Slimetrail is a two player abstract strategy game invented by Bill Taylor in 1992, played in Portugal under the name Rastros. A single snail sits on a 7x7 board and both players take turns moving it, so every move you make is also a move your opponent has to live with. Each square the snail leaves is sealed shut with slime, and the board closes in until someone steers the snail into their own corner or leaves their rival with nowhere to go.
How to Play Slimetrail: Learn the Rules
Slimetrail is a two player abstract strategy game invented by Bill Taylor in 1992, played in Portugal under the name Rastros. A single snail sits on a 7x7 board and both players take turns moving it, so every move you make is also a move your opponent has to live with. Each square the snail leaves is sealed shut with slime, and the board closes in until someone steers the snail into their own corner or leaves their rival with nowhere to go.
Objective
Get the snail onto your own goal corner. Player 1 owns the bottom left corner and player 2 owns the top right one. A goal wins the game for its owner no matter who pushed the snail there, so moving the snail into your opponent's corner loses on the spot. You also win if your opponent has no legal move on their turn.
Setup
The board is a 7x7 grid of squares. One snail starts on the centre square, exactly the same distance from both goals. The two goal corners are marked and sit diagonally opposite each other: the bottom left corner belongs to the first player and the top right corner to the second. No other pieces are used, and nothing else is placed before play begins.
Gameplay
Players alternate turns, and on your turn you must move the snail exactly one square in any of the eight directions: horizontally, vertically or diagonally. The destination has to be a free square. The moment the snail steps off a square, that square is covered in slime and is out of play for the rest of the game, so the snail can never come back through it. There is no capturing, no passing and no second move: one step per turn, and the trail behind the snail keeps growing.
Winning
The game ends the instant the snail reaches a goal corner, and that corner's owner wins whichever player moved it there. It also ends if the player to move finds every neighbouring square slimed or off the board, in which case that player loses. Slimetrail cannot be drawn: each move seals one more square, so the board always runs out and one of the two endings always arrives.
Objective
Get the snail onto your own goal corner. Player 1 owns the bottom left corner and player 2 owns the top right one. A goal wins the game for its owner no matter who pushed the snail there, so moving the snail into your opponent's corner loses on the spot. You also win if your opponent has no legal move on their turn.
Setup
The board is a 7x7 grid of squares. One snail starts on the centre square, exactly the same distance from both goals. The two goal corners are marked and sit diagonally opposite each other: the bottom left corner belongs to the first player and the top right corner to the second. No other pieces are used, and nothing else is placed before play begins.
Gameplay
Players alternate turns, and on your turn you must move the snail exactly one square in any of the eight directions: horizontally, vertically or diagonally. The destination has to be a free square. The moment the snail steps off a square, that square is covered in slime and is out of play for the rest of the game, so the snail can never come back through it. There is no capturing, no passing and no second move: one step per turn, and the trail behind the snail keeps growing.
Winning
The game ends the instant the snail reaches a goal corner, and that corner's owner wins whichever player moved it there. It also ends if the player to move finds every neighbouring square slimed or off the board, in which case that player loses. Slimetrail cannot be drawn: each move seals one more square, so the board always runs out and one of the two endings always arrives.
Learn, Play, and Have Fun!
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