Guide
Snake and Apple: the drum bar, stamina, and how to keep enough apples
You don't move a snake here, you defend an orchard from them. How the beat bar scores, what a swipe costs, when the serpents fall asleep, and what each Orchard shop item does.
Snake and Apple turns the usual snake game around: apples are scattered across the field and serpents slither in to eat them. You keep them away with a drum and with swipes. You can also play it in your browser.
How a level is won
Each level has a timer. When it runs out, you clear the level only if both are true: at least the required number of apples is still on the field, and your score has reached the target. If the serpents eat every apple, the level ends at once. The levels never end, and each one adds a serpent:
| Level | Apples | Keep at least | Score target | Time | Serpents | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | 6 | 2 | 82 | 52 s | 1 | | 5 | 10 | 4 | 170 | 68 s | 5 | | 10 | 14 | 6 | 280 | 88 s | 10 |
The drum bar
A ball runs along the bar at the bottom. Tap the drum when it is inside the green zone. A hit scores 12 to 100 points, more the closer you are to the centre of the zone, and it pushes the serpents away from the apples.
- Perfect (close to the centre): the strongest push, +20 stamina, and the ball speeds up.
- Good: a weaker push and +12 stamina.
- Miss: the ball drops back to its slowest speed and the bar disappears for 3 laps, so no points and no pushes for a while.
After each hit the zone jumps to a new spot. Three Perfects in a row put every serpent to sleep for 4 seconds and give you 3 bonus charm taps: tap the field and the serpents are pushed away from that point. The streak breaks on a Good or a Miss, and also whenever the ball finishes a lap, so the three Perfects have to come quickly.
Swipes and stamina
Swipe across the field and every awake serpent turns and slithers in that direction for about 2 seconds. A swipe costs 10 stamina. You start a level with 70 out of 100, stamina refills slowly on its own, and drum hits refill it faster. With an empty bar, hit the drum before you swipe again.
Coins and the Orchard shop
Coins pop up on the field every 7 to 14 seconds and vanish after about 5 seconds, so tap them quickly. Clearing a level for the first time also pays a reward that grows with the level; replaying a cleared level pays nothing extra.
| Item | Price | Effect | |---|---|---| | Apple veil | 70 | apples can't be eaten for 9 s | | Slow drum | 75 | all serpents slow down for 6 s | | Noise horn | 85 | scares every serpent away at once | | Sleep bell | 90 | all serpents sleep, plus 3 bonus charm taps | | Fence posts | 95 | 3 fences block paths for 11 s | | Mirror confuse | 100 | serpents get confused for 7 s | | Cloak cover | 110 | apples are covered for 8 s |
Quick tips
- The score target matters as much as the apples: keep drumming even when the serpents are far away.
- Save swipes for a serpent that is about to reach an apple; a missed drum hit is cheaper to recover from than an empty stamina bar.
- From level 5 on, the serpents come from many sides at once. That is where the Sleep bell and the Noise horn pay off.
More on the Snake and Apple page, or play now.
