🐍 Snakes & Ladders
43 playsSnakes & Ladders
A dice race to square 100, with shortcuts up the board and setbacks down it.
About Snakes & Ladders
Descended from the Indian game Moksha Patam, this is a race across a hundred-square board decided entirely by the throw of a die. A ladder carries your counter forward, a snake returns it, and the final square must be reached by an exact count. There is no decision to make anywhere in it, which is rather the point: the board supplies the tension, not the player.
How to Play
Tap Roll and your counter advances by the number shown. A ladder lifts you to its top; a snake returns you to its tail. Throwing a six lets you roll again. Square 100 must be landed on exactly — an overshoot leaves you where you are.
💡 Tips & Strategy
There is no strategy here, and that is worth knowing: every move is determined by the die, so nothing you do changes the outcome. Play it for the swings rather than for a plan.
What does help is perspective on the odds. Long ladders early in the board shorten a game dramatically, and the snakes near the end are what make a comfortable lead evaporate — the distribution, not skill, produces the drama.
The exact-roll rule at the top means the last few squares take longer than they should. Expect to sit near the finish for several turns; it is normal rather than bad luck.
If you enjoy the tension but want decisions to matter, the board games in the Board section — checkers, reversi, backgammon — offer the same familiar shape with real choices in them.