Wacky WorldIndia
The game originated in ancient India as “Moksha Patam”, teaching that good deeds lead up and bad deeds lead down.
Why it happens
The game began in ancient India as Moksha Patam (also called Gyan Chaupar). It was a teaching tool: ladders stood for virtues such as generosity and faith, which carry a player towards moksha (liberation), and snakes stood for vices such as anger and greed, which drag them back. Landing on a square was decided by dice, a reminder that karma and fate both play a part.
How we know
Old cloth and paper boards survive from many parts of India, often with more snakes than ladders, showing that the path to goodness was harder than the path to vice. The poet-saint Gyandev (Dnyaneshwar) of 13th-century Maharashtra is often credited with an early version, though the game is probably older.
Did you know?
British families took the game home in the 1890s and renamed it Snakes and Ladders; in the United States, Milton Bradley sold it from 1943 as Chutes and Ladders, swapping the snakes for slides.
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