🐍 Reviving Nostalgia: Building a Snake Game for Jira with Atlassian Forge

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Remember the days of those old Nokia phones, the indestructible ones that could survive a fall (or two… or ten) and still let you play Snake for hours? Well, this post is a little trip down memory lane, inspired by that classic game and reimagined for the modern Atlassian world.

Recently, I built a Snake game for Jira, powered entirely by Atlassian Forge and yes, it runs right inside your Jira Cloud instance!

🎮 The Inspiration

A few years ago, I was working onsite for a major banking client — the kind of high-security environment where smartphones were banned, internet access was heavily restricted, and anything remotely fun was off-limits.

No streaming, no social media… just work and the occasional Nokia 1100.

During long waits for deployments or after intense review sessions, our team found joy in the simplest of things — passing around that phone and trying to beat each other’s Snake high scores. It became a mini team ritual — a spark of fun in an otherwise tightly controlled space. 

That nostalgia never really left me. And when I started thinking about how teams in secure or regulated industries still face similar restrictions, an idea struck:

Why not bring Snake into Jira itself?

With Atlassian Forge, it’s possible to build lightweight, self-contained apps that run securely within your organization’s cloud environment with no external dependencies, no security concerns.

So I built a simple Snake Game app that can be played directly from a Jira dashboard or issue view. Perfect for quick breaks or moments when you just need to clear your head, right where your work lives.

🧩 More Than Just Code

Not every app needs to drive KPIs or automate workflows. Sometimes, it’s okay to build something just for the fun of it, to spark creativity, nostalgia, or simply make someone smile during a long sprint.

This project is my small tribute to those simpler times and a reminder that a little play can go a long way in keeping morale high.

🧑‍💻 Want to Try It?

If you’re curious or want to tinker with the code, check out the GitHub repo here: https://github.com/kashsingh/forge-snake-game

Maybe it’ll inspire you to build something playful of your own — because innovation doesn’t always have to be serious. Sometimes, it can just be… fun.

[Mel Paisley]

Love it @Akash Singh - I've been thinking about building some games with Forge to demonstrate different capabilities too.  Did you use Custom UI to implement your app, or did you build the game in a Frame component? 

[Akash Singh]

@Mel Paisley I used Custom UI with JavaScript Canvas API for the graphics. I added MIT license to the project so feel free to use it in your demos. 😊 

[Danielle Larregui]

Nice job @Akash Singh !

[Lars Klint]

Hahahaha, it does indeed bring back memories @Akash Singh 😁 I will see how we might use this for a demo, tutorial, YouTube video or something else. Would you be okay with that?

[Akash Singh]

@Lars Klint Haha, I’m all in as long as there’s a little “credit roll” moment for me 😜
Seriously though, I’m a big fan of your YouTube stuff!

[Lars Klint]

@Akash Singh  That is very kind my friend. And yes, of course we will credit you wherever we might use this excellent piece of Forge nostalgia integration 😊

[Kassy Shane]

This really made me smile. I grew up playing Snake on those old Nokia phones too, and seeing it come to life inside Jira feels both clever and nostalgic. I love how you turned a simple memory into something that can brighten up someone’s workday.

[Akash Singh]

@Kassy Shane Thanks a lot! 😊 That’s exactly what I was going for. Glad it brought back some good memories!