Worm Dash
Navigate the worm through a shrinking maze. Walls kill — can you outlast the grid?
How to play
- Use arrow keys or ▲▼◀▶ buttons to steer your worm.
- Eat the red food squares to grow and score points.
- Each level adds two new brown wall tiles — plan your path!
- Hitting a wall or your own body ends the game.
- The worm wraps around screen edges safely.
Steer the worm to eat red food. New brown walls appear as you level up — don't crash into them or your own tail!
How it works
Worm Dash is a Snake-style game with a maze twist. You control a growing worm that moves continuously; steering it into a wall or its own body ends the game. The maze layout shrinks or alters over time, adding pressure beyond the usual body-length hazard.
Collecting items (food or gems) causes the worm to lengthen, which increases the risk of self-collision in the increasingly tight corridors. Planning your route three to five moves ahead is essential -- do not simply react to what is immediately in front.
The game is a classic test of spatial planning and works well as a brain-sharpening warm-up. It requires no setup and loads instantly in a browser.
Worked example
Surviving the first maze level
- Start moving and immediately pick a direction that gives you an open corridor.
- Collect the first food item to grow the worm.
- After collecting, plan your next loop so the tail does not block your return path.
- Steer away from corners early -- they become traps once the worm is long.
- Continue collecting while keeping at least one full open loop in your planned route.
Completion of the first maze stage without a wall or self-collision.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Chasing every food item without considering whether reaching it leaves an escape route.
- Hugging walls tightly on long stretches, which can trap the tail and cause a self-collision on the return.
- Reacting only to what is one cell ahead rather than planning a full loop in advance.
Key terms
- Self-collision
- When the worm's head hits any segment of its own body, which ends the game.
- Shrinking maze
- A mechanic where the playfield gradually reduces in size, forcing the worm into tighter and tighter space.
- Worm length
- The number of segments the worm body has, which increases each time food is collected.
Frequently asked questions
- How are walls added?
- Every time you reach the score threshold for a new level, two new wall segments appear randomly on the grid.
- Does the worm wrap around?
- Yes — edges wrap, but brown wall tiles kill on contact.