I remember a long time ago having an old mobile phone which had a game on it which I believe was called something like "Snake" or "Snakes" and it was basically you get to change the direction of the snake with the arrow keys, the snake cannot touch itself (or game over), but if it touches the edges of the map it will simply appear at the other side. The aim of the game was to get the snake to eat food, but with each bit of food (every time it ate some some more would appear somewhere else, but normally one at a time) the snake would get a little bit longer making it harder to play the game.

I'm sure that you will all be familiar with this game, so I was wondering (as I miss this game and can only find odd 3D versions) if there is a version of this game in Terminal? I was hoping it would stick to the original and would go something along the lines of ASCII perhaps?

I am running Ubuntu GNOME 16.04.1 with GNOME 3.20, is there such a free application in the official repositories (which is where I would prefer it to come from)?

3 Answers

", is there such a free application in the official repositories (which is where I would prefer it to come from)?"

First there is nsnake that should meet your need exactly

sudo apt-get install nsnake

Two more I found are snake4 this opens in a new window though, so not a terminal game and gnibbles but I could not get it to run.

Centipede

The game is called centipede but it's website is no longer being maintained. This is a bash game requiring no downloads and an interesting study for those interested in bash scripts.

Options

You can change the size of the screen to make it smaller and more challenging by changing these variables:

LASTCOL=40 # Last col of game area
LASTROW=20 # Last row of game area

Check out options for getting "pretty characters":

# Prettier characters but not supported
# by all termtypes/locales
#SNAKECHAR="\0256" # Character to use for snake
#WALLCHAR="\0244" # Character to use for wall
#APPLECHAR="\0362" # Character to use for apples
#
# Normal boring ASCII Chars
SNAKECHAR="@" # Character to use for snake
WALLCHAR="X" # Character to use for wall
APPLECHAR="o" # Character to use for apples

Remove the comment from the first three code lines and add a comment (#) to the last three code lines.

Complete bash code

Here's the complete code:

#!/bin/bash
#
# Centipede game
#
# v2.0
#
# Author:
#
# Functions
drawborder() { # Draw top tput setf 6 tput cup $FIRSTROW $FIRSTCOL x=$FIRSTCOL while [ "$x" -le "$LASTCOL" ]; do printf %b "$WALLCHAR" x=$(( $x + 1 )); done # Draw sides x=$FIRSTROW while [ "$x" -le "$LASTROW" ]; do tput cup $x $FIRSTCOL; printf %b "$WALLCHAR" tput cup $x $LASTCOL; printf %b "$WALLCHAR" x=$(( $x + 1 )); done # Draw bottom tput cup $LASTROW $FIRSTCOL x=$FIRSTCOL while [ "$x" -le "$LASTCOL" ]; do printf %b "$WALLCHAR" x=$(( $x + 1 )); done tput setf 9
}
apple() { # Pick coordinates within the game area APPLEX=$[( $RANDOM % ( $[ $AREAMAXX - $AREAMINX ] + 1 ) ) + $AREAMINX ] APPLEY=$[( $RANDOM % ( $[ $AREAMAXY - $AREAMINY ] + 1 ) ) + $AREAMINY ]
}
drawapple() { # Check we haven't picked an occupied space LASTEL=$(( ${#LASTPOSX[@]} - 1 )) x=0 apple while [ "$x" -le "$LASTEL" ]; do if [ "$APPLEX" = "${LASTPOSX[$x]}" ] && [ "$APPLEY" = "${LASTPOSY[$x]}" ]; then # Invalid coords... in use x=0 apple else x=$(( $x + 1 )) fi done tput setf 4 tput cup $APPLEY $APPLEX printf %b "$APPLECHAR" tput setf 9
}
growsnake() { # Pad out the arrays with oldest position 3 times to make snake bigger LASTPOSX=( ${LASTPOSX[0]} ${LASTPOSX[0]} ${LASTPOSX[0]} ${LASTPOSX[@]} ) LASTPOSY=( ${LASTPOSY[0]} ${LASTPOSY[0]} ${LASTPOSY[0]} ${LASTPOSY[@]} ) RET=1 while [ "$RET" -eq "1" ]; do apple RET=$? done drawapple
}
move() { case "$DIRECTION" in u) POSY=$(( $POSY - 1 ));; d) POSY=$(( $POSY + 1 ));; l) POSX=$(( $POSX - 1 ));; r) POSX=$(( $POSX + 1 ));; esac # Collision detection ( sleep $DELAY && kill -ALRM $$ ) & if [ "$POSX" -le "$FIRSTCOL" ] || [ "$POSX" -ge "$LASTCOL" ] ; then tput cup $(( $LASTROW + 1 )) 0 stty echo echo " GAME OVER! You hit a wall!" gameover elif [ "$POSY" -le "$FIRSTROW" ] || [ "$POSY" -ge "$LASTROW" ] ; then tput cup $(( $LASTROW + 1 )) 0 stty echo echo " GAME OVER! You hit a wall!" gameover fi # Get Last Element of Array ref LASTEL=$(( ${#LASTPOSX[@]} - 1 )) #tput cup $ROWS 0 #printf "LASTEL: $LASTEL" x=1 # set starting element to 1 as pos 0 should be undrawn further down (end of tail) while [ "$x" -le "$LASTEL" ]; do if [ "$POSX" = "${LASTPOSX[$x]}" ] && [ "$POSY" = "${LASTPOSY[$x]}" ]; then tput cup $(( $LASTROW + 1 )) 0 echo " GAME OVER! YOU ATE YOURSELF!" gameover fi x=$(( $x + 1 )) done # clear the oldest position on screen tput cup ${LASTPOSY[0]} ${LASTPOSX[0]} printf " " # truncate position history by 1 (get rid of oldest) LASTPOSX=( `echo "${LASTPOSX[@]}" | cut -d " " -f 2-` $POSX ) LASTPOSY=( `echo "${LASTPOSY[@]}" | cut -d " " -f 2-` $POSY ) tput cup 1 10 #echo "LASTPOSX array ${LASTPOSX[@]} LASTPOSY array ${LASTPOSY[@]}" tput cup 2 10 echo "SIZE=${#LASTPOSX[@]}" # update position history (add last to highest val) LASTPOSX[$LASTEL]=$POSX LASTPOSY[$LASTEL]=$POSY # plot new position tput setf 2 tput cup $POSY $POSX printf %b "$SNAKECHAR" tput setf 9 # Check if we hit an apple if [ "$POSX" -eq "$APPLEX" ] && [ "$POSY" -eq "$APPLEY" ]; then growsnake updatescore 10 fi
}
updatescore() { SCORE=$(( $SCORE + $1 )) tput cup 2 30 printf "SCORE: $SCORE"
}
randomchar() { [ $# -eq 0 ] && return 1 n=$(( ($RANDOM % $#) + 1 )) eval DIRECTION=\${$n}
}
gameover() { tput cvvis stty echo sleep $DELAY trap exit ALRM tput cup $ROWS 0 exit
}
###########################END OF FUNCS##########################
# Prettier characters but not supported
# by all termtypes/locales
#SNAKECHAR="\0256" # Character to use for snake
#WALLCHAR="\0244" # Character to use for wall
#APPLECHAR="\0362" # Character to use for apples
#
# Normal boring ASCII Chars
SNAKECHAR="@" # Character to use for snake
WALLCHAR="X" # Character to use for wall
APPLECHAR="o" # Character to use for apples
#
SNAKESIZE=3 # Initial Size of array aka snake
DELAY=0.2 # Timer delay for move function
FIRSTROW=3 # First row of game area
FIRSTCOL=1 # First col of game area
LASTCOL=40 # Last col of game area
LASTROW=20 # Last row of game area
AREAMAXX=$(( $LASTCOL - 1 )) # Furthest right play area X
AREAMINX=$(( $FIRSTCOL + 1 )) # Furthest left play area X
AREAMAXY=$(( $LASTROW - 1 )) # Lowest play area Y
AREAMINY=$(( $FIRSTROW + 1)) # Highest play area Y
ROWS=`tput lines` # Rows in terminal
ORIGINX=$(( $LASTCOL / 2 )) # Start point X - use bc as it will round
ORIGINY=$(( $LASTROW / 2 )) # Start point Y - use bc as it will round
POSX=$ORIGINX # Set POSX to start pos
POSY=$ORIGINY # Set POSY to start pos
# Pad out arrays
ZEROES=`echo |awk '{printf("%0"'"$SNAKESIZE"'"d\n",$1)}' | sed 's/0/0 /g'`
LASTPOSX=( $ZEROES ) # Pad with zeroes to start with
LASTPOSY=( $ZEROES ) # Pad with zeroes to start with
SCORE=0 # Starting score
clear
echo "
Keys: W - UP S - DOWN A - LEFT D - RIGHT X - QUIT
If characters do not display properly, consider changing
SNAKECHAR, APPLECHAR and WALLCHAR variables in script.
Characters supported depend upon your terminal setup.
Press Return to continue
"
stty -echo
tput civis
read RTN
tput setb 0
tput bold
clear
drawborder
updatescore 0
# Draw the first apple on the screen
# (has collision detection to ensure we don't draw
# over snake)
drawapple
sleep 1
trap move ALRM
# Pick a random direction to start moving in
DIRECTIONS=( u d l r )
randomchar "${DIRECTIONS[@]}"
sleep 1
move
while :
do read -s -n 1 key case "$key" in w) DIRECTION="u";; s) DIRECTION="d";; a) DIRECTION="l";; d) DIRECTION="r";; x) tput cup $COLS 0 echo "Quitting..." tput cvvis stty echo tput reset printf "Bye Bye!\n" trap exit ALRM sleep $DELAY exit 0 ;; esac
done

There is a collection of command-line games called bsdgames.

You can install it by typing sudo apt-get install bsdgames or sudo apt install bsdgames.

After succesfull installation, you can launch game from this list (just by typing its name into terminal)

adventure (6) - an exploration game
sol (6) - a collection of card games which are easy to play with the aid of a mouse.
arithmetic (6) - quiz on simple arithmetic
atc (6) - air traffic controller game
backgammon (6) - the game of backgammon
battlestar (6) - a tropical adventure game
bcd (6) - "reformat input as punch cards, paper tape or morse code"
boggle (6) - word search game
caesar (6) - decrypt caesar ciphers
canfield (6) - the solitaire card game canfield
cfscores (6) - the solitaire card game canfield
chkfont (6) - checks figlet 2.0 and up font files for format errors
countmail (6) - be obnoxious about how much mail you have
cowsay (6) - configurable speaking/thinking cow (and a bit more)
cribbage (6) - the card game cribbage
dab (6) - Dots and Boxes game
espdiff (6) - apply the appropriate transformation to a set of patches
figlet-figlet (6) - display large characters made up of ordinary screen characters
figlist (6) - lists figlet fonts and control files
fortune (6) - print a random, hopefully interesting, adage
gnome-mahjongg (6) - A matching game played with Mahjongg tiles
gnome-mines (6) - The popular logic puzzle minesweeper
gnome-sudoku (6) - puzzle game for the popular Japanese sudoku logic puzzle
go-fish (6) - play "Go Fish"
gomoku (6) - game of 5 in a row
hack (6) - exploring The Dungeons of Doom
hangman (6) - computer version of the game hangman
hunt (6) - a multi-player multi-terminal game
huntd (6) - hunt daemon, back-end for hunt game
intro (6) - introduction to games
lolcat (6) - rainbow coloring for text
mille (6) - play Mille Bornes
monop (6) - Monopoly game
morse (6) - "reformat input as punch cards, paper tape or morse code"
number (6) - convert Arabic numerals to English
phantasia (6) - an interterminal fantasy game
pig (6) - eformatray inputway asway Igpay Atinlay
pom (6) - display the phase of the moon
ppt (6) - "reformat input as punch cards, paper tape or morse code"
primes (6) - generate primes
quiz (6) - random knowledge tests
rain (6) - animated raindrops display
random (6) - random lines from a file or random numbers
robots (6) - fight off villainous robots
rot13 (6) - decrypt caesar ciphers
sail (6) - multi-user wooden ships and iron men
snake (6) - display chase game
snscore (6) - display chase game
teachgammon (6) - learn to play backgammon
tetris-bsd (6) - the game of tetris
trek (6) - trekkie game
wargames (6) - shall we play a game?
worm (6) - Play the growing worm game
worms (6) - animate worms on a display terminal
wtf (6) - translates acronyms for you
wump (6) - hunt the wumpus in an underground cave

These games are usually exited by pressing Ctrl+C