Snakes & Ladders is a traditional family board game, probably one of the first that lots of children learn to play on their board game adventures. Snakes & Ladders, a board game of Indian origin, first came to the UK in the 1890s and is still going strong. Last year, I was a volunteer in a primary school and played Snakes & Ladders a lot in the Year 1 class, and the kids loved it.
Snakes & Ladders is a classic board game known and played across the globe. It is a family board game where no skill is involved, there are no questions to answer and your chances of winning all comes down to luck and the throw of the dice. It can be played just as easily by the youngest of players as the eldest and is just as much fun for all. A perfect family game. It was one of my favourite games as a child and is still fun to play today.
The idea of the game is to race to the top of the board, using ladders to take shortcuts up the board whilst trying to avoid the snakes which will slide you further back down the board. It is a game for 2-4 or 2-6 players, depending on the version that you buy and is suitable for players aged 3+. It can have a playing time of 10 to 30 minutes.
We have been playing the Bigjigs Toys wooden version for 2-4 players.
In the box:
- Wooden Game Board
- 4x Wooden Playing Pieces
- 1x Wooden Dice
- Storage Bag for Playing Pieces and Dice
- Instructions
The Bigjigs version of Snakes & Ladders is a wooden version made from premium quality, responsibility sourced FSC® Certified wood and non-toxic paints & lacquers. The brightly coloured board measures 28cm x 28cm x 1cm.
The game of Snakes & Ladders features a game board with 100 squares. Players must work their way from square number 1 to 100 with the aid of ladders to propel them up the board quicker, or snakes to drop them down and slow their progress (to the delight of the other players)!
Snakes & Ladders is a simple roll the dice and move game. To play, each player takes a different coloured playing piece and rolls the dice. All players take turns rolling the dice and the player that rolls the highest number gets to start first. The game is played clockwise from the starting player. The starting player rolls the dice and moves their pawn accordingly, each time a player rolls a six that player gets another roll of the dice. If a player lands on a square which has the base of a ladder, they can move their playing piece up to the top of the ladder (e.g. if a player lands on square number 27 they can move their pawn up the ladder to square 69). But if a player lands on a square with a head of the snake, they must follow the snake down to its tail (e.g. if a player lands on square number 95 they follow the snake down to square number 53). If a player lands on a space that is occupied by another player, the opponent’s playing piece is removed, and they must start again from the beginning. The winner is the first player to land on the number 100 square at the top of the board, but an exact throw is required to get there – if you are an square 98, rolling a 3 is no good, it has to be 2.
Overall, I love playing Snakes & Ladders, and I have done since a child. It is a simple and fun game to play. It can take as little as 10 minutes to play or as long as 30 minutes depending on how often and unlucky players are to keep landing on the snake squares.
Snakes & Ladders is a classic family board game that is so simple to play it has been enjoyed by families for more than 100 years. It has lots of enjoyment as is perfect for family game nights as something quick to play before the bigger and longer games come out. And it is an excellent way for the youngest players to develop basic maths skills such as counting, addition and subtraction.
A simple and fun board game for all the family, especially the younger players that are just starting to enjoy sitting around the table playing games. A game that every board game loving household should own and one that helps with maths skills, language and vocabulary, fine motor skills, turn-taking and patience, social skills and family bonding.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £12.99
For more information or to buy direct, visit www.bigjigstoys.co.uk. Available to buy from Amazon here.
