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From our classic games collection

The Amazing Snail

There's something a-mazing in the garden ... Gaz, our purple Gastropod hero! After all, PacMan is too easy, so try this seed chomping, bug stomping, multi-maze version for a truly gaz-tronomic challenge!

The Amazing Snail artwork
The Amazing Snail

A little internet history

When games arrived in the browser.

1995
Java applets helped turn web pages into places you could play, with games running inside the browser.
The plug-in era ends
Browsers gradually stopped supporting Java plug-ins. Java 11 removed the browser deployment tools; the Java language itself continues.
Today
This original game runs through our browser emulator. You don’t need to install the old Java plug-in.

Our part in that early web

Our Java games began on Smilie.com in the 1990s, before Matica followed. A surviving Smilie archive from 1 June 1997 refers to Mirkin’s Darts; Matica appears in the archive from 11 November 1998.

These games are part of that first wave of web play. We’re keeping them accessible, along with their original pages and history.

Read more: Java’s early tutorial history · Oracle’s applet deployment notes

Space to start; arrow keys or joystick to move. Clear the purple pellets and avoid the beetles. Sound starts off. High scores are shared between Matica and SmilieGames.

Play The Amazing Snail

Original game notes

Use the cursor keys to move your snail around the garden paths as you try to clear each garden of all the purple pellets. You'll have to be quick and clever to avoid the Bomber Beetles - unless you eat one of the larger Power Pellets, when for a short time, the tables will be turned and you can chase them for a change! Use the whirlpool teleports to get out of trouble fast, collect the bonus fruit to help increase your score, and whatever else you do - keep on munching!

Press S to turn the sound effects on or off. Press M to turn the music on or off.