🐍 Snakes & Ladders
🎲 Board · 1 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. Where it earns its keep is with children, who absorb counting, number order and the idea of an unlucky run without noticing they are learning anything.
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.