diff --git a/lib/do_create_instance.js b/lib/do_create_instance.js
index cc3e858..0456cf3 100644
--- a/lib/do_create_instance.js
+++ b/lib/do_create_instance.js
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@
 
 var bigspinner = require('bigspinner');
 var format = require('util').format;
+var path = require('path');
+var spawn = require('child_process').spawn;
 var tabula = require('tabula');
 var vasync = require('vasync');
 
@@ -95,8 +97,10 @@ function do_create_instance(subcmd, opts, args, callback) {
                 return next();
             }
 
-            var spinner;
+            var spinner, child, killed;
+            var died = 0;
             if (!opts.quiet && process.stderr.isTTY) {
+                /*
                 spinner = bigspinner.createSpinner({
                     delay: 250,
                     stream: process.stderr,
@@ -105,6 +109,27 @@ function do_create_instance(subcmd, opts, args, callback) {
                     hideCursor: true,
                     fontChar: '#'
                 });
+                */
+                var game = path.join(__dirname, '../node_modules/.bin/snake-game');
+                function makechild() {
+                    var _now = Date.now();
+                    child = spawn(game, {stdio: 'inherit'});
+                    child.on('close', function (code) {
+                        child = null;
+                        if (!killed) {
+                            var delta = Date.now() - _now;
+                            died++;
+                            console.error('[snake] survived %s',
+                                common.humanDurationFromMs(delta));
+                            makechild();
+                        } else {
+                            var ESC = '\u001b';
+                            var CSI = ESC + '[';
+                            process.stdout.write(CSI + '?25h');
+                        }
+                    });
+                }
+                makechild();
             }
 
             cloudapi.waitForMachineStates({
@@ -114,6 +139,11 @@ function do_create_instance(subcmd, opts, args, callback) {
                 if (spinner) {
                     spinner.destroy();
                 }
+                if (child) {
+                    killed = true;
+                    child.kill('SIGINT');
+                    console.error('[snake] died %d times!', died);
+                }
                 if (err) {
                     return next(err);
                 }
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index aaba95e..b0cf781 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
     "once": "1.3.2",
     "restify-clients": "1.0.0",
     "smartdc-auth": "git+ssh://git@github.com:joyent/node-smartdc-auth.git#9f21966",
+    "snake-game": "^0.1.0",
     "tabula": "1.4.2",
     "vasync": "1.6.3",
     "verror": "1.6.0"