View source for Snakes and ladders

{{needs more sources|date=October 2024}}
{{short description|Ancient Indian board game}}
{{other uses}}
{{redirect|Chutes and Ladders|the American Horror Story episode|Chutes and Ladders (American Horror Story)|the song by Korn|Shoots and Ladders}}
{{Infobox game
| title         = Snakes and ladders 
| image_link    = Snakes and Ladders.jpg
| image_caption = Game of Snakes and ladders, [[gouache]] on cloth (India, 19th century)
| years         = [[Ancient India]] 2nd century CE to present
| genre         = {{ubl|[[Board game]]|[[Race game]]|[[Dice game]]}}
| players       = 2 or more
| setup_time    = Negligible
| playing_time  = 15–45 minutes
| random_chance = Complete
| skills        = [[Counting]], [[observation]]
| AKA           = {{ubl|Moksha Patam|''Chutes and Ladders''}}
| footnotes     = 
}}

'''Snakes and ladders''' is a [[board game]] for two or more [[Player (game)|players]] regarded today as a worldwide classic.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chutes and Ladders – Snakes and Ladders |url=http://boardgames.about.com/od/gamehistories/p/chutes_ladders.htm |publisher=About.com}}</ref> The game [[Traditional games of India|originated in ancient India]] as ''Moksha Patam'', and was brought to the [[United Kingdom]] in the 1890s. It is played on a game board with numbered, gridded squares. A number of "ladders" and "snakes" are pictured on the board, each connecting two specific board squares. The object of the game is to navigate one's game piece, according to [[Dice|die]] <!-- one "die" in this description, not "dice" (plural) --> rolls, from the start (bottom square) to the finish (top square), helped by climbing ladders but hindered by falling down snakes.

The game is a simple race based on sheer luck, and it is popular with young children.<ref>{{citation |last=Pritchard |first=D.B. |author-link=David Pritchard (chess player) |title=The Family Book of Games |chapter=Snakes and Ladders |page=162 |publisher=Brockhampton Press |year=1994 |isbn=1-86019-021-9}}</ref> The historic version had its roots in morality lessons, on which a player's progression up the board represented a life journey complicated by virtues (ladders) and vices (snakes). The game is also sold under other names, such as the morality themed '''''Chutes and Ladders''''', which was published by the Milton Bradley Company starting in 1943.

==Equipment==
The size of the grid varies, but is most commonly 8×8, 10×10 or 12×12 squares. Boards have snakes and ladders starting and ending on different squares; both factors affect the duration of play. Each player is represented by a distinct game piece token. A single die <!-- one "die" in this description, not "dice" (plural) --> is rolled to determine random movement of a player's token in the traditional form of play; two dice may be used for a shorter game.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

==History==
Snakes and ladders originated as part of a family of Indian dice board games that included ''[[gyan chauper]]'' and [[pachisi]] (known in English as [[Ludo (board game)|Ludo]] and ''[[Parcheesi]]''). It made its way to England and was sold as "Snakes and Ladders",<ref>{{cite web|last1=Coopee|first1=Todd|title=Chutes and Ladders from Milton Bradley (1943)|url=https://toytales.ca/chutes-ladders-milton-bradley-1943/|website=ToyTales.ca|date=2 December 2019 }}</ref> then the basic concept was introduced in the United States as ''Chutes and Ladders''.<ref name=Augustyn/>

[[File:Gyan chaupar.JPG|thumb|''Gyan chaupar'' ([[Jainism|Jain]] version of the game), [[National Museum, New Delhi]]]]
The game was popular in ancient India by the name ''Moksha Patam''. It was also associated with traditional [[Hindu philosophy]] contrasting ''karma'' and ''kama'', or destiny and desire. It emphasized destiny, as opposed to games such as pachisi, which focused on life as a mixture of skill (free will)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://devdutt.com/articles/indian-mythology/playing-with-fate-and-free-will.html |title=Playing with fate and free will |publisher=Devdutt Pattanaik |date=17 September 2007}}</ref> and luck. The underlying ideals of the game inspired a version introduced in [[Victorian England]] in 1892. The game has also been interpreted and used as a tool for teaching the effects of good deeds versus bad. The board was covered with symbolic images used in ancient India, the top featuring gods, angels, and majestic beings, while the rest of the board was covered with pictures of animals, flowers and people.<ref name="BBB">{{cite book |last=Bell |first=R.C. |author-link=Robert Charles Bell |title=The Boardgame Book |publisher=Exeter Books |year=1983 |chapter=Snakes and Ladders |pages=134–135 |isbn=0-671-06030-9}}</ref> The ladders represented virtues such as generosity, faith, and humility, while the snakes represented vices such as lust, anger, murder, and theft. The morality lesson of the game was that a person can attain liberation ([[Moksha]]) through doing good, whereas by doing evil one will [[Reincarnation|be reborn]] as lower forms of life. The number of ladders was fewer than the number of snakes as a reminder that a path of good is much more difficult to tread than a path of sins. Presumably, reaching the last square (number 100) represented the attainment of ''Moksha'' (spiritual liberation).{{cn|date=October 2024}}

''Gyan chauper'', or ''jnan chauper'', (game of wisdom), the version associated with the [[Jain philosophy]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bornet |first1=Philippe |last2=Burger |first2=Maya |title=Religions in Play: Games, Rituals, and Virtual Worlds |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t3X18dopUoMC |publisher=Theologischer Verlag Zürich |date=2012 |page=94 |isbn=9783290220105}}</ref> encompassed the concepts like ''[[Karma in Jainism|karma]]'' and ''[[Moksha (Jainism)|Moksha]]''. A version popular in the [[Muslim]] world is known as ''shatranj al-'urafa'' and exists in various versions in [[India]], [[Iran]], and [[Turkey]]. In this version, based on [[sufi]] philosophy, the game represents the [[dervish]]'s quest to leave behind the trappings of worldly life and achieve union with God.<ref name="schick">{{cite book |doi=10.1484/M.HDL-EB.5.120708 |chapter=Chess of the Gnostics: The Sufi Version of Snakes and Ladders in Turkey and India |title=Games and Visual Culture in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance |series=History of Daily Life |date=2020 |last1=Schick |first1=İrvin Cemil |volume=8 |pages=173–216 |isbn=978-2-503-58872-8 }}</ref>

[[File:Berrington Hall - snakes and ladders (13826426425).jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|Snakes and Ladders from Victorian England, c. 1900, with ladders appearing in squares of good deeds, such as Thrift, Penitence and Industry, and snakes appearing in squares of bad deeds, such as Dishonesty, Cruelty and Indolence]]
When the game was brought to England, the Indian virtues and vices were replaced by English ones in hopes of better reflecting Victorian doctrines of morality. Squares of Fulfilment, Grace and Success were accessible by ladders of Thrift, Penitence and Industry and snakes of Indulgence, Disobedience and Indolence caused one to end up in Illness, Disgrace and Poverty. While the Indian version of the game had snakes outnumbering ladders, the English counterpart was more forgiving as it contained equal numbers of each.<ref name="changes">Masters, James. "Moksha-Patamu (Snakes and Ladders)." The Online Guide to Traditional Games. N.p., n.d. Web.</ref>

The association of Britain's snakes and ladders with India and ''gyan chauper'' began with the returning of colonial families from [[British Raj|India during the British Raj]]. The décor and art of the early English boards of the 20th century reflect this relationship. By the 1940s very few pictorial references to Indian culture remained, due to the economic demands of the war and the collapse of British rule in India.<ref name="topsfield"/> Although the game's sense of morality has lasted through the game's generations, the physical allusions to religious and philosophical thought in the game as presented in Indian models appear to have all but faded. There has even been evidence of a possible Buddhist version of the game existing in India during the Pala-Sena time period.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

In [[Andhra Pradesh]], this game is popularly called '''{{transliteration|te|ISO|Vaikunṭhapāḷi}}''' or ''{{transliteration|te|ISO|Paramapada Sopāna Paṭamu}}'' (the ladder to salvation) in Telugu.<ref name=Augustyn>Augustyn (2004), pp. 27–28</ref><ref name="topsfield">{{cite book |last=Topsfield |first=Andrew |title=The art of play. Board and card games of India |publisher=Marg Publications |year=2006 |isbn=9788185026763}}</ref> In Hindi, this game is called ''Saanp aur Seedhi'', ''Saanp Seedhi'' and ''Mokshapat''. In [[Tamil Nadu]] the game is called ''Parama padam'' and is often played by devotees of [[Hindu]] god [[Vishnu]] during the [[Vaikuntha Ekadashi]] festival in order to stay awake during the night. In Bengali-speaking regions, [[West Bengal]] in India and [[Bangladesh]], it is known as ''Shap Shiri'' or ''Shapludu'' respectively.<ref>{{cite web|author=Alimuzzaman|script-title=bn:সাপলুডুর মক্সা বোর্ড|trans-title=Moksha board of Shapludu|website=Kishore Alo|url=https://www.kishoralo.com/feature/%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%AA%E0%A6%B2%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%A1%E0%A7%81%E0%A6%B0-%E0%A6%AE%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%BE-%E0%A6%AC%E0%A7%8B%E0%A6%B0%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%A1|date=6 May 2020|access-date=9 June 2021}}</ref>

In the original game the squares of virtue are: ''Faith'' (12), ''Reliability'' (51), ''Generosity'' (57), ''Knowledge'' (76), and ''Asceticism'' (78). The squares of vice or evil are: ''Disobedience'' (41), ''Vanity'' (44), ''Vulgarity'' (49), ''Theft'' (52), ''Lying'' (58), ''Drunkenness'' (62), ''Debt'' (69), ''Murder'' (73), ''Rage'' (84), ''Greed'' (92), ''Pride'' (95), and ''Lust'' (99).<ref name="BBB" />

==Gameplay==
[[Image:Cnl03.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|right|Milton Bradley ''Chutes and Ladders'' gameboard {{circa|1952}}. The illustrations show good deeds and their rewards; bad deeds and their consequences.]]
Each player starts with a token on the starting square (usually the "1" grid square in the bottom left corner, or simply, at the edge of the board next to the "1" grid square). Players take turns rolling a single [[Dice|die]] to move their token by the number of squares indicated by the die rolled. Tokens follow a fixed route marked on the gameboard which usually follows a [[boustrophedon]] (ox-plow) track from the bottom to the top of the playing area, passing once through every square. If, on completion of a move, a player's token lands on the lower-numbered end of a "ladder", the player moves the token up to the ladder's higher-numbered square. If the player lands on the higher-numbered square of a "snake" (or chute), the player moves the token down to the snake's lower-numbered square.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

If a ''6'' is rolled, the player, after moving, immediately rolls again for another turn;<ref>Parlett (1999), p. 91: "An additional throw is conferred by a six if one die is used, or a double if two."</ref> otherwise play passes to the next player in turn. The player who is first to bring their token to the last square of the track is the winner.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

===Variations===
[[File:Snakes and Ladders board.jpg|thumb|Modern snakes and ladders board]]
Variants exists where a player must roll the exact number to reach the final square. Depending on the variation, if the die roll is too large, the token either remains in place or goes off the final square and back again. (For example, if a player requiring a ''3'' to win rolls a ''5'', the token moves forward three spaces, then back two spaces.) In certain circumstances (such as a player rolling a ''5'' when a ''1'' is required to win), a player can end up further away from the final square after their move, than before it.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

In the book ''[[Winning Ways]]'', the authors propose a variant that they call ''Adders-and-Ladders'', which, unlike the original game, involves skill. Instead of tokens for each player, there is a store of indistinguishable tokens shared by all players. The illustration has five tokens (and a five by five board). There is no die to roll; instead, the player chooses any token and moves it one to four spaces. Whoever moves the last token to the Home space (i.e. the last number) wins.<ref>{{cite web|title=BoardGameGeek|url=https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/951182/rules-adders-ladders|access-date=24 August 2020|website=boardgamegeek.com}}</ref>

==Specific editions==
The most widely known edition of snakes and ladders in the United States is ''Chutes and Ladders'', released by [[Milton Bradley Company|Milton Bradley]] in 1943.<ref name="slesin">{{cite news |last1=Slesin |first1=Suzanne |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/15/garden/currents-at-50-still-climbing-still-sliding.html |title=At 50, Still Climbing, Still Sliding |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=15 July 1993 }}</ref> The playground setting replaced the snakes, which were thought to be disliked by children at the time.<ref name="slesin"/> It is played on a 10x10 board, and players advance their pieces according to a [[wikt:spinner|spinner]] rather than a die. The theme of the board design is [[playground]] equipment, showing children climbing ladders and descending chutes.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

The artwork on the board teaches [[morality]] lessons: squares on the bottom of the ladders show a child doing a good or sensible deed, at the top of the ladder there is an image of the child enjoying the reward; squares at the top of the chutes show children engaging in mischievous or foolish behavior, on the bottom of the chute the image shows the children suffering the consequences.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

Black children were depicted in the Milton Bradley game for the first time in 1974.<ref name="slesin" /> There have been many pop culture versions of the game, with graphics featuring such children's television characters as ''[[Dora the Explorer (TV series)|Dora the Explorer]]'' and ''[[Sesame Street]]''. It has been marketed as "The Classic Up and Down Game for Preschoolers". In 1999, Hasbro released Chutes and Ladders for PCs.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

In Canada the game has been traditionally sold as "Snakes and Ladders" and produced by the Canada Games Company. Several Canada-specific versions have been produced over the years, including a version with [[toboggan]] runs instead of snakes.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=http://www.gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/VirtualExhibits/Whitehill/snakes/index.html |title=Snakes and Ladders |publisher=Elliott Avedon Museum & Archive of Games |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220175521/http://www.gamesmuseum.uwaterloo.ca/VirtualExhibits/Whitehill/snakes/index.html |archive-date=20 February 2008}}</ref>

An early British version of the game depicts the path of a young boy and girl making their way through a cartoon railroad and train system.<ref name=":0" />

During the early 1990s in South Africa, ''Chutes and Ladders'' games made from cardboard were distributed on the back of egg boxes as part of a promotion.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hinebaugh |first=Jeffrey |title=A Board Game Education P. |publisher=R&L Education |year=2009 |page=35 |isbn=9781607092612}}</ref>

Even though the concept of major virtues against vices and related Eastern spiritualism is not much emphasized in modern incarnations of the game, the central mechanism of snakes and ladders makes it an effective tool for teaching young children about various subjects. In two separate Indonesian schools, the implementation of the game as media in English lessons of fifth graders not only improved the students' vocabulary but also stimulated their interest and excitement about the learning process.<ref name="sari">{{cite thesis |last1=Sari |first1=Candrika Citra |date=2012 |title=Developing snake and ladder game board as a media to teach english vocabulary to elementary school students |oclc=1372972281 }}{{pn|date=July 2025}}</ref><ref name="yuliana">Yuliana, Ita, "The Implementation of Snakes And Ladders Game to Improve Students' Vocabulary Among the Fifth Grade Students of SD N Bapangsari in the Academic Year 2012/2013". SCRIPTA – Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris 1.2 (2013). Web.</ref> Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University found that pre-schoolers from low income backgrounds who played an hour of numerical board games like snakes and ladders matched the performance of their middle-class counterparts by showing improvements in counting and recognizing number shapes.<ref name="siegler">{{cite journal |last1=Siegler |first1=Robert S. |last2=Ramani |first2=Geetha B. |title=Playing linear numerical board games promotes low-income children's numerical development |journal=Developmental Science |date=September 2008 |volume=11 |issue=5 |pages=655–661 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-7687.2008.00714.x |pmid=18801120 }}</ref> An eco-inspired version of the game was also used to teach students and teachers about climate change and environmental sustainability.<ref name="morrison">Morrison, Sarah, "Battling climate-change: How snakes and ladders could save the planet". ''The Independent'', 14 April 2013. Web.</ref>

Meyer et al. (2020) explored on the basis of ''Chutes and Ladders'' with a free and adaptive game project.<ref name="Meyer et al., (2020)">{{cite report |doi=10.13140/RG.2.2.21128.08969 |date=2020 |last1=Meyer-Baumgartner |first1=Stefan L. |last2=Rickenbacher |first2=Livia |last3=Zürcher |first3=Evelyne |title=Monza - parlor game }}</ref> This refers on the one hand to systemic game pedagogy.<ref name="Heimlich">Heimlich, U. (2015).: ''Einführung in die Spielpädagogik (3., aktualisierte und erweiterte Auflage.)''. Bad Heilbrunn: Verlag Julius Klinkhard, ISBN 978-3825241995</ref><ref name="Singer et al.">Singer, D. G., Michnick Golinkoff, R. & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2006).: ''Play = Learning : How Play Motivates and Enhances Children’s Cognitive and Social-Emotional Growth''. New York: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-530438-1.</ref> The players and the educators develop the game from ground up and set the rules. The second element of the Monza project is mathematization. Over several years, teachers and learners abstract the game experiences into the language of mathematics.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

==Mathematics of the game==
[[Image:Probability of winning Snakes and Ladders by turns.svg|thumb|400px|The cumulative probability of finishing a game of snakes and ladders by turn N]]
Any version of snakes and ladders can be represented exactly as an [[absorbing Markov chain]], since from any square the odds of moving to any other square are fixed and independent of any previous game history.<ref name="Mathematical Gazette">{{cite journal |last1=Althoen |first1=S.C. |last2=King |first2=L. |last3=Schilling |first3=K. |title=How Long Is a Game of Snakes and Ladders? |journal=The Mathematical Gazette |publisher=The Mathematical Association |volume=77 |issue=478 |pages=71–76 |date=March 1993 |jstor=3619261 |doi=10.2307/3619261 }}</ref> The Milton Bradley version of ''Chutes and Ladders'' has 100 squares, with 19 chutes and ladders. A player will need an average of 35.8 spins to move from the starting point, which is off the board, to square 100.  A two-player game is expected to end in 47.76 moves with a 50.9% chance of winning for the first player.<ref>{{cite web |first=Daniel |last=Audet |title=Probabilités et espérances dans le jeu de serpents et échelles à deux joueurs |url=http://archimede.mat.ulaval.ca/amq/bulletins/dec12/Serpents.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://archimede.mat.ulaval.ca/amq/bulletins/dec12/Serpents.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |publisher=Bulletin AMQ |date=Dec 2012 }}</ref> These calculations are based on a variant where spinning a six does not lead to an additional spin and where the player does not need to spin the exact number to reach square 100; if they overshoot, the game has still ended.  Requiring a player to land exactly on square 100 in order to end the game results in a single-player average of 39.2 spins to win.<ref name="Mathematical Gazette" />

==In popular culture==
*The phrase "back to square one" originated in the game of snakes and ladders, or at least was influenced by it – the earliest attestation of the phrase refers to the game: "Withal he has the problem of maintaining the interest of the reader who is always being sent back to square one in a sort of intellectual game of snakes and ladders."<ref>[http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/back%20to%20square%20one.html "Back to square one"], ''[http://www.phrases.org.uk/ The Phrase Finder]'', Gary Martin.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Hugh-Jones |first=E.M. |title=The American Economy, 1860–1940. by A. J. Youngson Brown |journal=The Economic Journal |publisher=Wiley |volume=62 |issue=246 |pages=411–414 |date=June 1952 |jstor=2227038 |doi=10.2307/2227038}}</ref>
*[[Snakes & Lattes]] is a [[board game café]] chain headquartered in [[Toronto]], Canada, named after snakes and ladders.<ref>{{cite news |last=Freehill-Maye |first=Lynn |title=In Toronto Cafes, Board Games Rule |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/travel/toronto-cafes-board-games.html |work=The New York Times |date=26 January 2016 }}</ref>
*Chutes and Ladders is mentioned in [[Rixty Minutes]], the eighth episode of the [[Rick and Morty (season 1)|first season]] of ''[[Rick and Morty]]''. [[Summer Smith|Summer]], while using [[Rick Sanchez|Rick's]] electronic goggles to observe the [[Parallel universes in fiction|parallel universes]], sees herself playing Chutes and Ladders with her parents ([[Beth Smith|Beth]] and [[Jerry Smith (Rick and Morty)|Jerry]]).

==References==
{{reflist}}

'''Bibliography'''
*{{cite book |last=Augustyn |first=Frederick J |title=Dictionary of toys and games in American popular culture |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryoftoys00fred |url-access=registration |publisher=Haworth Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-7890-1504-8}}
*{{cite book |last=Parlett |first=David |author-link=David Parlett |contribution=Snakes & Ladders |title=The Oxford History of Board Games |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryofb0000parl |url-access=registration |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1999 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryofb0000parl/page/91 91–94] |isbn=0-19-212998-8}}
*{{cite book |last1=Tatz |first1=Mark |last2=Kent |first2=Jody |title=Rebirth: The Tibetan Game of Liberation |publisher=Anchor Press |year=1977 |isbn=0-385-11421-4}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last1=Berlekamp |first1=Elwyn R |last2=Conway |first2=John H |last3=Guy |first3=Richard K |title=Winning Ways for Your Mathematical Plays |url=https://archive.org/details/winningwaysforyo01berl |url-access=registration |publisher=Academic Press |year=1982 |isbn=0-12-091150-7}}
* Shimkhada, Deepak (1983), "A Preliminary Study of the Game of Karma in India, Nepal, and Tibet" in ''Artibus Asiae'' 44:4, pp.&nbsp;308–322.
* Topsfield, Andrew (1985), "The Indian Game of Snakes and Ladders" in ''Artibus Asiae'' 46:3, pp.&nbsp;203–226.
* Topsfield, Andrew (2006), "Snakes and Ladders in India: Some Further Discoveries" in ''Artibus Asiae'' 66:1, pp.&nbsp;143–179.

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline}}

{{Milton Bradley}}
{{Hasbro}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snakes And Ladders}}
[[Category:Children's board games]]
[[Category:Traditional board games]]
[[Category:Tabletop games]]
[[Category:Roll-and-move board games]]
[[Category:Race games]]
[[Category:Indian board games]]
[[Category:Indian inventions]]
[[Category:Markov models]]
[[Category:Milton Bradley Company games]]
[[Category:Products introduced in 1943]]