Snake
The Nokia classic, ten kilobytes of it: eat, grow, and run out of room to put yourself.
Snake predates the phone it became famous on, but the 1997 Nokia 6110 version is the one everybody means. You steer a line that grows by one segment every time it eats, and the only way to lose is to run into a wall or into yourself.
The cruelty of it is that success is the hazard. Every point makes the board smaller, so the late game is navigating a maze made entirely out of your own past decisions. Experienced players stop chasing food directly and start laying the body down in neat lanes so there is always a way back out.
Controls
Arrow keys to change direction
Tips
- Lay the body down in tidy rows rather than loops. A tangled snake traps itself long before the board is full.
- Take food on the way past rather than turning for it. Unnecessary turns are what eat up space.
- Always know your exit before you enter a gap. There is no reverse.