Posted: Jan 17, 2014 A tabletop version of the classic Snake game, but using dice. Because why not?

This one probably goes in the "so obvious, somebody must've thought to do this already" category. Did you know you can play an analog game of Snake with a set of dice?

Fig 181.1 - Snake Dice.

Snake runs on a very simple set of rules that allows you to play it solo. Actually, there's only two rules. To move, grab the tail die and move it to the head of the snake, flush against an empty size. When you "eat" a fruit, rather than taking the tail die, just add a brand new die to the head of the snake.

To add another fruit to the table randomly, just roll the fruit die and play it where it lands. Try to eat as many fruits as you can without running into your ever growing tail (or any obstacles you may add to the field).

Got an epic ton of dice in two or more colors? Play multiplayer, with each snake racing for multiple fruits around the board. Winner is the first to 20 fruits. For extra complexity, players can run into their own tails, severing it. He loses as many fruits as segments of tail he severed, and these new fruits are then rerolled back into the playing field for both players to fight over.

Fig 181.2 - Tron Dice.

You can also play the light cycle duel from Tron. Place two different colored dice at either end of the table. Just add a new die of your color to the head of your snake. Then your opponent adds one to his. The tail remains for the entire game, with the object being trying to maneuver your opponent into a wall or tail before you do.

Fig 181.3 - Snake Dice, Part 2: The Revenge.

Feel like flush sides is too restricting for a game of Snake? Try connecting opposite corners to create a snake that can slither in a more freeform way.

- This idea came to me when coming up with units for the previous entry, [#180 - Everything Dice]. I thought about using an Anaconda as a unit type and realized you could move it by placing dice tail to head. Unfortunately, it did not fit in with the nature of the previous entry. You could not roll your snake's dice because you could not rebuild your snake exactly as it had been placed.

- I'm convinced that someone has done this before, but my Google-fu results was nothing but Snakes and Ladders. Screw ladders, man.

- I actually tried this one out using an old brick of dice. It's actually easier than playing Snake since it is now turn based and dexterity isn't an issue. I think it would be more challenging with additional obstacles to avoid, or even with opponent snakes.