Click the image below to watch our 1min video about Ssslap!
Ssslap! An award-winning card game about
Australian Venomous snakes!
Our game teaches you how to sssurvive in the Australian bush as a venomous snake! In 'Ssslap!' you take on 1 of 18 unique Australian venomous snakes (BE the snake!), navigating the environment’s various resources and dangers. You’ll need quick reflexes and you might even need to push your luck 🤠 .
About
Aligned with the the Queensland education curriculum but applicable Australia-wide, the object of the game is to be the longest snake! Do this by eating specific prey to add body parts and grow your snake. Avoid dangers like bull-dozers, cane toads, and invasive weeds, and refer to the accompanying information booklet for ecological details about every snake!
Photo: Dr Ariel Marcy and Dr Christina Zdenek play-test an early draft of the game. Note: the aesthetics of the cards will look very different in the published version.
Award-winning!
We won 1st prize in Australia's national game-design awards!
Some nice things the OiOiOi game awards judging panel said about Ssslap!:
🐍 "This is a brilliant example of a simple game done very very well.”
🐍 "The mechanics integrate with the theme seamlessly, with the slap action providing an appropriate parallel to the striking behaviour of snakes."
🐍 "The game’s strengths lie in its clarity, educational grounding, and immediate playability."
🐍 "Quick to teach and quick to table, with rules that can be understood in under a minute, which is difficult to achieve but very effective here."
Who
Dr Christina Zdenek and Dr Ariel Marcy (pic: far left) are developing this game. Christina conceived the idea and provides snake expertise to the project. Ariel is a professional game designer, developing the game mechanics, and managing the play-testing and pitching elements of the project.
We've proudly partnered with A/Prof Corey Tutt OAM (pic: middle right) from DeadlyScience for First Nations consultation, plus Indigenous artist Ben Williams (pic: below left)(@ BenWilliamsArt on insta).
We've been supported by a grant from Inspiring Australia Queensland (CNZ was their Qld #STEM ambassador (2024 and 2025)). We've had regular solid support from Dr Anita Milroy (pic: far right) 🙏 , who we cannot thank enough!
Indigenous
collaborations
We've partnered with Ben Williams (pic: on left), a Warlmanpa man based on Awabakal land, to produce all the artwork for our snake game. He has hand-painted all our snake heads, our background elements, and is currently working on the snake body card and tail card.
We've also partnered with A/Prof Corey Tutt (Kamilaroi man) of Deadly Science for First Nations consultation for our snake game. In particular, Corey will assist with the names for each of our 18 snake species in the game. This is an extensive task, involving in-person yarning with elders from multiple mobs across Australia. Thanks, Corey!
Details
In Ssslap you take on 1 of 18 unique Australian venomous snakes competing to grow the longest in a resource-limited environment filled with dangers. Ssslap conveys several principles of biology, ecology, and conservation through its gameplay, specifically:
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Biology
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Featured snakes represent a diversity of venomous snakes found in Australia and its surrounding waters
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Slapping mechanic embodies the ambush behavior of venomous snakes
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Preferred prey mechanic reflects the venom specificity of venomous snakes
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Ecology
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Winning hinges on gaining the most energy from food sources as a predator and converting it into body mass
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Prey and resource cards represent both biotic and abiotic factors influencing snake growth
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Drought and rain cards illustrate the impact of environment on snakes (particularly the boom-bust rain cycle in Australia)
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Conservation
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Invasive species cards demonstrate the cost of human-driven changes to the ecosystem
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The bulldozer card illustrates the #1 conservation threat to snakes: habitat destruction (land-clearing).
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The game comes with a bonus booklet full of fascinating evidence-based facts and stories about the snakes, written by Dr Zdenek, one of Australia’s leading experts.