How to play with a friend in slither.io
It's very much every snake for himself or herself in slither.io. When the object is to become the biggest snake around, there's no room for partnerships that last for more than a few seconds, tops, and there's definitely no extra prize for team play.
That said, sometimes even a snake needs a buddy. Creator Steve Howse told our sister site Pocket Gamer that he plans to add a way to play with friendsor even pick the exact serve on which you wriggle. Until that day comes, though, you'll have to jump through a few hoops to get on the same board as a friend.
It involves self-sacrifice, but hey, isn't that what true friendship is all about?
Someone has to die
It's possible that if two people are playing slither.io at the same time, they'll just randomly be placed in the same server. If that happens, congrats. Thanks for stopping by, and you can skip the rest of the article.
Most of the time, that won't be the case. When that happens, the best way to meet up with a friend is to have one person stay alive, possibly by moving to one of the remote corners of the board, and thus missing out on the carnage that generally ensues in the middle, where snakes are plentiful.
When my daughter and I do this, we make the bigger of the two of us the "designated survivor" and the other the sacrificial lamb ... er, snake. That person then dies on purpose until they end up in the same server as the survivor. Note that having both people die does you no good, as you're both placed in a random server next time you log back in.
How will you know when you're playing together? Glad you asked.
Check the leaderboard
For now, the only way to be certain that you and a mate are on the same server is to check the leaderboard in the upper-right corner of the screen. See the same names up there? You're golden. If not, someone has to commence with the dying.
Since the names in the top 10 can change quickly, you may have to communicate more than one of them to be sure you're in the same place. And naturally, if the person waiting for the other one to arrive is actually in the top 10, this process is that much simpler.
Of course there's a very real question of whether you really want to end up in a friend's server at all, since one of you is likely to end up eating the other, either intentionally or by accident. It's easier than you think to end up following a buddy around and accidentally running into their tail when they have to zag and you think they're going to zig.
Still, maybe you want bragging rights or the challenge of seeing who's best against the same field of competitors. Until slither.io makes it easier, this way is your best bet.