Snakes — 4×4 vs Ordenador
Snakes is a two-player game on a square grid. Red starts by laying a single egg (one square). From then on, each player places two squares per turn (Blue goes next).
When you fill a square:
- If it doesn't touch any end of your snakes, a new egg is born.
- If it touches the head or tail of one of your snakes, that snake grows to the new square (an egg becomes a 2-square snake).
- If it touches ends of two of your snakes, the one you modified last grows.
Your opponent's squares don't interact — they just take up space. The game ends when the board is full. The longest snake wins. Equal lengths means a draw.
Levels: 4×4 · 5×5 · 6×6.
Remember: except the first egg, each turn is TWO squares.
Serpientes works on planning ahead and spatial reasoning: since two squares are placed per turn, students learn to think one full turn in advance and to reserve room for their snake to grow.
Good discussion prompts: is it better to build one long snake or to block the opponent's? When is it worth starting a second egg? How does the parity of the empty squares affect who gets the last move?
4×4 — solved game
With perfect play the 4×4 board is a draw, but only if the first player (Red) opens on one of the four central cells. Opening on a corner or an edge loses by 1 (the opponent's longest snake ends one square longer). The first move decides the game.
| Red's opening | Result (perfect play) |
|---|---|
| Center (inner 2×2) | Draw (0) |
| Edge | Red loses by 1 (−1) |
| Corner | Red loses by 1 (−1) |
Parity. An N×N board has N² cells. Red plays 1 (the first egg) and then both sides play in pairs, so it pays to count the empty cells and work out who will make the last move — that final square can be the one that lets your snake outgrow your rival's.
History. Serpientes was created in 2019 by Georgy (Jorge) Nuzhdin Gelfand. The snake artwork was designed by Vanesa Edo Nevado.