How to Play Snakes and Ladders: Rules, Variations and History

Snakes and ladders is often the first board game a child plays. There is nothing to learn beyond counting, a game takes ten to fifteen minutes, and a four-year-old has the same chance of winning as an adult. That last part is the charm of the game, and also its limit: it is decided entirely by the dice. This guide explains the rules, the house rules that families use, a few ways to make it more interesting for older players, and where the game comes from.

In the United States, a very similar game is sold as Chutes and Ladders, a trademark of Hasbro. This page is an independent guide and is not connected to Hasbro.

What you need

• A board with 100 squares, numbered from 1 to 100 in a 10 by 10 grid. The numbers run back and forth: left to right along the bottom row, right to left along the next one, and so on to the top.
• One die.
• One piece for each player, in different colours.
• Several ladders and snakes drawn on the board. Each one connects two squares.

Two to six people can play. The game works well with just two.

The goal

Be the first player to reach square 100.

How to play

1. All pieces start off the board, next to square 1.
2. Decide who goes first, for example by each rolling the die. The highest number starts.
3. On your turn, roll the die and move your piece forward that many squares.
4. If you land at the bottom of a ladder, climb straight up to the square at its top.
5. If you land on the head of a snake, slide down to the square at its tail.
6. Then it is the next player's turn.

More than one piece can stand on the same square. Nobody is captured or sent back by another player.

Only the ends of a snake or ladder matter. If you land on the top of a ladder or the tail of a snake, or pass over the middle of one, nothing happens.

Common rules to agree on

These rules differ from family to family, so decide before you start.

• Rolling a 6: in many versions, a 6 gives you another roll. The free game we tested on our Snakes and Ladders Multiplayer page plays this way: its rules screen says that rolling a 6 gives the player an extra roll. Some families add that three 6s in a row send you back to the start.
• Needing a 6 to start: some people play that you must roll a 6 before your piece can enter the board. It makes the game longer, and small children may find the wait frustrating.
• The exact finish: in the most common rule, you need the exact number to land on 100. If you roll too high, you don't move. In the "bounce back" version, you move forward to 100 and then count the extra steps backward. In the simplest version, any roll that reaches or passes 100 wins.

Playing with two players

Nothing changes with two. You take turns rolling, and the first to 100 wins. Games tend to be a little shorter, because the turns come round faster. If you want a longer contest, play the best of three, or give each player two pieces and require both to reach 100.

Is there any strategy?

In the standard game, no. You never make a decision, so the result is pure luck. That is why it is fair between children and adults, and why it is good for teaching counting, taking turns and losing gracefully.

If the older players want some decisions, try one of these variations.

• Two dice, choose one. Roll two dice and pick which one to use. Suddenly you can aim for ladders and avoid snakes.
• Two pieces each. Each player has two pieces and decides which one to move after each roll.
• Forward or back. After rolling, you may move forward or backward by that number. Ladders and snakes still apply.
• Add up the dice. For children practising sums, roll two dice and move by the total, or by the difference.

Where the game comes from

Snakes and ladders comes from ancient India, where it was a game about morality. The ladders stood for virtues, the snakes for vices, and reaching the last square stood for a good life. The game reached England in the late 1800s and lost most of its moral message on the way. A version with slides instead of snakes was published in the United States in 1943, which is the one many Americans grew up with.

Play snakes and ladders online

You can play free in your browser. The game we tested lets two to six people play on one device with a shared dice button, has two different boards (one with snakes and one with chutes), and includes a mode against the computer. See the games below.

If you like dice races, try our guides to Ludo and backgammon, or the Goose Game, another very old race game with special squares.