Peter Trefonas in 1979 and published by "CLOAD". An authorized version of "Hustle" was published by Milton Bradley for the TI-99/4A in 1980. In 1982's "Snake" for the BBC Micro, by Dave Bresnen, the snake is controlled using the left and right arrow keys relative to the direction it is heading in. The snake increases in speed as it gets longer, and there's only one life; one mistake means starting from the beginning.
"Nibbler" (1982) is a single-player arcade game where the snake fits tightly into a maze, and the gameplay is faster than most snake designs. Another single-player version is part of the 1982 "Tron" arcade game, themed with light cycles. It reinvigorated the snake concept, and many subsequent games borrowed the light cycle theme.
Starting in 1991, "Nibbles" was included with MS-DOS for a period of time as a QBasic sample program. In 1992, "Rattler Race" was released as part of the second "Microsoft Entertainment Pack". It adds enemy snakes to the familiar apple-eating gameplay.
"Meerca Chase" is a snake game available on Neopets.
"Slither.io" (2016) and "Little Big Snake" are popular multiplayer interpretations of "Snake."
In 2017, Google released their version of the game as an easter egg, whenever the phrases "snake", "play snake", "snake game" and "snake video game" are typed.
Nokia phones.
Nokia puts "Snake" on the majority of their phones, using the actual name "Snake":
Legacy.
In 1996, "Next Generation" ranked it number 41 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time", citing the need for both quick reactions and forethought. Due to the game's numerous incarnations, in lieu of a title they listed it as "Snake game" in quotes.
On November 29, 2012, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City announced that the Nokia port of Snake was one of 40 games that the curators wished to add to the museum's collection in the future.