The Maker Behind Snake '97 — Code, Craft and Curiosity

The person who built a game with 40 million downloads also designs watches, builds bikes, and runs his own servers.

You probably got here through Snake '97. Welcome. What you may not know is that the game is just one corner of a much larger picture — decades of writing, building, and questioning how technology fits into a life well lived.

The Game

Snake '97 started as a simple idea: bring back the game everyone played on their Nokia. It became one of the most downloaded mobile apps in history — over 40 million installs, a spot in Apple's and Google's global charts, and visits to both companies' headquarters. The full story is in the post below.

The Same Hands Built Other Things

The game was always just one project among many. The same person who wrote Snake '97 also:

Designed his own watch — not by modifying an existing one, but starting from a blank dial. The watch collection spans a Tudor Black Bay 36 worn daily for three years, a Rolex Datejust, a Grand Seiko, and a vintage piece restored by hand.

Built bikes from scratch — a commuter bike designed for Amsterdam's cobblestones, a cargo bike assembled by hand piece by piece, a minimalist road bike with a Gates carbon belt drive.

Runs his own servers — mail server, DNS, cloud, backups. Not because it's easy, but because understanding and owning the infrastructure you depend on matters.

Wore a body sensor for years — testing Whoop Straps against clinical equipment, comparing optical and chest strap heart rate monitors, and eventually asking whether all that data actually helps.

The Philosophy

What connects the game, the watches, the bikes, and the servers is a way of thinking: understand how things work, build what you need, make it last. These posts explore that philosophy:

Digital minimalism — doing more with less technology. Offline-first computing, escaping the cloud, small devices.

Built to last — against disposable software and half-baked products. Hand-crafted websites, software that works without WiFi.

Repair culture — fixing things instead of replacing them. Robot vacuums, bike frames, helmets, MacBooks.

The Code

Snake '97 was written by a developer who still writes code every day. The broader programming story spans web development, native iOS apps, vibe coding, and the belief that a website should load in milliseconds, not seconds.

The Life Behind the Screen

And then there's the personal side. Leaving the city — moving from Amsterdam to the countryside. Fatherhood — the thread that runs underneath everything. Sport and the body — running a half marathon with years of sensor data and the wisdom to sometimes leave it all at home.

Your whole office in a backpack — how to fit a company into a single bag. Because the person who built Snake '97 on a laptop also runs his entire business from one.

Keep Exploring

This is a blog with over 170 posts spanning a decade. Every post is written by hand — many start as handwritten manuscripts before they become pixels. No AI ghostwriting, no content farms. Just one person writing honestly about the things he builds, uses, and cares about.

Also explore

watches and time · writing code · long-term reviews · less screen, more life