Snail Garden

Snail Garden is an original snail game and a calm path puzzle: guide a hungry garden snail across a grid, eat every leaf in a single unbroken route, and finish on the flower. The catch is the slime. Every square the snail leaves behind is coated in a shiny trail, and the snail can’t cross it. Play this snail game free in your browser, with no download or sign-up, on a computer, tablet or phone.

How to play

Each level is a small garden laid out as a grid. Most squares hold a leaf, a few hold rocks, one holds the snail and one holds the flower.

• Move the snail one square at a time: up, down, left or right. There are no diagonal moves.
• The snail eats the leaf on every square it enters, and leaves a slime trail behind it. It can never move back onto a slimed square.
• Rocks block the way, so you have to route around them.
• The flower stays closed until every leaf has been eaten. Once the last leaf is gone, move onto the flower to clear the level.
• If the snail runs out of moves before the board is clear, you’re stuck. Undo a few moves or reset the level and try another route.

In puzzle terms, every level asks you to find a path that visits each open square exactly once, a one-stroke puzzle that mathematicians call a Hamiltonian path. Every one of the 20 levels has been checked by a solver, so each garden has at least one route that works.

Controls

• Keyboard: arrow keys or WASD move the snail. Z or Backspace undoes a move, and R resets the level.
• Mouse or touch: tap or click any square next to the snail to move there, or press and drag to slide the snail across several squares in one swipe. Dragging back onto the previous square takes the move back.
• Rewind: tap any square on the slime trail to rewind the snail to that point.
• Buttons: Undo, Reset, and Prev and Next to switch between levels you have unlocked.

Small dots show which squares the snail can move to next. Your cleared levels are saved in your browser, so you can close the tab and continue where you left off. The game starts with small 4 by 4 gardens and works up to 8 by 8 gardens with rocks.

Tips for solving every garden

• Start with the edges and corners. A corner square has only two neighbors. If you pass next to a corner without eating it, you may never be able to come back for it. Clear corners as soon as your route reaches them.
• Watch for dead ends. A leaf with only one open neighbor left has to be the last square before the flower, or the snail will get trapped there. If two such leaves appear, the current route can’t work, so undo.
• Think about the flower early. The snail must end on the flower, so plan the final few squares before you get there. Leave a clean lane that leads into it.
• Sweep in rows or columns. Snaking back and forth across a garden, like mowing a lawn, clears big open areas without leaving stray leaves behind.
• Use rocks as walls. Rocks split the garden into rooms. Clear one room fully before you leave it, because the exit square is often the only way back in.
• Undo is free. There’s no move limit and no timer, so experiment. Tap back along the trail to try a different turn at any point.

FAQ

Is this snail game free?

Yes. Snail Garden is completely free to play in your browser with no account, no install and no time limit.

Can every level be solved?

Yes. All 20 gardens were verified with a solver, so every one has at least one path that eats every leaf and ends on the flower. Some levels have several solutions.

Why can’t my snail move onto the flower?

The flower only opens once every leaf on the board has been eaten. The counter at the top shows how many leaves are left.

Does it save my progress?

Yes. Cleared levels and your current level are saved in your browser. Clearing a level unlocks the next one, and you can replay any unlocked level with the Prev and Next buttons.

Does it work on a phone or Chromebook?

Yes. On a touchscreen you can tap squares or swipe the snail along a route, and on a Chromebook or laptop you can use the arrow keys.

Enjoy grid puzzles with a creature at the center? Try steering the classic Snake, or find your way out in our Maze game.