The rules of Snails

🏆 The goal

Teams of snails take turns. The last team with a snail still alive wins the game.

⏱️ A turn

• On your turn, one of your snails plays (an arrow shows which). Your snails take turns.
• You have 45 seconds (adjustable) to move, pick a weapon and fire.
• After firing, you get 3 seconds to take cover (5 with dynamite).
• Your turn also ends if your snail gets hurt.
• Movement tools (slime rope, propeller, parachute, girder) do not end your turn: you can still fire afterwards.

❤️ Damage

• Each snail has 100 health points (adjustable). Explosions hurt more at the centre than at the edge.
• A long fall costs health.
• At zero, the snail explodes and leaves its empty shell behind: watch out, neighbours.
• A snail that falls in the water is out, whatever its health.

🐌 The shell

Instead of playing, a snail can hide in its shell. Its turn ends and it stays inside until its team's next turn. It then takes only half the damage, but the slightest blast sends it rolling far away, sometimes into the water.

🎲 Game modes

• Classic: the last team standing wins.
• King of the hill: a golden zone marks the top; every team with a snail on it at the end of a turn scores a point. 10 points to win, or be the last team standing.
• One weapon: one weapon is drawn for everyone; only the slime rope and the parachute remain on top.
• Fortress: each team starts in its own camp, behind a tall wall of earth to break through.

🌦️ Weather

• Random or set in the settings. Rain: the ground is slippery, a pushed snail slides a long way. Storm: the wind blows twice as hard. Night: you only see around your snails, shots and explosions.

🌬️ Wind and water

• The wind changes every turn. It pushes the bazooka rocket and the parachute. Its gauge shows direction and strength.
• Sudden death: from turn 30 (adjustable), the water rises a little every turn.

🎁 Crates

• Now and then, a crate floats down on a parachute. A snail only has to touch it to pick it up.
• Weapon crate (wooden, with a ?): one round of a rare weapon for the team of the snail that grabs it.
• Health crate (white with a red cross): 25 extra health points.
• Explosions blow crates up, and a weapon crate explodes in turn.

⚙️ Settings and maps

• The "Game settings" panel picks the map, the scenery (garden, vegetable patch, snow, cave, beach, moon, chocolate, sweets, ice floe, autumn, jungle, graveyard, Christmas), turn length, health, ammo, crates and sudden death. Online, the room host sets them.
• Map of the day: the same map for everyone, renewed every day at midnight (UTC).
• My drawn map: "Draw my map" opens the editor, where you draw the ground with your finger or the mouse. It is played against the computer, on the same screen or online (the host picks it in the lobby). "Share" gives a link and a code to send; "Open a code" loads a friend's map.
• In the cave, the ceiling blocks the anvil rain.
• On the beach, soft sand digs wider with every blast. On the moon, everything falls half as fast and there is no wind: shots fly much further. In chocolate land runs a river of melted chocolate; among the sweets, donut-shaped islands float above strawberry syrup. The ice floe breaks into floating blocks of ice, and the steep jungle is riddled with caves.

🐌 My snails

On the home screen, "My snails" gives your team a hat and your snails names. Online, the other players see them.

🎮 Controls

🤖 Playing alone

The "Vs computer" tab puts your team against one, two or three computer teams. On easy it aims roughly, on medium it hits often and moves around, on hard it reads the wind and the bounces almost perfectly. It uses the whole arsenal: traps, hits that push into the water and, when stuck, the jetpack, the slime rope or the teleporter.

🎯 Training: six trials to learn (bazooka, grenades, slime rope, jetpack, girders, pushing into the water). Targets do not fight back; a gold, silver or bronze medal depending on shots, time or turns.

🎃 Halloween: from 20 October to 2 November, three missions in the graveyard and three seasonal hats, which you keep afterwards. 🎄 Christmas: from 1 December to 6 January, three missions in the snowy village, three hats, gift-wrapped crates and “Jingle Bells” as music.

⭐ Campaign: twenty missions, each with its scenery, weather and goal (win, knock out the crowned chief, drown, hold out, set weapons). A mission earns up to 3 stars: the goal, speed, no snail lost. One star opens the next mission.

📅 Daily challenge: your four snails against the medium computer, on the map of the day, with no crates. Win in as few turns as you can. Only your first game of the day is ranked (leaving it counts as an attempt); the next ones are practice. The server replays every game to check it.

🌐 Playing online

• Quick match: the game finds you an opponent. If nobody is around, you can play the computer while you wait.
• Room for friends: create a room and share the link, 2 to 4 teams. The host can add computers to fill the seats, then starts the game.
• If your connection drops or you reload the page, you get back into the game where you left it. In live games, while you are away, the computer plays for you.
• Two versus two: a box in the lobby. The 1st and 3rd players team up against the 2nd and 4th; teammates take turns.
• Correspondence: the "Pace" setting in the lobby. The game waits for whoever has the turn, for up to a week, and everyone plays when they can. "🔔 Notify me" sends a phone notification when it is your turn (on iPhone, once the game is installed). Your ongoing games are on the home screen.
• The 😀 button sends an emoji or a quick phrase ("Well played!", "Missed!"…), shown above your snail on every player's screen, each in their own language.
• Spectators: opening the link of a full room or a started game lets you watch without playing.
• Tournament: "Host a tournament" gives a link for 3 to 8 players. The bracket is drawn at random, each match is one against one, live or by correspondence, and the winner goes through to the next round until the final.
• Leaderboard: every online game between at least two humans counts, by player name.

🏆 Trophies, replay and sharing

• 23 trophies reward your feats (big damage, drownings, wins…). They are kept on this device; the 🏆 button on the home screen shows them.
• Trophies and campaign stars unlock hats and shells, to pick in "My snails".
• Badges: fifteen counters (drownings, wins, damage, challenges, tournaments…) with four tiers, from bronze to diamond. An earned badge can be put on show: it appears next to your name online. The same window shows your statistics.
• At the end of a game, "Watch the best turn" replays it in slow motion, and "Share" makes a picture of the result with the game's link.

♿ Accessibility

The "Accessibility" panel on the home screen sets the text size, high contrast, click to fire (one press starts the charge, the next one fires), reduced motion, and your own key for each action.

📲 Installing the game

On Android or a computer, "Install the game" adds it like an app. On iPhone: tap Share, then "Add to Home Screen". Once installed, playing the computer and on the same screen works without a connection.