In Schlängeln, players try to lure colorful striped snakes from behind the bushes to sic them on bullies who stole their snacks.

No, that's not right. They want to lure snakes for their own internal satisfaction – well, that and the ability to win the game. To call the snake forward, they must properly guess the color of the snakes through good memory and the right questions. Whoever attracts the most snakes wins the game.

The game is played with twenty cardboard snakes. Each snake has three coloured rings (separated by black rings). At the beginning of the game, each player receives three snakes, which they hide behind their player screen (the bush), with the snakes' heads sticking out underneath the screen.

Now, in turn, the players get to ask one other player for a color. That player then has to respond based on the snakes behind the screen:

If the player has one or more snakes whose first coloured ring behind the screen has that color, the player responds with "Yes!" and pushes those snakes forward from under the screen, so that the coloured ring becomes visible to the other players. The asking player may now ask another question.
If that is not the case, but one or more snakes do have a ring of that color that is further behind the screen, the player responds with "Later!"
If no snakes have a ring of that color, the player responds with "Bad luck!"

If a snake is completely pushed out from under the screen, then the asking player gets the snake, and the player whose snake was pushed out takes a new snake from the supply and places it behind the screen. In this case, the asking player's turn ends.

Twice during the game, a player can use a magical flute, which allows them to direct a question for a color to all other players instead of just one.

The game ends when all the snakes have been lured from the bushes. The player who has collected the most snakes wins.

Das Kleine Gespenst