The Snake variety of games originated with the arcade game Hustle, released by Gremlin in 1977. [1] An early (maybe the first) home microcomputer version of Snake was programmed in 1979 by F. Seger (Germany) on the TRS-80 computer, and was followed shortly afterwards by a version for the Commodore VIC-20 called Worms. A microcomputer port of Hustler was released by Milton Bradley for the TI-99/4A in 1980. [2]

      Some better-known versions include the Neopets example, which is known as "Meerca Chase" or "Meerca Chase 2". A popular variant called Nibbles was also included with MS-DOS for a period of time.

      An analog joystick-controlled variant of Snake, called Anaconda, was included as a hidden minigame in TimeSplitters 2.

      The version included on the Nokia N70 mobile phone is a 3D version, with level goals.

Game Play

      The player controls a long, thin creature, resembling a snake, which roams around on a bordered plane, picking up food (or some other item), trying to avoid hitting its own tail or the "walls" that surround the playing area. Each time the snake eats a piece of food, its tail grows longer, making the game increasingly difficult. The user controls the direction of the snake's head (up, down, left, or right), and the snake's body follows. The player cannot stop the snake from moving while the game is in progress. The simplicity of the game is what makes the game ideal for mobile phones.