The main strategy is to have the lowest score when a player reaches 200 points or to score a negative 100 to win the game. A player earns 1 point for each number card collected of the declared snake color and 10 points for each snake card. The snake of the declared snake color is worth 15 points (the original 10 points plus an extra 5). A player/team can win a bonus -3 points for each hawk card collected or by collecting all 4 snake cards for -50 points instead of a positive 45.
Lots of mini strategies will develop over the gameplay to achieve these goals. The gameplay is suitable for ages 7 and up. Gameplay is as simple as following the leading color played. If you don't have that color you can play any other color in your hand. We will continue to update this page with different scenarios and go over some points of interest for those of you who would like to become a master at playing or just wondering the different types of decisions you could be faced with when playing. We encourage you to play and develop your own strategies as there is never a guaranteed win no matter how you much time you spend on strategizing on how to win.
There are points in the game where strategies are helpful, but these strategies could be impacted depending on the number of players you are playing with.
Some questions you may ask when coming up with strategies:
Where do I place my 3 cards in the discard piles?
How can I read my opponents like in poker? Do they like to get all of the snakes or do they run from the challenges? The score could also be impacted if a partner is willing to do this.
As the dealer, how do I decide who to give the piles to? This is an advantage to the dealer.
How do I choose the color for the snake color?
How do I choose my partner?
How do I choose what card to lead with? Snakes are so easily captured because they carry the value of 3. Having a run of one color or having a lot of high cards is not always a good idea.