diff --git a/xtask/src/main.rs b/xtask/src/main.rs
index 12b6f0f..105242c 100644
--- a/xtask/src/main.rs
+++ b/xtask/src/main.rs
@@ -346,7 +346,7 @@ fn run_snake(port: u16, log: Option<&str>) -> Result<Child, DynError> {
     }
     let mut snake = snake
         .args(
-            ["run", "--bin", "battlesnake"]
+            ["run", "--bin", "battlesnake", "--release"]
                 .map(str::to_string)
                 .into_iter()
                 .chain(env::args().skip(2)),