Board game snake game rules. Road game "snakes and ladders". Rules of the game "Snakes and Ladders"
Print out the game board. Prepare chips for the number of players and a cube.
The rules are very simple and accessible for preschoolers.
- Before the game starts, the chips are placed in front of the playing field. The order is determined by lot. Players take turns throwing the game dice and, according to the numbers that fall out, 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 - cell 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 on a cell with a snake’s head, the chip goes down to the tail.
The Indian game was originally intended for play activities by religion. 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 is snakes leading down. Nowadays it is already difficult to attract this game to religion, but nevertheless many gaming companies continue to release this board because simple rules and 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:
- logical and strategy game for children. One might say - a classic of board games.
- common in Europe family game. Often sold in online souvenir shops.
text: Dmitry Skiryuk
In the history of mankind, it happens that a thing that was created exclusively for children goes to adults, and vice versa - a typically adult, serious thing over time becomes nothing more than children's entertainment. Literature knows many such examples: “Robinson Crusoe” by Defoe, “Gulliver’s Travels” by Swift, “The Exploits of Baron Munchausen” by Raspe... All these books were written by adults for adults, it could be an edifying novel, a political pamphlet, a friendly cartoon, but centuries passed - and It’s only now that children start reading about “the adventures of the sailor from York”; little people are called Lilliputians, and liars are called “Munchausens”.
Games in this sense are no exception. I want to tell you about one of these today. We all played it when we were little, but we didn’t think about how and where it originated: we were worried about completely different thoughts. And then we grew up, we had no time for that - life presents more severe games and riddles. But now that our own children are growing up, there is a good reason, as the parrot from the cartoon said, to “get to know each other again.”
I guarantee that many of you have never even heard the name of this: “Snakes-Ladders,” but if you start to describe it, everyone will remember a field with a numbered curved path lined 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 themes: fairy tales, cartoons, space adventures, circus, biblical motifs (games with revolutionary themes were popular in the USSR), but they are based on the same “Snakes and Ladders” - "Snakes-Ladders".
This game originated in the 16th century in India under the name “Paramapada Sopanam” (“Stairway to Salvation”). In the homeland of elephants there are many similar games - cross-shaped “pachisi”, square “thaayam” and “saturankam”, etc. “Snakes-Ladders” is the simplest of them, with a linear, not confusing, but very long path. There are exactly one hundred squares on a 10x10 board (there are other options, but “one hundred” is considered the classic one). Each player has only one piece, and the moves are determined by the dice.
The rules are:
* Players take turns throwing the dice and moving the chip forward according to the number of points rolled.
* “Ladders” help progress. If a piece 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 down 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 gets an extra roll.
* An accurate throw is required to exit the board. If a player does not roll the required number, his chip reaches the finish line - and moves back the remaining number of points.
* The first one to reach the hundredth square wins.
In general, that's all.
High morale on the field
The game would be extremely simple (and boring) if it weren't for the field:
“Moksha Patam,” as it is now called in its historical homeland, is not so much an educational game as a moralizing one. Like most vintage games, “Snakes-Ladders” was invented for adults: it was a manual for the religious education of neophytes. Virtues and vices were depicted on significant squares of the board. According to Hindu beliefs, good and evil coexist in a person, but only good deeds (“ladders”) will help a person achieve salvation (moksha) through a series of incarnations until complete perfection. 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 asceticism (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 quickly took root as “Snakes and Ladders,” and then to America, already as “Chutes and Ladders,” and the Protestant tradition adapted it to Victorian ideals. Because the dice At that time, they were considered a gambling item; children used a special pinwheel 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, Snakes and Ladders has been the favorite board game of British children.
Today, the classic version has 19 “snakes” and 19 “ladders”. Their location is by no means chaotic, as it might seem at first glance. After the rush at the start, where the especially lucky ones climb 2-3 lines up, a period of relative calm awaits the players. There are not so many truly dangerous areas. You can download any field you like on the Internet - there are many 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 will do, as long as it fits on the square and doesn’t stick to your hands and the board.
The name “Snakes-Ladders” has long become a household name. Gerry Rafferty, Nazareth and other artists called their records that way. “What a life - all Snakes and Ladders!” - people in Western countries often complain, and there’s nothing to be done about it. These simple tablets contain age-old wisdom. Failure is followed by success - and vice versa, but two principles really struggle in a person, and it does not matter at all what they are called. In India, this was understood a long time ago, which is why this game is often called simply “Leela”, which means “Life”.
In addition to the moral aspects, “Ladder Snakes” has one more 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: “Snakes and Ladders” can be played by at least ten people at once, it does not require serious attention, and age does not matter. meaning: it is enough for the smallest players that they learn to count, read, and also, as the song says, “to love good books and to be educated.” For 400 years this game, while entertaining, educates. Can you ask for more?
True, it used to be adult game. Well, humanity once had a childhood.
Snakes do not need ladders; they crawl just fine without them. But they will come in handy for you to be the first to get to the coveted cell number 100. Roll the dice, rearrange the chip and see where you end up. If on the stairs, feel free to climb higher, jumping over several cells at once. But if you come across a cell on which the snake’s head is located, you will have to slide down to its tail.
Your lucky number is six
If the die shows a six, that’s very good: you have the right to take a second turn. The only thing is that the lucky one who managed to throw six three times in a row comes back.
It won't be possible to go further
To win, you need to clearly reach the cell numbered 100. That is, throw away the exact number of steps that you need to win. If, for example, you roll a 5 and you are standing on spaces 97, this is a re-roll. And, again, you will have to go backwards, not forwards. So who will be the winner in this game is not clear until the last moment!
Hey, she's just childish!
For an adult, this game looks too simple: roll the dice and move. But for very young children this is a most exciting activity. And very useful, by the way: they learn to count from one to one hundred, concentration and patience. Any teacher will tell you that Snakes and Ladders is great for keeping kids occupied. small company small, very active and noisy children.
What else is good about this game?
- Compactness: The box easily fits even into an elegant handbag. What can we say about the suitcase!
- Convenience: The iron field and magnetic chips make the game an indispensable travel companion. Even if the train brakes sharply, 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 “Leela” and was played not just for fun, but with a special meaning attached to the movement of chips. It's simple: snakes represent a fall, bad deeds, and ladders represent righteous thoughts and deeds. Who will reach the “sky” faster?
Description of flash game
Snakes and Ladders
Snake And Ladders - WtSaL Version
Yellow and pink snakes are racing to climb a staircase of hundreds of steps. Choose which one you will root for, grab a friend and compete in this board game.
You need to walk one by one. The one whose turn has come rolls one six-sided die - the first click starts the rotation, the second stops it and the result is displayed. Depending on the number on the dice, the snake takes the corresponding number of steps along the game board. Complexity and excitement are added not only by the complete randomness of moves, but also by jumping steps. These are special cells of the playing field, and if the snake stops on one, it will be thrown forward or backward several steps. This can be either a small transition from 4 to 14, or a huge throw back from 87 to 24. And the step number 80 is considered winning, because it sends the one who steps on it straight to the end of the level.
Once you reach the finish line, you shouldn’t rejoice about your victory ahead of time, because to win you need to stop at the hundredth square. If the die rolls too high, the snake will turn around and continue walking in the opposite direction.
