Schnippi coil is a pattern that follows a Hamiltonian cycle which maximizes turns in order to avoid being blocked off by obstacles in high score modes, without losing much speed. The coil mostly U-coils horizontally, with a single 3-wide U-coil on top and another 3 wide vertical coil along the border to cycle back - for Small size board and for large size board.
Schnippi coil from his video coining the term, on standard size (demonstration on classic mode)
On Standard size board, the schnippi coil replaces the 3-wide u-coils with a 5-wide u-coil on top and a 4-wide u-coil on the right (top to bottom). This coil variation was found and popularized by the player "schnippi".
Safer Alternative to schnippi coil on standard size, by Yarmiplay
This standard size variation is not optimal, as it's possible to have 2 additional 3-wide coiling in the middle, making the 5-wide into a 3-wide, and the 4-wide can simply shrink to a 2-wide, making it a safer alternative of the same coil.
This coil has been used to beat the following modes:
- Key Mode
- Poison Mode
- Portal Mode
It's not a popular coil for Portal Mode, but Yarmiplay did prove it works on portal mode after "The Skill Issue" update rolled out.
Advantages[]
- Relatively Safe (Compared to nothing)
- Relatively Simple (After practice)
- Fast (Compared to safer strategies)
The main selling point of this coil is that it allows dodging of obstacles that would spawn in the way of the snake and it takes advantage of the spawn radius which gives the player enough time to react.
It's an easy coil to practice and follow once you get used to it.
Another advantage it has is that it's quite fast, it allows safe shortcuts without too many risks.
Flaws[]
- Lots of inputs and timing
- Doesn't guarantee all apples
- Has weak spots
- Can be blocked off in Multi Settings or Portal Mode
The main flaw of this coil is of course, the fact it requires maximizing inputs, which requires practice of U-coiling in general.
This coil does include some weak spots, mainly along the switching points from 2 to 3 wide U-coils and vice-versa. Note that it's not really a flaw with the coil itself, as there aren't really any coils possible that don't have any weak spots at all, this restriction is imposed by the board size itself.
On Standard size board, having 4-wide and 5-wide U-coil is also a flaw big enough to allow bad obstacle spawns to kill a run.
Another flaw is that it doesn't guarantee a victory every time it's used, as when the player is too greedy on a 3 or 5 multi setting, they might have their path blocked off mid game, ending the attempt. That being said, it's still reliable enough to be worth the risk on small board.
On portal mode, since 2 apples spawn, they might block off the path and force the player to take them, this is relatively safe since they must be close together to have this happen, but this is still a flaw that is outside the player's control, in some cases it would require the player eating the apple in the correct order and reacting in time.