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Slither.io is a massively multiplayer online 2D Top-Down View action game developed by Lowtechenterprises, inspired by (and named after) the online game Agar.io.

The player is given control of a snake (somewhat resembling a googly-eyed gummy worm) or, rather, control over the direction in which the snake moves after spawning. The space into which the snake appears features masses of glowing neon dots similarly sprouting randomly into existence. Your snake grows longer and larger with each dot that it intersects with and consumes. Also inhabiting this space are roughly 500 similar snakes controlled by other human players.note  Any snake that collides head-on with another snake's body dies; its body becomes a bunch of dots that can be scarfed down by the survivors. Crashing into the circular wall which surrounds the play-field is also fatal, but in that the snake just disappears. The gameplay is therefore a Rising Up The Food Chain Game where trapping other players takes the place of the eating mechanic: getting larger makes it easier to envelop and trap players.

This game can be played for free here, and similarly to Agar.io, it is also available on mobile devices.


Slither.io provides examples of:

  • Anyone Can Die: Every snake, regardless of size, can die instantly with just one bad move. Surviving and growing as long as possible are your main priorities.
  • Big Eater: If you happen to be present during the kill of a particularly large rival snake, your snake can become this, and can massively increase in size and length.
  • Boring, but Practical: You can increase your score safely and reliably by staying away from enemy snakes and just patiently gobbling up the free blobs, but where's the fun in that? Much more fun to attack the other snakes, get into the big melees and race against the other snakes for the big meal whenever a big guy dies.
  • Bowdlerise: Attempts have been made at this; in the names of snakes, swear words or words that are generally inappropriate are modified; for example, "penis" is replaced with "cactus". And so, of course, some players create an actual penis using ASCII characters.
  • Collision Damage: As noted, if a snake collides head on with either another snake's body or the boundaries, they will perish, dropping all of the dots they collected. These can be then collected by other snakes. Interestingly enough, unlike the original Snake game, you can cross over yourself without dying; see Everyone Chasing You below.
  • Cosmetic Award: A player can unlock custom skins by sharing the game on social media; examples include an American flag motif, and various YouTube game-reviewer personalities. (Reddit mascot Snoo was an option briefly.)
  • David vs. Goliath: No matter how big you get, you die if you hit even the smallest snake. Small snakes are a possibly the biggest danger to huge snakes, because of the latter's difficult mobility.
  • Deader than Dead: See Deadly Walls below.
  • Deadly Walls: There's red border enclosing the entire playing area. Colliding into it doesn't just kill your current snake - it completely vanishes, leaving no mass behind that other players could consume.
  • Disaster Dominoes: The feeding frenzy that generally ensues after a large snake dies often leads to a chain of additional casualties.
  • Endless Game: You slither around collecting dots until you crash into something or quit.
  • Everyone Chasing You: Potentially everyone's an enemy, and may try to kill your snake.
  • Giant Mook: Players can become this relative to smaller snakes, once they consume enough dots.
  • Griefer: You'll be surprised at the amount of players who actively hunts larger snakes just for the heck of it.
  • Hello, [Insert Name Here]: Gives the same liberties as Agar.io, but with some restraints. See Bowdlerise above.
  • Mini Map: A small map showing the player's location and snake concentration is on the bottom-right corner of the screen.
  • Nintendo Hard: Having to deal with several large snakes in close proximity requires careful timing, reflexes, and luck. Firmly averted with the Facebook version, which is so crippled it's essentially a different game.
  • Nitro Boost: Snakes can travel faster through boosting by holding down the primary mouse-button. However, boosting snakes release snake droppings and lose mass. The droppings are themselves food for snakes, leading to routine references to eating poop in snake names.
  • No Plot? No Problem!: There's no reason for this enclosed world of endless glowing food and snakes to exist, and no player cares.
  • Patriotic Fervor: Like in Agar.io, many players name themselves after their countries, and then race to the top with the goal of ensuring everyone sees its name on the leaderboard. Unlike Agar.io, Lowtechenterprises chose to meet this demand through making custom skins for just about every flag they could think of. You'll likely see snakes with US and British flag skins, blue snakes littered with EU's yellow stars, black-red-and-yellow German snakes, and even green, yellow and yellow-stars-on-blue Brazilian snakes.
    • On the flip side, only a fraction of players who use flag skins also name themselves after their country (or even the current leader of said country), preferring their own handles. Though, some may combine a flag skin with the name of whatever media they favour, thus killing two birds with one stone.
  • Properly Paranoid: Is that other snake just wandering around collecting dots, or actively stalking you to jump out at you at the right time?
    • If you're a big snake, there's a chance of one or more small snakes being following you while waiting you to crash and, due to your size, you will not be able to see them if they are behind you.
  • Rising Up The Food Chain Game: Trapping other players takes the place of the eating mechanic in this type of game: getting larger makes it easier to envelop and trap players.
  • Scunthorpe Problem: Before late April 2016 (in which the profanity filter was removed entirely), trying to make your name "Scunthorpe" will get it filtered to "Srunthorpe", along with pretty much any other word with an accidental profanity in it.
  • Slasher Smile: The smiling green snake, especially when it's circling you or devouring your remains.
  • Shout-Out: As noted above, you can unlock a skin modeled after Jacksepticeye's logo, along with other YouTubers who have promoted the game.
  • Sphere Eyes: The snakes all come equipped with a pair, except for a single-eyed green snake.
  • Spoonerism: Appears in nicknames to avoid censorship:
    • I have a Pet Wussy
    • Tuck Frump
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Hit any snake, regardless of size, and you die.
  • A Winner Is You: Your only reward for nurturing the biggest snake into existence is seeing your chosen name displayed on an in-game leaderboard.

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