Snood (video game)

Snood is a puzzle video game programmed by Dave Dobson. Snood was released for Mac OS in 1996 as shareware, then for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows in 1999. An adaptation for Game Boy Advance was developed by Rebellion Developments and released by Destination Software in 2001, and an iOS version was developed by Iron Galaxy and released by EA Mobile on May 8, 2009. Dobson founded Snood, LLC to sell the game.

As in Puzzle Bobble, connecting three or more identical Snoods makes them disappear from the board. When the board is cleared, the level advances. If the Snoods reach the bottom of the screen, a life is lost. Play is not time-limited in most game modes.

A sequel, Snood 2: On Vacation, was developed by Gravity-i and released by Destination Softare for Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS in October 2005 and November 2005 respectively.

Gameplay
The pieces in the game are called Snoods. There are seven regular Snoods and four Special Snoods. The regular Snoods are Jake (Blue), Midoribe (Green), Mildred (Grey), Spike (Purple), Zod (Red), Geji (Light blue), and Sunny (Yellow).

Each turn, the player launches a Snood of randomly selected color into the play field. If the Snood lands adjacent to two or more Snoods of the same color, all connecting Snoods of that color vanish and any pieces left unattached beneath the vanished Snoods drop down. The player's score increases with the number of Snoods eliminated. With each Snood launched, a danger meter increases and when it reaches the top, all the Snoods in play lower a level. If the Snoods drop past the lowest level of the playing field, the game is over. Releasing Snoods reduces the "Danger Meter."

The first special Snood is called Numbskull. Numbskull is shaped like a human skull and is the one type of Snood that is never launched into play, which means it cannot be joined with other Snoods. If Numbskulls are found at the start of a level, they will have to be isolated and dropped by the player to remove them from the board. Second, if the player loses the game, all the Snoods will turn into Numbskulls, serving as a visual game over message.

The other three special Snood pieces may be launched, and appear at random (and infrequently). One is called Stone which is round and gray, and will always knock out the Snoods adjacent to where it lands. Another is called Wildcard which appears to cycle through all of the regular Snoods, and may be used in place of any of them. The last is called Rowbuilder, a diamond-shaped creature which will fill one row horizontally with like regular Snoods. In the registered game users may control how frequently these special Snoods appear.

The premise is simple. Unlike Bust a Move, there is no conventional time limit in Snood modes other than Time Attack; however, players must eliminate Snoods efficiently enough to prevent the gradually descending ceiling from crushing them. Many levels also require Snoods to be ricocheted off of walls in order to get them in the appropriate spot, which can be tricky. Snood requires considerable skill at approximating angles as well as strategy.

Awards and recognition
Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, Inc., lists Snood as one of his favorite games.

Jupiter Media Metrix found in 2001 that Snood was the ninth most-played game with 1.5 million unique users. This is most notable because most of the games on the list came with various versions of Windows (such as the top-ranked game, Solitaire, with 46.7 million users). The "addictive" qualities of the game have been described in an article titled "Snood: At Least It's Not Crack".

Snood received 2004 Shareware Industry Award for Best Game Action/Arcade on July 17, 2004.

Snood has been used regularly by the Ronald McDonald House staff at Stanford University as a tool to teach seriously ill children. It has also been used as palliative for patients who are undergoing chemotherapy, bone marrow transplants and dialysis.

Snood was voted "One of the Top 10 Things on the Web to make you happy", by the Daily News (New York) in April 2009.

Snood in popular culture

 * HBO's Animals Season 2, Episode 2
 * Seth Rogen's The Interview -
 * 30 Rock Season 5, Episode 1
 * On Saturday Night Live, Season 31, Episode 5: Steve Martin was the host and he goes to Lorne Michaels to demand a raise because he's hosted so many times. When he walks in on Lorne, Lorne is playing Snood.
 * In Judd Apatow’s short-lived TV Series Undeclared, the characters are apparently fans of the game. Their dorm sports a Snood Poster, and on the Episode entitled “Truth or Dare” of Marshall Nesbitt (Timm Sharp), wears a Snood T-Shirt with the Jake, Sunny and Midoribe visible on it.  In the original script for the episode entitled “Addicts”, where Ron Garner (Seth Rogen) and Marshall get addicted to day-trading a stock called “Anatomical Industries”, Ron tries to camouflage his trading addiction by telling Marshall he’s “Just... playing a little Snood.” In the final version, he says he’s “Just…surfing a little Internet porno.”
 * In Season 5 of The Sopranos in the episode entitled “In Camelot” a washed up writer named J.T. Dolan (played by Tim Daly) plays Snood while he’s hiding out from Christopher Motisanti (Michael Imperioli).
 * In the Ben Affleck/James Gandolfini movie Surviving Christmas, Brian Valco (Josh Zuckerman) has a Snood Poster on the wall of his bedroom.
 * In author Kasey Michael’s mystery book Maggie Needs an Alibi, the protagonist Maggie Kelly plays Snood to relax, and compares aiming her gun to aiming the Snood Blaster. In the next novel, High Heels and Holidays, Maggie worries that she’s becoming a Snood addict.  In Maggie by the Book, Maggie gets irritated when a new Snood player beats her high score even though she’s been playing every day straight for three years.