Skein Snake

The kitchen garden behind the old brick wall has been left to the hedge, and every few seconds it takes another ring of soil. A snake that keeps eating keeps the beds open.

A snake game in a walled kitchen garden: eat apples, grow, and push back the hedge that closes in one ring at a time. Three gardens to open.

Your snake moves on its own through a 17 by 17 garden. Swipe in any direction, or tap the left or right half of the screen to turn left or right from the way it is heading; on a keyboard the arrow keys or WASD turn it. Turns wait in line, up to two, and each one is taken at the next cell, which lights up so you can see where the head will go. Every apple makes the snake one cell longer and a little faster. The hedge starts one ring in and closes another every few seconds, as the dial shows; the ring about to close goes dark with a bright edge, and a head still inside it when it closes ends the run. Every third apple pushes the hedge back one ring, and a gold pear that appears for six seconds now and then pushes it back at once. As the snake grows the hedge takes root: at lengths 12, 20, 28 and 36 a line of stakes marks a ring it can no longer be pushed past, and a push there adds 3 seconds to the dial instead. Running into the hedge or your own body ends the run, and so does the hedge reaching the fifth ring. Grow to 20, 30 and 40 for the three stars of a garden; reaching length 12 opens the next garden.