Sokoban Mode is a mode on Google Snake Game in which the game hides crates with apples inside them that can only be opened on certain areas.
History[]
Sokoban Mode was introduced sometime in April 2021.
Gameplay[]
The goal of this mode is to eat the apples that are inside crates. Sometimes fruit doesn’t spawn, and only pushing the crate to “key” tile can get you a point. You can unlock the crate by pushing it into a “key” tile that is randomly spawned. The key tile looks like a bullseye. The amount of key tiles and matching crates that spawn will correlate to the amount of apples you choose to spawn (either one, three, or five). You can die by normal means, by crashing into a wall or running into yourself, but you can also die by pushing two crates against each other and running into those crates. If you push a crate into a wall it will move to another random area on the map. If you push a crate to the very edge of the map but not into the wall then a small hole will open up for the crate to go through but not the snake.
Strategy[]
For most of the game, it is relatively safe to just eat and cycle around to clear tiles around the box that spawns after eating, moving it and eating the next apple.
As for completing the mode, there are quite a few strategies that exist, utilizing the spawn radius to make the next box not spawn, finishing the game with "all apples" and a win for the player.
The 2 easiest strategies discovered by Yarmiplay are the Yarmi's 77 and Yarmi's 79 strategy. It involves coiling as shown in the images and pushing the box outside the border in a way that leaves all the open tiles inside the spawn radius, which blocks the box from spawning and ending the game. The 77 strategy also works at 78, and the 79 strategy also works at 80. There is also an 81 strategy, which is the same as the 79 strategy, but the snake's body occupies the 2 spaces under the box from where it's being pushed. There's an easier pattern for 77 theorized by TheEpicCarrot and proven to work in as well in another screenshot.
A faster and harder to pull off strategy exists, which has the same concept, but instead of pushing the box, it's possible to eat the apple with as many open tiles as the spawn radius allows, to get an early finish. This strategy depends on the position where the apple spawns (a corner for example has less opportunity in this case) but in theory it allows for finishes as early as 73 or even earlier.
As for high score, it is possible in theory to reach 84, however this requires a bit of luck, especially with the apple spawn. In some cases, the player may be soft locked at 82 apples with an apple they can't eat, at which case there only option is to push the box out using 81 strategy or similar. It's also possible to get all apples and ending the game unintentionally when reaching 82.