Snakes and ladders
A classic race of luck and morality, where ladders lift virtue and snakes swallow vice.
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A board game known globally as a classic, Snakes and ladders accommodates two or more participants.[1] Young children often enjoy this straightforward, luck-driven race.[2]
Making and release
It was popular in ancient India by the name Moksha Patam.[3] Gyan chaupar made its way to England and was sold as "Snakes and Ladders"[4] When the game was brought to England, the Indian virtues and vices were replaced by English ones.[5] Indian dice board games like gyan chauper and pachisi are part of the same family from which this game emerged.[6]
Milton Bradley's 1943 release, Chutes and Ladders, is the most familiar edition in the United States.[7] Because snakes were considered unappealing to children, the playground version substituted them with chutes.[7]
What the cited sources add
Coopee's 2019 article states that Chutes and Ladders was introduced in the United States in 1943 by Milton Bradley.[8] Coopee also explains that scary snakes have been replaced with chutes that perform the same sliding function during gameplay.[8] According to the same source, the original game from the 2nd century B.C. taught children counting, number recognition, and moral lessons.[8] The 1999 version, as per Hasbro Interactive's metadata, is in English and has a file size of 491.1M.[9]
References
- Wikipedia, "Snakes and ladders" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Chutes and Ladders – Snakes and Ladders", About.com Home (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Snakes and ladders" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pritchard, "The Family Book of Games", Brockhampton Press, 1994, p. 162 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Snakes and ladders" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Playing with fate and free will", Devdutt Pattanaik, 17 September 2007 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Snakes and ladders" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Coopee, "Chutes and Ladders from Milton Bradley (1943)", ToyTales.ca, 2 December 2019; Augustyn (2004), pp. 27–28 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Snakes and ladders" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Masters, James. "Moksha-Patamu (Snakes and Ladders)." The Online Guide to Traditional Games. N.p., n.d. Web. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Snakes and ladders" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Finkel, "Snakes and Ladders and other early board games", Gutenberg Press Ltd, 1998, p. 33–44 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Snakes and ladders" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Slesin, "At 50, Still Climbing, Still Sliding", The New York Times, 15 July 1993; Slesin, "At 50, Still Climbing, Still Sliding", The New York Times, 15 July 1993 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Coopee, "Chutes and Ladders from Milton Bradley (1943)", ToyTales.ca, 2 December 2019. facts only, no text reused. toytales.ca
- Hasbro Interactive, "Chutes and Ladders (1999)", 1999. facts only, no text reused. archive.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Snakes and ladders (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Snakes and ladders (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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