Snake Pit © 2002 Tom Scutt/Gatehouse Games

Snake Pit
A tile-laying game of crazy snake building for 2-4 players

Assembly
Glue the front side of each counter sheet onto card. Wait for the glue to dry and cut round
the edge of the coloured area. Glue the correct back side to each tile sheet. Once dry, cut out the
tiles (if you look closely you’ll see the cutting marks). Each tile should have the mirror image of the
front on the back side.

Contents
54 double-sided snake tiles.
4 Snake Colour counters, 4 “2x” counters (used for variants).
These rules.
You will also need something to act as a screen for each player to hide his or her tiles.

Setup
Mix all the tiles together in a bag. Draw a tile from the bag and place it in the middle of the
playing area. Each player then takes five tiles and hides them behind his or her screen. Decide who
is going to start, play then proceeds clockwise round the table.

How to Play
On his or her turn, a player plays two tiles. Each tile played must connect orthogonally to a
tile already on the table. Tiles being played must also match colours on all edges to tiles already in
play. A player may not add a tail to a snake that already has a tail at the other end, and similarly
may not add a head to a snake that already has a head. It is also illegal to add a tile to the middle of
a snake that would result in a snake with two tails or two heads being formed. However, it is legal
to complete a ‘loop’ – i.e. a snake that joins to itself without a head or a tail.
After playing two tiles the player refills his or her hand to five by drawing tiles (without
looking!) from the bag. If a player cannot place a legal tile, they ‘pass’ and miss their turn. If they
can only place one tile then they do so, then refill their hand to five.
Once the tile-bag is empty, players no longer refill their hands, but continue to play until all
players have laid all their tiles or until all players have ‘passed’ because they cannot play.
The winner is the player with the highest score at the end of the game.

Scoring
A player scores whenever they lay a tile that completes a snake or a ‘loop’. They score 1
point for the first tile in the snake, 2 points for the second, 3 for the third and so on. So, the smallest
legal snake (a head joined directly to a tail) scores 3 points in total as it is formed from two tiles. If,
in laying a tile, a player simultaneously completes two snakes, they double their score for those
snakes. For example, a player who laid a tile which simultaneously completed a 3-tile-length and a
6-tile-length snake would receive (1+2+3) points for the 3 length snake and (1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8)
points for the 6-length one, the scores being doubled for a total score of (6+36)*2 = 84.

Tile Length Score Tile Length Score Tile Length Score

2 3 5 15 8 36
3 6 6 21 9 45
4 10 7 28 10 55

Snake Pit © 2002 Tom Scutt/Gatehouse Games

Snake Pit © 2002 Tom Scutt/Gatehouse Games
Example of Scoring
The player
plays this tile
first, scoring
no points, but
setting up for
the double
snake score on
the second They then
move. play this tile,
scoring 6*2 =
12 points for
the green
snake and
36*2 = 72
points for the
red snake, for
a total of 84.

Variants
A) Before the game, shuffle the four snakehead counters face down. Each player takes one
and keeps it hidden. If there are less than four players put the remaining counters away
without revealing them. Whenever a player scores a snake with the same colour as your
counter, you may reveal the counter to take the points for yourself instead. For the
remainder of the game you receive all points for snakes scored in that colour.
B) Before the game, shuffle the four snakehead counters face down. Each player takes one
and keeps it hidden. If there are less than four players put the remaining counters away
without revealing them. Whenever you score a snake with the same colour as your
counter, you may reveal the counter to gain double points for that snake. For the
remainder of the game you receive double points for all snakes you score in that colour.
C) Before the game each player takes one “2x” counter. At the end of your turn you may
place your “2x” counter on any tile. Any subsequent snakes that pass through this tile
score double. “2x” counters cannot be moved once placed.

Comments
Any feedback would be very much appreciated. Please send all comments to Tom Scutt at:
tom@gatehousegames.com or tom.scutt@virgin.net

Snake Pit © 2002 Tom Scutt/Gatehouse Games

Snake Pit © 2002 Tom Scutt/Gatehouse Games

Tile Sheet 1 – Front Side

Snake Pit © 2002 Tom Scutt/Gatehouse Games

Tile Sheet 1 – Back Side

Snake Pit © 2002 Tom Scutt/Gatehouse Games

Tile Sheet 2 – Front Side

Snake Pit © 2002 Tom Scutt/Gatehouse Games

Tile Sheet 2 – Back Side