How to Play Snakes and Ladders

A worldwide classic board game! Navigate your piece from start to finish, avoid the snakes, and take shortcuts going up the ladders. The origins of this game are found in ancient India were it was known as ‘Moksha-Patamu.' A player moving up the board represented life's spiritual journey, complicated by virtues - the ladders, and vices - the snakes.

Equipment

Snakes and Ladders board
1 die
Playing pieces

Setup

To start, each player rolls the die once. The player who rolls the highest number takes the first turn. If multiple players roll the same highest number, they roll again to break the tie. Players then take turns in clockwise order from the starting player.

Gameplay

Players take turns moving their pieces according to the die roll. Starting at 1, players follow the numbered squares on the board from left to right on the first row, then right to left on the next, repeating this pattern until they reach 100. For example, if a player rolls a 4, they advance their piece four spaces.

Player rolls a 4 and moved the blue playing piece four places starting at 1.

Snakes

If a player lands on the top of a snake, their piece slides down to the bottom of the snake.

Blue playing piece lands on top of a snake; thus, it will need to slide down to the bottom of the snake.

If a player lands on the bottom of a snake, they remain there.

Blue playing piece lands at the bottom of a snake and will remain there until the next turn.

Ladders

If a player lands at the base of a ladder, they immediately move to the top of the ladder.

Blue playing piece lands at the base of a ladder and climbs to the top.

Landing on the top of a ladder does not allow for an extra move.

Blue playing piece lands at the bottom of a ladder and remains there until the next turn. It does not move to the bottom of the ladder.

Winning the Game

The first player to reach the final square, 100, wins the game. To win, a player must roll the exact number needed to land on 100. If a player rolls a number higher than needed, their piece stays where it is until their next turn.

Blue playing piece reaches the highest space on the board, 100, and wins the game.

The Bounce Back Variation

In this variation, players do not need to roll the exact number to reach 100. Instead, if a player rolls a number that would move their piece beyond 100, they bounce back by the extra number of spaces. For example, if a player is four spaces away from 100 and rolls a 6, they move four spaces to 100, then bounce back two spaces, landing on 98. The first player to land on 100 wins.

Bounce back variation - Blue playing piece had four spaces to get to 100 and rolled a 6. The piece moved four spaces to 100, then bounced back two spaces to 98.

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