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Chutes & Ladders

Chutes & Ladders, Snakes & Ladders, Eels & Escalators, whatever you wanna call it, is one of those few board games that felt old when I was a kid. While most board games are relatively ancient, they at least never felt that way, or at least were modernized often enough, given a slightly fresher coat of paint, to appeal to younger audiences. But Chutes & Ladders never did, or if it did it certainly didn't work because nobody I know has ever played this game. It's almost as fake as Jumanji in its existence. One we've only heard whispered about but never witnessed ourselves. And yet, it is a real board game (also like Jumanji, amazingly; thanks marketing!) that you can go buy right now at your local superstore, on the shelf next to - frankly - more deserving games, like literally any of the ones I've talked about on here thusfar.

Turns out my intuition about Chutes & Ladders being ancient was not actually all that far off.

Chutes & Ladders (whose real name was Snakes & Ladders) was originally known as Moksha Patam, an ancient Indian board game. It's the same exact game, essentially, just not as dumb looking. If anything, Moksha Patam was way more visually intriguing than what the board morphed into. According to Wikipedia, "the historic version had its roots in morality lessons, on which a players progression on a board represented a life journey complicated by virtues, visually seen as the ladders, and vices, visually seen as the snakes." The game has been made under a thousand other titles, including Bible Ups & Downs, and finally in 1943, Milton Bradley published Chutes & Ladders.

The overall history of this thing is truly fascinating, but it's also incredibly long, so I won't go over everything here beyond what I've already covered, but I do highly recommend that you read up on it because it's a very, very interesting read! I've linked the history section of the wiki right here for your convenience. So, when Bradley released their version, they replaced the snakes with a playground setting, because children disliked snakes, because children are dumb and have no concept of what's cool. They kept the overall morality design, with being at the top of the ladder being a good thing, and at the bottom (down a chute, essentially) shows the children showing the consequences of poor decisions.

FUN FACT. Canada has multiple versions, but the best has to be the one that replaces snakes with Toboggan runs.

 Honestly, the concept of the morality base is fascinating, but also somewhat unnerving, that we're disguising a board game as a way to scare children into behaving. Board games are supposed to be fun! Yet, here we are, utilizing them as just another tool to try and control children into behaving in a way we deem appropriate. As for arguing about the board itself, I think we can all agree that while Chutes & Ladders is cute and all, it's super bland and straight forward, and really we should all just bring back the Moksha Patam board, because that thing is so much more visually intriguing, and aesthetically interesting than anything else. Sure, the one with the playground set and the cute children is adorable and all, and design wise isn't terrible even if it is fairly uninspired, but snakes? Who, besides Indiana Jones, doesn't like snakes?!

I'm honestly willing to start a petition of some kind to attempt to convince Milton Bradley to re-release the game under the Moksha Patam name and with the original board design. What with the whole outcry against cultural appropriation concept these days, I think we could manage to make it happen. I think it's time to recognize the roots of where it came from, and celebrate how goddamned cool it is, because it really deserves it. Even as a little girl, I never knew anyone who played Chutes & Ladders, despite being the right age group for it, so I can't say I have many, if any, fond memories of it. I don't even know anyone who ever played it when I was that age, once again, despite them being the right target age for it. It's just always sort of being one of those games that's been there, but nobody plays.

But if Moksha Patam was re-released as it once was, I think it might get people interested again. My generation loves cultural differences and snakes, so it's right up our alley. Plus, maybe it'll finally help us come to terms with accepting all the poor choices we've made that have led us to the miserable lives we currently lead. 

Or maybe that's just me. 

Probably just me.

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