Snake Oil Print And Play < Desktop >

A retail copy of Snake Oil costs $15–$25. A PnP version costs the price of a pack of card sleeves (or a laminator sheet) and some printer ink. For international gamers where shipping is prohibitive, PnP is a lifeline.

(Cut these out)

Here’s where snake oil meets real poison.

The original Snake Oil game is trademarked and copyrighted. Out of the Box Publishing (now under Goliath Games) owns the rights. No official PNP license exists.

Yet most fan-made PNP versions explicitly disclaim: "No copyright infringement intended. Original game by Out of the Box." They change the logo, tweak the font, and release "for personal use only." snake oil print and play

But personal use isn’t what happens. Files get shared. Etsy sellers profit. Print shops run copies for meetups.

When asked for comment, a Goliath Games representative said only: "We love that players enjoy Snake Oil. We encourage purchasing the official game to support the designers."

No lawsuits. No DMCA spree. The game exists in a silent truce.

The commercial version of Snake Oil comes with a fixed set of words (e.g., "Pig," "Helicopter," "Ghost"). With PnP, you can create themed decks.

The real innovation isn’t just printing the original—it’s the variants. A retail copy of Snake Oil costs $15–$25

"Snake Oil: Corporate Edition" – Words like downsize, synergy, pivot, blockchain. "Snake Oil: Horror" – Words like blood, whispers, sacrificial, embalmed. "Snake Oil: History Class" – Feudalism, smallpox, galleon, heresy.

One fan-made version, Snake Oil: After Dark, even replaces the customer cards with archetypes like Stepdad, Hinge Date, Disgraced Clown.

"I printed mine on 300gsm cardstock, sleeved them, and made a wooden box," says Mike, a PNP hobbyist from Oregon. "Cost me $12. It’s better than the real thing because I chose every word."

Players can also choose to Dump a Product card from their hand face-down on the table. This card is removed from the game and the player scores a small penalty.

Game End

The game ends when one player has sold or dumped all their products. That player scores points for the products they've sold and loses points for any products left in their hand. The player with the most points wins. Here’s where snake oil meets real poison

Strategies

Variations

Print and Play

To play Snake Oil, print out the following:

Assemble the components and follow the setup and gameplay instructions. Enjoy the game!