LGR - Snood Retrospective: Forget Life, Play SNOOD

50 million players can't be wrong, right? Snood is a classic shareware puzzle game inspired by the likes of Puzzle Bobble, and in the late 90s and early 2000s it was a huge viral hit. Taking a look at everything from the original Macintosh game to the later Deluxe Edition!
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Music used is from the 2008 Snood Deluxe soundtrack.

[@DavidMDobson]

Fun video - you got nearly all of it right. The puzzle levels started in version 1.1 for Mac, so they were around early, and Armageddon was originally on one of my PC versions, not the deluxe one that was programmed by others. The game was also featured on the TV show Undeclared (they asked for Snood shirts and posters for their dorm rooms), in the movie Surviving Christmas with Ben Affleck, on SNL (Lorne Michaels plays still) and in a couple of commercials. Thanks for the retrospective. Fun to read all the comments also. There was even a Snood TV game (like one of those ones you plugged directly into the TV) sold on QVC for a while - pretty wild.

[@DaVince21]

Oh wow, you're the guy who made Snood! Always fun to see the original creators weigh in on these videos. :)

[@themarkovian152]

Great game thanks for all my hours of fun !!!

[@GatorMilk]

Thanks for the childhood bro

[@garfieldandfriends1]

Isn't the Snood TV game is vs. maxx 50-in-1 console?

[@le-h7565]

My daughter (age 21) asked me about this game tonight. She couldn’t remember the name of it but remembered I always played it, and taught her as a child. Thank you for years of fun and a great family moment tonight.

[@DementedDistraction]

Wow...for this being such a popular game, this is the first time I've seen or heard of Snood.

[@thedungeondelver]

Yeah same here. I've played Frozen Bubble on Linux machines but this is the first time for this.

[@bard5099]

agreed

[@retrogaminginsanity7585]

seriously this game been around for ever and its been featured on sapramos and sheldon played it on few episodes on 1st season of big bang theory on top that its on gba and nds pcs linuxs apples ios androids and its first time u heard of it lol

[@retrogaminginsanity7585]

next thing your gonna say is you never heard of puyo puyo or puzzle quest or columns lol

[@bablo4812]

You might be like me and have an unnatural aversion to anything that becomes remotely popular by public standards.

[@DenSporetrix]

Send Snoods.

[@linksbro1]

Clint, what have you done?! They were forgotten! Their power over us had faded! But now you've brought them back, and now, the Snoods will consume all of our minds! .... *Goes to download Snood*

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

It's how these fads happen!

[@biancatherescuemouse3305]

Don't worry!! I'll fiht back with Hypercubes!!

[@projectOMA]

Hah! Feel the same way. I feel the need to play some Snood again after not playing since being in college and DJing on the campus radio station.

[@bonkman64]

He wants that mug, man.

[@charaznableplays2110]

OHHHHH NOOOOO (jojo ref)

[@SummerADDE_Elevators]

THIS IS IT! THIS IS THE GAME I WAS LOOKING FOR FOR YEARS THINKING "WHAT WAS THE NAME OF THAT MAC GAME AGAIN"!! THANK YOU!!

[@Cheesemongle]

what he said

[@steveo984]

yes finally. its snood!!!

[@SummerADDE_Elevators]

The only question remains: What mac model did my dad use in the late 90's Before he switched over to PC and windows 98 in the millenium? I Belive it was a Power mac G1 or G2 of some sort. (It was the non-Tower variant, what was taht called?)

[@andrewlampart-shakerscdjr4396]

This game was driving me crazy a few months ago. My brother and I both played it religiously when we were younger. One day the death song got stuck in my head (Volga Boatman?). He and myself were trying for weeks to remember the name. Spleef? Spoof? We couldn't remember.

[@brianc5537]

SummerADDE ́s Transport Adventures! Power Macintosh G3 desktop

[@xMehL]

Next week on LGR: Unboxing 50 fan sent Snood mugs

[@Dun-N-Dusted]

Did he ever get his snood mug?

[@SmaMan]

@@Dun-N-Dusted Surely the dev in the comments would've sent him one by now.

[@Dun-N-Dusted]

@@SmaMan Fair

[@Toonrick12]

​@@Dun-N-DustedYes. Yes he did.

[@Dun-N-Dusted]

​@@Toonrick12 Ah hell yeah

Oh man. My mom was *addicted* to Snood when I was growing up. She was a teacher and had tons of work to do every evening, and yet she stayed up till like 4 in the morning just so she could play Snood. She even kept a journal where she wrote down high scores. Thanks for this blast from the past, Clint!

[@kodiak2114]

I attended Guilford College where Dave Dobson is a professor. Part of our freshman orientation class included a day in the computer lab playing Snood with Dobson present and talking about the game. I remember committing somewhat of a faux paux because I was unfamilliar with Snood and said to him "Oh, this is like "Dynomyte"...a game obviously ripped from Snood. I feel less bad after this video now that I know he was inspired by Bust A Move

[@ens0246]

Did you know that the same song, performed by different artists, used to be in the charts? As companies and some artists wanted to retain more and more of the profits they pressed more heavily on copyright. Before music was a means of income compositions would have their lyrics changed and performed, like Blues Standards, where the tune would be the same but the lyrics would be different.

[@AndrewTurnier]

I went to Guilford College and one story I heard from Dave about snood was that he made the game with the idea that perhaps he would make enough money to take his wife out once a year for dinner.

[@Channel9001]

Well, considering Snood is copied from Bust-A-Move, I wouldn't feel too bad.

[@ladyterror4663]

Andrew Turnier that’s so wholesome.

[@charlesnew6205]

Go Quakers!

[@charlesnew6205]

Dave Dobson was my geology professor in college. He’s a really nice guy and a great teacher!

[@ScottTumilty]

Snood became something of an obsession in the offices of my University Student TV station, leading to the creation of the term 'backseat snoodist'.

[@Hedvigu]

What a blast from the past, man. I remember spending a day at my mom's work around age six, playing this intensely on her colleague's computer. Didn't expect to be able to see those faces again.

[@slipangle3027]

SNOOD THIS, SNOOD THAT

[@coffee115]

slipAngle he was a real snood guy.

[@Horzuhammer]

Snood is swood af.

[@AdamVelazquezVA]

THE FUCK IS A SNOOD?

[@Jaybiooh]

Nice JonTron reference

[@CathrineMacNiel]

They just couldn't stop us. Snood this. Snood that

[@kangup-b6019]

Wow realarcade.... I totally forgot about that, brings me back.

[@AlejandroFerrariMc]

I remember how easy it was to get the full games out of it!

[@mmmako]

Miss me some sonic demos.

[@PeTTs0n88]

Was just about to say - really brings back memories!

[@chainz983]

It was where i fell in love with the Geneforge series

[@Toonrick12]

Tech Tales or Retrospect episode idea?

[@PriestsandParamedics]

I used to play this for hours in high school on an old plastic iMac. So much fun!

[@ProtoMario]

My friend played this often, loved it.

[@gameraddy9926]

ProtoMario,Hey Proto!

[@FaSMaN]

Somehow I managed to completely miss this one in the 90s never played or seen it, even tho I love puzzle bubble

[@jasondoe2596]

same here.

[@Domspun]

Same here. Played Puzzle Bubble for 20 years and never hear of it. Never had a Mac though.

[@boombaby1769]

+HPZeta Same here. Let's blame it on the Mandela effect! 😁

[@Geotpf]

Same here. Never heard of it.

[@alaricterrebonne1750]

+boom baby I don't think that's how the Mandela effect works

[@inexpgamer]

Funny enough, just last night I downloaded Snood on the PC I built for my dad cause I know he used to play it all the time. And low and behold when I woke up this morning I found him playing again just like old times. Just really funny to me to see you post a video about Snood within 24 hours of me getting it for him

[@itsaPIXELthing]

Never heard of it! So, thank you, kind Sir ;) Awesome vid, as always! Have a great weekend ;)

[@JordanSugarman]

Oh, good. I was watching this, trying to figure out how there were so many versions of this game, and it was apparently such a cultural phenomenon, and yet somehow I had never heard of it.

[@retroredrum]

I also, never heard of it !

[@orbusg8451]

I know right? Apparently it was such a big thing, but I''d never heard of it and I've been using pc's since I was a little kid in the early 90's. AOL DUUUUDE

[@dutchdykefinger]

yeah, never heard of it in my life used PC's since like 1993 (amiga before that) and been on the internet since 1997.

[@ancientflounder]

Ditto. I’ve never heard of this before today. Lol

[@jaskaborner9795]

I recall one of my first-ever online gaming experiences was a Java-based Snood clone called Schnauser. My friends and I would spend entirely too much time on the school's seemingly indestructible Toshiba Satellites playing that game instead of doing...whatever we were meant to be doing. Thanks for the throwback, Clint. :)

[@kismetcho]

I've played so many iterations of this game, it's so cool to see its origins story!

[@Mace2.0]

Death by Snood Snood.

[@joshuacoleman8000]

+Mace 2.0 Futurama reference!

[@sihy]

I'm scare-roused

[@Hellwyck]

@joshua... THAT'S DA JOKE

[@joshuacoleman8000]

+hellwyck I knew it!

[@lucapeyrefitte6899]

Mace 2.0 lol I was waiting for this 😂

[@MistaMaddog247]

This game and Napster were on all the computers in the college lab around 1999-2001, with Elf Bowling during the holidays. Aside from having to clean up from all those ad/mal/spyware crap the students kept installing (like Gator eWallet), it was fun working as a lab assistant...even got paid for playing games like Starcraft & Snood!

[@awhooley]

I remember playing snood around late 96 in ireland on my neighbors Macintosh.. this brought back memories

[@Sandwich1414]

They had Snood installed on the Macs at our Primary School here in Australia. Why they chose to put such an amazingly addictive game on our PCS (Along with Bugdom, Spin Doctor, Bebop 2000 and Deimos Rising) is beyond me but I'm still hooked to this day.

[@CARBONATED_SO-DA]

Those faces look like they were designed by the people that made LSD dream simulator Edit: Oh, he mentioned it.

[@jadesanford2857]

emulator

[@Sb129]

Also I played the Popcap(?) version called Dynomite, was super fun, watching this channel (and other retro channels) shows me that lots of games I played in the late 90s/Y2K period already existed

[@smexyvigoro]

I had no idea what this was called, and I forgot all about it, but I now vividly remember playing this on my grandpa's computer when I was younger.

[@magicBLADEbandito]

I’ve been looking this game up for years thinking it was called SNOOP.

[@minecraftlover555]

for me, i thought it was called SNOOZE

[@CarbyGuuGuu]

SNOOPING AS USUAL, I SEE?!

[@HackThePlanetNow]

SNOOP there it is

[@Derkman96]

Snood Pog. So nineties

[@magicBLADEbandito]

Thanks LGR, now I can relive a game I thought was 10 times more obscure than it actually is.

[@davidfuller581]

Wow, this is a throwback. I remember it from around 2002-2003.

[@GiantPurpleCat]

I almost screamed out of joy when you made that Osamu Sato reference. I love his art and I love your videos and it felt like a gift. Thank you. ♥

[@LividWizard]

Holy nostalgia trip! I used to play snood all the time when I was at my grandmas house!

[@QueenOfPessimism]

My only exposure ever to this game was on a plug and play that included a butchered version of Contra and other games that are common on a plug and play.

[@colinstu]

Man I used to play the crap out of this on my parent's powerbook 540c. I later eventually started playing it on Windows too. You need a LGR Tech Tales on Gator! I remember hearing all about that on the Screen Savers in the early 2000s.

[@szasstamblr2869]

I played a lot of snood back around 2002, I had always assumed it had come out way earlier than that but I guess I was riding the snood wave with everyone else.

[@Moonzari]

Man, I played this back in the day. My mom was addicted... she was ALWAYS playing it. Very awesome game, and very awesome video!

[@DragonRebelRose]

"I don't seem to have any extra cash." "Whadya do with that, leave it in your *SNOOD* ??"

[@camwoodstock]

3:05 - You mentioned Osamu Sato. I think I'm in love.

[@redapplefour6223]

lol ur that guy i see on any sato video/whenever someone mentions him

[@camwoodstock]

redapplefour - Simple answer for why that is? I'm the founder of /r/OsamuSato, the subreddit for discussing his content, and I'm the current owner of the associated Discord for that place as well. Basically what I'm trying to say here is I'm basically the accidental leader of the fanbase.

[@redapplefour6223]

oh huh, i remember seeing you on summoning salt's mario 1 video and on assorted gameplays of eastern mind, i've lurked that subreddit a little bit lol

[@obituate]

s a t o b o i s

[@PuPTooN]

*waves*

[@ParappatheRapper]

I'm glad this got a video. For as popular as it apparently was, not many people seem to recall or have played it. Usually when I mention Snood it's rare anyone knows what I'm talking about, even people around my age and older.

[@SnowyNowak]

My older sisters were addicted to Snood for a few years back in the early '00s, I myself played it but then we all kinda forgot about it for a while.

[@edison700]

Had snood on my ti84 calculator back in the day.

[@Daniel-be6cj]

Finally someone else who remembered Realone Arcade! That was my introduction to Snood and it had me hooked. You should totally do a video about Realone, it was Steam before Steam.

[@fyreflynt4767]

Sounds intriguing...

[@TheSillyPotato]

Omg I used to play this constantly back in early 00’s!

[@TrickMaster9502]

When i was like 4, I used to play snood on my dads windows 98 pc at his autobody shop. It will always be special to me, thanks for this video LGR.

[@RetroGamePlayers]

BUST A SNOOD

[@CarbyGuuGuu]

Bubble Snood Saga

[@jamesmillerjo]

I know the Taito's original, but never heard of Snood.... In fact I feel their face so much creepy, especially early ones.

[@Oogasra]

I remember playing the 96 Snood. Even today, the game is still addictive.

[@TheQriz]

Hell yeah man! Love these video´s, nostalgia overload!

[@TottyRops]

This must be a U.S. thing, never heard of it in the here in the UK

[@TriegaDN]

I'm from the US, and I've never heard of it, growing up in the late 90s/early 2000s. I even live in detroit area, where U of M is.

[@hotdog963al]

I'm from the UK and vividly remember playing it on a PowerBook G3 back in the day. I'm guessing it was distributed on the CDs that you got with MacUser/MacFormat magazine.

[@richardspritz854]

From UK and I remember playing this...

[@stephanemignot100]

@@richardspritz854 same here in France...

[@ambrosiaplatypus]

Snood's Food and Sood

[@ExpIohd]

ambrosiaplatypus Formerly Chuck's

[@SolidSonicTH]

THIS is the one I was looking for.

[@MethshockFilms]

Goddamnit I've been trying to remember the name of this game for the better part of a year now. Tried a lot of searching on google but thanks to the goddamn KZbin maffia, it's recommended to me. Thank you Jesus.

[@AltheHealer]

Hell yeah!! You brought up Osamu Sato!! I love how strange his music and games are!!

[@gothmuffin666]

You should try to get an interview with Dave, while it's not your usual thing I can imagine it being really cool in interesting.

[@HebaruSan]

Agreed. I want to know how much money he made!

[@DavidMDobson]

I'd be happy to do this if you're interested.

[@MrDemomanman]

Dobson....DOBSON! WEVE GOT DOBSON HERE!!!

[@stillgaming]

Snood! I spent many hours playing this back in the day. Awesome video!

[@mcgibs]

Man, the Mac had some neat little games. Peg Leg, Cheese Toast, Quagmire, Gold Digger, and on and on. I used to have one of those CDs full of shareware that was pretty much limitless entertainment. There was also this stereoscopic shooter that I can't remember the name of. It was like a 2D black and white Starfox. It was neat as hell.

[@Zizzily]

Well, now you need to go interview the creator of Snood, obviously.

[@lolzerous]

I used to play this when my mom would take me with her to clean her friend's house. I have been trying to remember the name for the longest time lol. 😂

[@danielwebofrito2]

Nice. Kudos for that Osamu Sato Reference, Clint.

[@coachrenaldo]

One of my favorite youtubers uploaded a video on my birthday! What a great gift.

[@Sinastyr]

I hope this guy got to feed his kids. Seemed like his damned family always needed food.

[@TonyFleetwood]

has anyone here played "pocket tanks" i got hella addicted to that game in the early 2000's

[@poppasteve2976]

Yeah, I still have it installed on one of my pc's. Same type of gameplay as the "Worms" franchise.

[@DunamisSword]

...just re-acquainted myself with Snood...so fun! Great video.

[@DaVince21]

I've never _ever_ heard of Snood here in the Netherlands, and I was _hugely_ into PC games in the 90s and 2000s. So it's weird to me to hear how huge it apparently was.

[@NanoElite666]

If we get a modern military FPS spin-off, would that be Call of Snood-y? :P

[@JeepusChrystler]

Dobson! Dobson! We got Dobson here! See? Nobody cares. Nice game.

[@CarbyGuuGuu]

I understood that reference.

[@joshuacoleman8000]

+George Vasquez What was he referencing?

[@CarbyGuuGuu]

Joshua Coleman Jurassic Park, when Nedry yells out Dodgson's name.

[@joshuacoleman8000]

Gotcha! Thanks!

[@ppaulisdeadd2710]

holy shit the obscurities of my childhood are being dug up by this glorious channel, one by one.

[@AndreasVictorsson]

Here because of Kitboga's Twitch emote, been following LGR for decades (it feels like) but indepth analysis like this tend to slip by unnoticed. Glad you made this video :)

[@FiendsLikeThese]

It’s amazing Snood never got ‘sood’ by the Puzzle Bobble people

[@baseddoggie]

Kevin Carlow yeah, to me at least it just seems to be a far inferior knockoff product.

[@franzferdinand2]

You can't actually copyright game mechanics.

[@dnkakusei]

@@franzferdinand2 Nintendo patented Eternal Darkness' sanity effects, actually. It not copyright, but its close

[@zOMGREI]

@@dnkakusei Patents by themselves aren't particularly evidence that they're legally enforceable. As far as I'm aware, there's no precedent here for a gameplay patent being used (successfully) in an infringement lawsuit. Nintendo would have a bit of an uphill battle on this one---other games have done similar things prior to Eternal Darkness (MGS's Psycho Mantis fight, just as one example) so they'd have to prove that these aren't prior art, which would invalidate their patent.

[@Evan-qi3yz]

I remember playing this game in like 2009, Crazy! Of course, on a windows vista.

[@jfh.8064]

Great video. I actually have that Snood mug! When I was in high school, my mom and stepdad used to play the game all of the time. I eventually started playing too and we competed for high scores. My mom bought my stepdad the Snood mug in the mid 2000s as a Christmas gift. Last year, they passed it onto me.

[@foxrivers]

I played Snood on the Performa 5200 back in 1999 when I was in my high school keyboarding class. We often had contests to see who can get the highest score. Thank you for the review this certainly brought back good memories.

[@PingasCreeper]

Hey LGR, speaking of the Osamu Sato comparison you made, what about a review of one of his games, such as Eastern Mind?

[@jadesanford2857]

yes ........................................!

[@blakon621]

Snood was my jam

[@sweetpjeb23]

Oh my good God. I used to spend HOURS playing this game. It was one of the only games I enjoyed because it didn't have a timer.

[@shadows-sweet-embrace]

I remember this! My mom use to play this all the time, and I would watch her! Gods, this brings back some memories.

[@snowflakepillow8697]

I remember people raving about this and I saw it and thought "oh, it's just puzzle bobble." Why couldn't we get a great online Panel de Pon clone instead?

[@CarbyGuuGuu]

Bejeweled, in a way, is a Panel de Pon clone.

[@snowflakepillow8697]

Not really. They are both Match-3s but Bejeweled is definitely not a clone of Panel de Pon.

[@joshuakorynta3385]

Snood's Sood and Food Formerly Chuck's

[@shawnrainer7495]

Excellent! I had never heard of the game, gonna check it out. Thank you for posting.

[@victoriastorey4540]

i think its insane how many of the games that were popular even after i was born that lgr covers that ive never heard of

[@philen]

FUUUUUCK YESSSSSSS!!!! damn i have invested in thousands of SNOOD-hours!

[@ActionAbe1]

thats a lot of SNOOD

[@Der_Moosenheimmannchesterton]

I remember having a nightmare about this game.

[@larkspurbetulaakahexagonal2902]

lol what happened

[@kristinmcdow4056]

Is it corrupted

[@EN1GMAT1CA]

WHAT?!?! I totally remember playing Snood through shareware disks and the Real Arcade back then. I always thought it was exactly that, one of those clone puzzle games made for some college student's programming project and stayed as an obscure 90s game, I've never heard it again afterwards O: !! Thank you for the enlightenment LGR!

[@thebeggs4]

Great retrospective! I remember discovering Snood on the Macs at school, then downloading the PC version thst afternoon. Still have the registered version I bought, fun to play for a break.

[@startedtech]

I don't know why, but Snood seems so familiar to me. I have no recollection of playing it, but still... Maybe it was on the iMac G3s in the computer lab in 1st grade.

[@koye4427]

LGR but every time Clint says "Snood" it gets 5% faster

[@brandonreina5450]

I should say "Forget Life, Play EVERGIRL!" Because everGirl makes me happy again I like everGirl so much that I started playing it for Game Boy Advance

[@nezimar]

Osamu Sato! That's the connection! Snood is just another one of his LSD dreams, man!

[@handsomebrick]

send snoods

[@NitroRad]

I played the crap out of this when I was a kid. It came preinstalled on my family's first Windows 98 computer. It was fun and addicting, but looking back on it the graphics are ugly as helllllllllllllllllllllllll.

[@biancatherescuemouse3305]

Bejeweled is better.

[@henotic.essence]

Nitro Rad Nitrooo!! So cool to see you here :)

[@grimm7001]

@@biancatherescuemouse3305 You just unlocked so many memories of younger me playing Bejeweld 3

[@lyokzi]

Jeez this was the only thing I'd ask to use the computer for years ago. I feel weird hearing about snoods again.

[@JoeSnuffie]

Wow, the memories this brings back. I bought the full version a around 2001.

[@MelhodRiperton]

The Creppy Face From LSD Dream Emulator Or Thomas The Tank Engine

[@camwoodstock]

Be more specific, *which* "creppy" face.

[@BottomOfTheDumpsterFire]

Well, he did say Osamu Sato, I think it's redundant to mention LSD:DE if it's been mentioned

[@cannedbeverage7687]

In terms of what?

[@cannedbeverage7687]

English please?

[@cannedbeverage7687]

Guess that means no. I'll try Google Translate.

[@L2Nuku]

Never heard of this before, but interesting nonetheless

[@guardiane]

I never heard of Snood until now. Thanks to you, I'll be giving it a shot. Thanks again :)

[@MAXinsanity00]

I smile whenever I hear Osamu Sato being mentioned in a video.

[@TheLakabanzaichrg]

This story and box artwork sounds like some sort of creepypasta.

[@dooldlerouo2685]

Snood snood

[@douglasdoo]

Never heard of it, but you are doing a great job with your reviews, you communicate very well.

[@PoseMotion]

I've been playing games since the early 80's and never heard of this. Thanks for pointing it out. I like seeing things that I may have missed.

[@karenelizabeth1590]

Bust-A-Move without that damn timer? I NEED to play this!