Snakey Math

Snakey Math is an educational arcade game by Curry K. Software (Curry Kenworthy) that combines arithmetic drill with Snake-style action; up to four snakes share a single Mac screen and race to eat the correct answer to a posted math problem before their rivals do. This entry corresponds to the PowerPC build of version 2.0 (snakey-math-20-ppc.hqx in the Info-Mac archive).

Gameplay

Players steer their snake with the keyboard toward the right answer scattered among distractor numbers. A correct catch scores points and grows the snake; a wrong catch stops it briefly and removes that distractor so the round continues until the correct value is eaten, then highlighted as feedback. Operand ranges, negative numbers, and mixed operations are configurable. CPU-controlled snakes target nearby numbers, applying steady time pressure even in solo play.

Engine and technical changes

The 2.0 generation introduced smoother problem transitions, two new power-ups, electric switches, photographic backgrounds with background music, and improved snake AI. The PPC build requires Mac OS 7.1 or later on a PowerPC processor; a separate 68k-friendly classic build (snakey-math-20.hqx) and a Mac OS X build were released alongside it. The PPC archive in Info-Mac is dated July 2004.

Development and release

Curry K. Software (Curry Kenworthy) shipped Snakey Math as shareware: the demo unlocked only single-digit multiplication, with a $9.95 home license or a $99.95 school site license unlocking the rest. Late-cycle updates kept the title in circulation through the very end of the Classic Mac OS shareware era.