Invention of Snakes and ladders
Almost every Indian child has played it. You roll the dice, climb a ladder and cheer. Then a snake swallows your token and sends you back down. The game looks like simple fun. But the history of Snakes and Ladders is much older, and it began as a lesson about how to live.
This article follows the game from ancient India to the modern board. It covers its old names, the meaning of the snakes and ladders, how it reached England and America, and how to play. The facts come from museum notes, scholars and reference sources. Where the story is uncertain, I say so.
Table of Contents
Where Did Snakes and Ladders Come From?
Snakes and Ladders began in India. Its old name was Moksha Patam, which means “the path to liberation”. Moksha is the freedom from the cycle of birth and death in Indian thought. The game belonged to a family of Indian dice board games, along with pachisi, which later became Ludo.
Reference sources give its age loosely. One says the game was played in ancient India from about the 2nd century CE. Others say only that it is very old. No exact date or inventor is proven. Please treat any single date you see online with care.
One story gives credit to the Marathi saint Dnyaneshwar, who lived in the 13th century. A Sanskrit work from 1871 makes this claim. Scholars call it a claim, not proven fact. The oldest known boards that survive are much later. Some go back to the late 15th century, according to the scholar Andrew Topsfield.
Gyan Chaupar: The Original Game
The best known early form is Gyan Chaupar. The name means “game of knowledge”. It was linked with Jain thought, and also played in Hindu and Sufi traditions. Each square on the board stood for a good action, a bad action, or a state of being.
The old boards were not always ten by ten. Some had 72 squares, some 84, some 100 and some 128. One board in the British Library, once owned by the East India Company officer Richard Johnson, dates from about 1780 to 1782. Its squares had words like “maya” (illusion), “krodh” (anger), “lobh” (greed), “daya” (mercy) and “bhakti” (devotion).
In that board, the square of devotion took the player straight to Vaikuntha, the home of Vishnu. A long snake on square 72 sent players back to the earth to be reborn. The game was more than a race. It was a picture of many lives.
What the Snakes and Ladders Meant
The meaning was simple. Ladders stood for virtues. Snakes stood for vices. Reference books list virtues such as faith, reliability, generosity, knowledge and asceticism, which means a plain, self-denying life. The vices included disobedience, vanity, theft, lying, drunkenness, debt, anger, greed, pride and lust.
There were fewer ladders than snakes. Writers say this was a reminder that the path of good is harder to walk than the path of vice. Reaching the last square stood for freedom, or moksha.
The message, then, was that good deeds lift you up, and bad ones pull you down. A single wrong step near the top could undo a long climb. That is still the feeling players get today, when a snake sits near square 99.
Regional Names in India
Across India, the game has many names. Each region has made it its own.
| Region or language | Name |
|---|---|
| Hindi | Saanp Seedhi or Mokshapat |
| Telugu (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana) | Vaikunthapali or Paramapada Sopana Patamu |
| Tamil Nadu | Parama Padam |
| Bengali | Shap Shiri (India) or Shapludu (Bangladesh) |
In Tamil Nadu, devotees of Vishnu play Parama Padam on Vaikuntha Ekadashi, to stay awake through the night. Paramapada Sopanam, “the ladder to heaven”, is also played on that festival day in parts of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. In some Jain communities, Gyan Chaupar is reportedly played during the festival of Paryushan.
There is a Sufi version, too. It is called Shatranj al-Urafa, or “chess of the wise”. It shows the seeker’s effort to leave worldly things behind and reach union with God.
How the Game Reached England
British families returned from India during the Raj, and they brought the game home. In England it became a children’s game. The earliest known English version was made by the toymaker F. H. Ayres. It was registered in October 1892 and had a round board with a spiral path of 100 squares.
The moral theme stayed, but the meaning changed. Victorian makers replaced the Indian virtues and vices with English ones. Ladders carried names like Thrift, Penitence and Industry. Snakes carried names like Indulgence, Disobedience and Indolence. The English board also had equal numbers of snakes and ladders, so it was kinder than the Indian one.
By the 1940s, most Indian pictures had vanished from British boards. The game stopped being a spiritual lesson and turned into a race for children.
Chutes and Ladders in America
The American version came in 1943, when the Milton Bradley company released Chutes and Ladders. The company replaced snakes with playground slides, called chutes. Reports say snakes were thought to be disliked by children at the time. The board used a spinner instead of dice.
The art still taught a lesson. A child doing a good deed stood at the bottom of a ladder, and the reward was at the top. A child doing something silly stood at the top of a chute, and the result was at the bottom. In 1974, the game showed Black children on the board for the first time.
How to Play Snakes and Ladders
The rules are short. Anyone can learn them in a minute.
- Each player picks a token and places it on the start square.
- Players take turns to roll one die and move their token that many squares.
- If your token lands on the bottom of a ladder, climb to the top.
- If it lands on the head of a snake, slide down to the tail.
- In many home versions, rolling a six gives you another turn.
- The first player to reach the last square, usually 100, wins.
A board is usually eight, ten or twelve squares wide. Two players can play, and most families play with two to four. Some versions say you must roll the exact number to land on the last square. Agree on the rules before you start, to avoid a quarrel.
A Game of Pure Luck
Snakes and Ladders has no skill in it. The dice decide everything. That is why very young children enjoy it. They can play and win against adults.
Mathematicians have studied it. On the Milton Bradley board, which has 100 squares and 19 chutes and ladders, one player needs about 36 spins on average to finish. A two-player game is expected to last about 48 moves. The first player has a slight edge, at about 51%. These figures assume a rule that you need not land exactly on 100.
Using the Game to Teach
Teachers use the board to help with counting. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that preschoolers from low-income homes who played numbered board games like this for an hour improved their counting and number skills. Other studies in Indonesian schools used the game to teach English words to fifth graders.
You can make your own board at home. Number a sheet of paper from 1 to 100, and draw a few ladders and snakes. Add questions for children on each snake. It becomes a quick quiz night.
Other Indian Games
The game belongs to a large family of Indian pastimes. For more, read about the invention of Ludo, which grew from pachisi. Our piece on the invention of Chaturanga, or chess, tells another tale. For a wider view, see the history of sports and games in India. If you like board games at home, our list of top carrom board game rules may help too.
Common Myths
- Myth: The game was invented in England. Fact: It came from India. England changed it into a children’s game.
- Myth: Snakes always meant evil. Fact: On some old boards, snakes could also lift the player. The meaning depended on the board.
- Myth: The exact inventor is known. Fact: Historians have no proven name or date.
- Myth: It is the same as Ludo. Fact: Ludo comes from pachisi, a related but different Indian game.
FAQs About Snakes and Ladders
Who invented Snakes and Ladders?
No one knows for sure. It grew out of old Indian games such as Gyan Chaupar, also called Moksha Patam. One tradition credits the saint Dnyaneshwar, but scholars treat that as unproven.
What did the snakes and ladders stand for?
Ladders stood for good deeds and virtues. Snakes stood for vices. The last square stood for liberation, or moksha.
How many players can play?
Two or more. Most home boards are meant for two to four players.
When did the game reach America?
The Milton Bradley company released the American version, Chutes and Ladders, in 1943.
Is Snakes and Ladders based on skill?
No. It depends on dice or a spinner, so it is a game of chance.
Final Thoughts
Snakes and Ladders travelled from Indian temples and courts to English nurseries and American playrooms. Along the way, it lost much of its spiritual meaning. But the idea at its centre still works. Every climb can be undone, and every fall can be followed by another climb. That is a fair lesson for a child, and for the rest of us.