Controls

Snakoff is made for a phone first, so steering is designed for a thumb. There are three ways to steer on a touch screen, and a keyboard works on a computer. You can switch at any time in Settings, under How to play → How you steer.

The three touch schemes

Swipe (the default): swipe anywhere on the screen in the direction you want to go. A swipe registers as soon as your finger has moved a few pixels, not when you lift it, so turns are fast. Keep your finger down and swipe again to turn again: every change of direction in one gesture is a new turn.
Buttons: four arrow buttons sit under the game, laid out like arrow keys. They never cover the arena.
Tap: tap the left or right half of the screen to turn that way, relative to where the snake is heading. Two taps on the same side make a U-turn.

Whatever you choose, the page stops scrolling and zooming while a run is on, so a swipe never moves the screen instead of the snake.

Playing on a computer

Snakoff plays in any modern browser, on a desktop or a laptop too. The arrow keys and W, A, S and D steer the snake in every scheme. You can also drag with the mouse, which works like a swipe.

Fast turns and U-turns

Snakoff remembers up to two turns ahead. If you swipe up and then left quickly, both turns happen, one after the other, on the next moves. That is how you make a tight U-turn into the next lane at speed: two quick swipes, without waiting for the first turn to finish.

A few habits help:

Make each swipe short and clear. A long diagonal drag can read as two turns.
Plan the next turn early. The snake speeds up during a run, so late turns get harder.
For about a second after Go, a crash is forgiven. Use it to settle your thumb, not to take risks.

Settings that help

Colour-blind colours: a high-contrast snake and food.
Reduce motion: no shaking, popping or sliding.
Sound and Music: effects and vibration, and the background music, each with its own switch.

Your choice is saved on the device, so a phone can use swipe while a laptop sticks to the keyboard. If you are not sure which scheme suits you, try each one in Practice. It is open any time, and nothing there counts, so you can learn the feel before your next run that counts.

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