Snaker

Description 
Miss playing the classic game Snake, but don't miss the lonely aspect of it? Want to play a game that you can play with just about anyone? Snaker is the game for you! Snaker brings the classic game of Snake onto a piece of paper with small twist that makes it a fun and easy, yet competitive, game. Show everyone else that you are the better snake!

Materials

• Pencil
• Paper
• Two players
• One will be "Player X" and the other will be "Player O" 

Goal

•  To capture more point pieces than your opponent 
• If both players have equal amounts of point pieces, then the player with the longest snake wins

Set-up

• Draw a 9x9 grid

• Player X starts at D6 and Player O starts at F4
• The horizontal row are the letters and the vertical rows are the numbers, similar to chess

• Player X puts one point piece in columns A, B, and C and Player O puts one point piece in columns G, H, and I
•   Each point piece must be at least two spaces away from each other in all directions

Gameplay

• Each player moves one space per turn
• The space that the player moves must be connected to their previous space
• Diagonal movements are not permitted
• Players cannot move onto a space that is already claimed
• If no legal moves can be made by a player, then that player must wait until no legal moves can be made by the other player 

Reflection
This version of Snaker is a definite improvement from my last version. There were two main problems with my older version: 1) It was easy to trap the other player because each player were allowed three moves per turn, and 2) The game became uninteresting because players would make the same moves for every game. To solve these two issues, I changed it to so each player are only allowed to move once per turn, and that they start near the center of the grid. By starting near the center, rather than in a corner, players have four directions they can move to at the start, rather than just two.

I experimented with many different mechanics for this game, such as growing the snakes only when a point piece is captured, rather than growing each turn. With this mechanic, it added another interesting strategy to the game: blocking the back of your opponent's snake so that it cannot grow. I also tested the idea of having pre-built 3x3 board pieces that players can place to make a 9x9 grid with the point pieces being assigned to certain spaces. However, these two ideas are hard to implement with only pencil and paper and I wanted Snaker to be a game people can play anywhere with these two materials.

My game can be played by a wide range of people, but it is best suited for people who like to put a little more effort into their strategies. Snaker is not a game where you can make the same moves over and over again; players must think about what the other player is thinking, and react accordingly.