Snakes and Ladder Had Its Origin in India

The game had its origin in India and was called Moksha Patam or Parama Padam or Mokshapat. It was used to teach Hinduism and Hindu values to children. The British renamed it as Snakes and Ladders.

)Dhrubo - the man who explains the game - tells us how they played the game then Smiling

Now, when and who created this game? Most people believe it was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. There are certain references which take the game back to 2nd century BC.

The ladders represented virtues and snakes vices. In the original game square 12 was faith, 51 was Reliability, 57 was Generosity, 76 was Knowledge, and 78 was Asceticism. These were the squares were the ladder was found.

Square 41 was for Disobedience, 44 for Arrogance, 49 for Vulgarity, 52 for Theft, 58 for Lying, 62 for Drunkenness, 69 for Debt, 84 for Anger, 92 for Greed, 95 for Pride, 73 for Murder and 99 for Lust. These were the squares were the snake was found.

The Square 100 represented Nirvana or Moksha.

I seem to remember an extended version my family played when I was younger, in which the goal was not simply reaching the final square but extended beyond that. Above the hundred-square board, there were images of the Devas in a line all leading to the final image of Lord Vishnu.
Once the player crossed the hundredth square, the player moved on this line until (s)he reached Lord Vishnu, presumably attaining moksha.

I also remember that, when I played the game as a child, if a player was near the hundredth square but rolled the dice higher than what was required to land on the 100th square, the player needed to move to the square and then count backwards for the additional number of spaces rolled above what was needed to land on the last square. However, if I'm not mistaken, there was no such going backwards after passing the hundredth square - the player simply progressed to "moksha" faster.

Nowadays Smiling

The British took the game to England in 1892 and named it Snakes and Ladders and changed it according to Victorian values.