Snake and ladder game in English. snake and ladder game

Meet "Snakes and ladders" - a surprise game for those who like to play board games online, without registration and without viewing ads. Here you can play alone or with friends - the computer will keep company and will not cheat, checked!

Few people know that the game "Snakes and Ladders" is the oldest of the entertainments, known since the first printed matter! And absolutely everyone tried to play it in childhood, without even knowing it. Intrigued? Opening the Cards: Ladder Snakes is a board game with chips, a dice and a printed field.

Rules of the game "Snakes and Ladders"

Select the game mode - "Snakes and Ladders" or "Kids and Slides", set the number of people from 2 (against the computer) to 6 people inclusive.

Take turns: first you need to roll the dice by clicking on the die, and the game will transfer the chip to the number of values ​​​​that have fallen.

The rolled six gives an additional turn.

If the chip is at the bottom of the stairs, it automatically rises to the highest step, bypassing all moves.

If the move fell on the head of the snake, then the chip slides down to the very tip of the tail.

The winner of the game "Snakes and Ladders" is declared the first one who hit exactly the "house". If the number of moves is greater than the possible path, the player wins back the difference by going back. For example: if you, while on square 99, received a five on a die, you must roll back 4 cells.

The result of the game is absolutely not predictable, because it depends only on luck. Let's check how you are with fortune today? Have a nice game!

Decide which mode you want to play in, as well as the number of enemy units or characters you prefer.
If you prefer the first option, then choose a chip of a specific color that impresses you the most.
You will always be the first to move, so don't delay, roll the die right away. As soon as a specific number falls out, it means the number of steps that you need to go through the cells of the playing field.
Ladders allow you to both bring the player closer to victory and move them away, and snakes only send back, reducing the chances of becoming a winner.
The second option is similar to the previous one, but it already provides for the selection of a specific character from the list. Ladders are also placed, but there are no snakes, instead of them there are slides that repeat the principle of the stairs.
In all modes, the players are displayed in the upper left of the screen in sequence, determined by the progress achieved during the game. Whoever is in the lead will take the first place, and the rest will distribute the second, third, etc. among themselves.
If the number is successfully rolled, a bonus may appear, allowing you to make an additional roll.

Print out the game board. Prepare chips according to the number of players and a die.
The rules are very simple and accessible to preschoolers.

• Before the start of the game, the chips are placed in front of the playing field. The order is determined by lot. Players take turns throwing a game die and, according to the numbers drawn, move their chips to the corresponding number of cells on the field. The goal of the game is to be the first to reach the finish line - cells with number 100.

• If the chip stops on a cell with a ladder, the player moves the chip up to the end of the ladder. If the chip stops at a cell with a snake's head, the chip goes down to the tail.

The Indian game was originally intended for playing religious lessons. The older generation, playing with children, explained to them the basic principles of the Jain religion. Good behavior and righteous deeds are ladders leading up and wrong behavior are snakes leading down. In our time, it is already difficult to attract this game to religion, but nevertheless, many game companies continue to release this board game because of the simple rules and the beautiful, original playing field.

playing field

The game is intended for home use only. Copying and duplicating the playing field on the Internet is prohibited!

Similar games:
- logic and strategy game for kids. We can say - a classic of board games.
- widespread in Europe family game. Often sold in online gift shops.

text: Dmitry Skyryuk

In the history of mankind, it happens that a thing that was created exclusively for children goes away to adults, and vice versa - a typically adult, serious contraption eventually becomes nothing more than children's entertainment. Literature knows many such examples: Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Raspe's The Feats of Baron Munchausen ... All these books were written by adults for adults, it could be an edifying novel, a political pamphlet, a friendly caricature, but centuries have passed - and now only children are reading out the “adventures of a sailor from York”, they call little people midgets, and liars are called “Munchausen”.

Games in this sense are no exception. I want to talk about one of these today. We all played it when we were little, but we didn’t think about how and where it arose: we were worried about completely different thoughts. And then we grew up, we were not up to it - life presents more severe games and riddles. But now, when our own children are growing up, there is a good reason, as the cartoon parrot said, “get to know each other again.”

I guarantee that many of you have not even heard of such a name: “Snakes-Ladder”, but you start to describe it - and everyone will remember the field with a numbered curved path streaked with arrows, where the blue ones lead up and the red ones lead back. In any country, such games are printed in thousands of copies, they come in a wide variety of thematic directions: fairy tales, cartoons, space adventures, circuses, biblical motifs (revolutionary games were popular in the USSR), but they are based on the same "Snakes and Ladders" - "Snakes-Ladder".

This game originated in the 16th century in India under the name Paramapada Sopanam (Stairway to Salvation). There are many similar games in the homeland of elephants - cruciform "pachisi", square "thaayam" and "saturankam", etc. "Snake-Ladder" - the simplest of them, with a linear, not tangled, but very long path. There are exactly one hundred cells on a 10x10 board (there are other options, but “weave” is considered classic). Each player has only one chip, and the moves are determined by the dice.

The rules are:

* Players take turns rolling the die and moving the token forward according to the number of points rolled.

* "Ladders" help promotion. If a chip stands at the foot of the "ladder", it immediately rises to the top.

* "Snakes" throw the chip back: standing on the "head" of the snake, the chip immediately rolls to its "tail".

* If a chip catches up with another and stands on the same square, the first one is considered cut down and goes to cell No. 1, starting from the beginning.

* If a player rolls a six, he is entitled to an extra roll.

* An accurate throw is required to get off the board. If the player does not roll the correct number, his chip reaches the finish line - and moves back by the remaining number of points.

* The winner is the one who first gets to the hundredth square.

In general, that's all.

High morale on the field

The game would be extremely simple (and boring) if not for the field:

“Moksha Patam”, as it is now called in its historical homeland, is not so much a developing game as a moralizing one. Like most old games, "Snake-Ladder" was invented for adults: it was a manual for the religious education of neophytes. Virtues and vices were depicted on significant cells of the board. According to Hindu beliefs, good and evil coexist in a person, but only good deeds (“ladders”) will help a person gain salvation (moksha) through a series of incarnations to complete perfection. The snakes symbolized reincarnation into lower, animal forms.

Initially, there were 12 "vices" on the field and only 5 "virtues": faith (12), responsibility (51), generosity (57), knowledge (76) and austerity (78).

As for the vices, their list was as follows: obstinacy (41), vanity (44), vulgarity (49), theft (52), idleness (58), drunkenness (62), debt (69), anger (84), stinginess (92), pride (95), murder (73), lust (99).

English colonists brought the oriental curiosity to Britain, where it very quickly took root as "Snake-Ladder", and then to America, already as "Chutes and Ladders", and the Protestant tradition adapted it to Victorian ideals. Since dice were considered gambling at that time, children used a special spinner with an arrow and numbers. Parents willingly bought these games so that their children could learn history, geography, zoology and morality, and here is the result: for more than a hundred years "Snake-Ladder" has been the favorite board game of British children.

Today in the classic version there are 19 "snakes" and 19 "ladders". Their location is by no means chaotic, as it might seem at first glance. After the hustle and bustle at the start, where the lucky ones climb 2-3 lines up, the players will experience a period of relative calm. There are not so many really dangerous areas. You can download any field you like on the Web - there are a lot of them, or you can draw it yourself (just don't draw the snakes too scary).

And as chips - you won’t believe it - anything at all will fit, as long as it fits on the cage and does not stick to the hands and the board.

The name "Snake-Ladder" has long become a household name. Gerry Rafferty, "Nazareth" and other artists called their records that way. “Well, what a life - solid Snakes-Ladder!”, People often complain in Western countries, and there's nothing to be done about it. These simple boards are fraught with age-old wisdom. Success follows failure - and vice versa, but two principles really fight in a person, and it doesn’t matter at all what they are called. In India, this was understood a long time ago, because this game is often referred to there simply as “Leela”, which means “Life” in translation.

In addition to moral aspects, Lesenok Snake has another remarkable property: it is multiplayer. What may seem like a disadvantage (one chip per player, complete dependence on luck - and no work of thought) has its advantages: at least ten people can play Snake-Ladder at once, it does not require serious attention, and age does not matter. meanings: for the smallest players it is enough that they learn to count, read, and also, as the song says, “love good books and be educated”. For 400 years this game has been entertaining and educating. Can you ask for more?

True, before it was an adult game. Well, that's how humanity once had a childhood.

Snakes don't need stairs, they crawl just fine without them. But they will come in handy for you to be the first to get to the coveted cell with number 100. Throw a die, rearrange the chip and see where you got. If on the stairs - feel free to climb higher, jumping several cells at once. But if you come across a cell on which the snake's head is located, you will have to roll down to its tail.

Your lucky number is six

If a six is ​​rolled on the die, it is very good: you have the right to a second move. The only moment - the lucky one, who managed to throw six three times in a row, comes back.

Can't go further

To win, you need to clearly reach the cell with the number 100. That is, throw out the exact number of steps that you do not have enough to win. If, for example, you roll a 5 and you are standing on cells 97, this is a reroll. And, again, you have to go back, not forward. So who will be the winner in this game is not clear until the last moment!

Hey, she's really childish!

For an adult, this game looks too simple: roll the dice and move. But for the little ones, it's a lot of fun. And very useful, by the way: they learn to count from one to a hundred, concentration and patience. Any teacher will tell you that Snakes and Ladders is great for keeping a small group of small, very active, noisy children busy.

What else is good about this game?

• compactness: the box fits easily even in an elegant handbag. What to say about the suitcase!
• Convenience: iron field and magnetic chips make the game an indispensable companion on a trip. Even with a sharp braking of the train, the position on the playing field will remain unchanged.

Legend for the Curious

The game "Snakes and Ladders" came from Ancient India, where it was called "Lila" and was played not just for fun, but put a special meaning into the movement of chips. It's simple: snakes are a fall, bad deeds, and ladders are righteous thoughts and deeds. Who will reach the "sky" faster?