Snake

Being pretty much THE reason to own a Nokia phone in the 90's, Snake has truly earned itself a place in gaming history. When it comes to the gameplay, the mechanics are simple; you are tasked with directing a moving snake around an enclosed arena so that it can eat and grow without running into a wall or its own grotesquely long body.

The game starts out pretty easy, as the snake is short enough to be very easy to dodge. However, as it progresses, more strategy is required to avoid hitting the snake's tail while still traversing the small playing field. That mechanic is what I think makes Snake unique amongst other arcade-style games. Games like Tetris or Pac-Man force players to act faster by increasing the game's speed. Snake forces the players to act faster by punishing their success with a longer snake. The speed never changes, but the playing field effectively shrinks.

I never really spend a lot of time playing Snake in any one play session, but the intelligent game design makes this an easy and enjoyable game to return to, especially now that it is conveniently built into the Google Play Games app. If you want something a little different than Google's cartoon snake, countless clones are available all over the web and both major app stores, so it shouldn't be too hard to find a version you prefer.

The game is available for Android here (as of 9/1/20): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.play.games&hl=en_US

The game can be played online here (as of 9/1/20): https://www.google.com/fbx?fbx=snake_arcade