How to Play Snail Bob: Controls, Score and Level 1 Step by Step

Snail Bob looks like a game about a snail, but you almost never touch the snail. Bob crawls forward by himself, and your job is to get the level out of his way in time. Here is how the first game works, what the score means, and how to get through the early levels without watching Bob fall into the same hole twice.

The screen

Every level is one screen. In level 1 Bob comes out of a yellow pipe on the left and the exit is a sign on the right that says EXIT, next to another pipe. At the top left are the speed buttons: a small Bob icon, then x1 and x2. At the top right is the level number. Along the bottom: the level map, restart and music buttons on the left, and your score in the middle.

The parts you can click are marked with a dotted white circle: levers, round buttons, switches. That circle is the most useful hint in the game. If something has no circle, you cannot click it.

The one control that matters: click Bob

Clicking Bob makes him pull into his shell and stop. Click him again and he comes out and crawls on. This is how you buy time. A good habit is to click him the moment a level starts, look at the whole machine, and only then let him go.

x2 makes him crawl twice as fast. It is handy on long, empty stretches and a bad idea near anything that moves.

How the score works

Each level starts at 301 points and loses one point every half second while you play. Finish in 30 seconds and you keep about 240; spend two and a half minutes and you are near zero. When Bob reaches the exit a panel shows the level score, with Next Level and Level Map buttons. The map adds your levels up as a total score, and it is saved in your browser.

Level 1, step by step

The first level teaches the whole idea. Bob comes out of the pipe and bumps into a tall wooden post. Up on the left, above a pile of crates, is an orange lever with a dotted circle. Click it and a crane lifts the post out of the way.

Bob crawls on and drops into a dip. At the bottom sits a spring on a steel base, and to the right of it is a round red button. Wait until Bob is standing on the wooden plank of the spring, then click the button. The spring throws him up onto the high ground, and he crawls to the exit. We finished it with 263 points.

Habits for the later levels

• Work from left to right. The machine nearest Bob usually has to happen first.
• Wait for the right spot. Springs, lifts and trapdoors only help when Bob is standing on them. Hide him if he is early.
• Watch what moves on its own. Conveyor belts change his speed and some parts swing or fall without a click. Watch one full cycle before you let him go.
• Restart early. If the timing is wrong, press restart instead of waiting. Every second costs points anyway.
• Beware heat and radiation. From level 10 on, radiation, lava and fire appear. They do not wait for you, so Bob should be hidden while you set things up.

When you have seen Bob home, the story goes on in five more games. The series guide lists them in order.