Snakes and Ladders Rules

To determine who has the greatest number, each player must roll a die. The player with the highest number has the opportunity to go first, and after that player has had a turn, the player to their left has the next turn. Play now continues leftward in a circle.

The players must now roll the dice again to determine who goes first if two or more of them roll the same number, which is the highest number rolled.

When it's your time, roll the die one more and recite out loud the number you got. Picking up the game piece, the player must advance in the direction of the number of spaces. In the event that a player rolled a 3, for instance, that person would place the piece in square 3. If the player rolls a five on his subsequent turn, he must advance a piece five squares, landing him on square eight.

There are a number of ladders on the game board that can be used by players to climb higher and get to the finish line faster. A player may move the game piece toward the square at the top of the ladder if they explicitly land on a tile that depicts the bottom of a ladder.

In certain variations of this game, the board has snakes, while in other variations, chutes are used (slides). Because the player must slide through snakes or chutes, they move the player back onto the board.

A player gets an additional turn if they roll a six. He must first advance his piece by six squares before rolling the die once more. If that player lands on any snakes or ladders, he must go down or up according to the rules listed above, then roll again to receive the additional round. A player keeps going as long as they keep rolling sixes!

The game is won by the player who ascends to the highest square on the board first. The highest square is typically 100. There's a twist in this! A player's piece 'bounces' off the final square and then retreats if their roll is too high. Only by rolling the precise number required to land on the final square can the player win.