This is Chutes and Ladders, and it is a game with a surprising history!
Get your copy of Chutes and Ladders here: https://amzn.to/3Dlvdug
Note: The linked version differs from the 2021 edition shown in the video, but in all the right ways!
Chutes and Ladders was originally known as Snakes and Ladders or Moksha Patam in India where it was invented somewhere around the 13th century CE. It is widely believed that the original game was created by Saint Dnyaneshwar, a revered yogi and philosopher. Moksha Patam was a game intended to teach morality with its ladders representing Karma, or consequences for actions, and the snakes representing Kama, the desire for pleasure. The player’s ultimate goal was to ascend from the first space to the 100th and achieve Moksha, or spiritual liberation. In the game Moksha Patam, there were more snakes than ladders, which added further difficulty to the player’s ascension.
The game later acquired the title Snakes and Ladders when it made its way to England in the late nineteenth century. During that time, it was adapted for a more contemporary Victorian audience. The snakes were now in equal numbers to the ladders, and the art was embellished to display modern actions associated with either virtue or vice to further drive the message of the game.
In 1943 Milton Bradley introduced his revised version of the game, titled Chutes and Ladders, to the United States. The game now featured colorful art of children acting both virtuously, and mischievously all over the board. This new lighthearted rendition of the classic game has since become an icon of board gaming culture.
Today I’m going to compare an original 1943 Milton Bradley edition of Chutes and Ladders to a 2021 Hasbro edition, purchased off the store shelf in 2025, to see what has changed and what has stayed the same over the course of eighty years!
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0:00 Intro
1:46 1943 Game Box
3:08 2021 Game Box
5:03 1943 Game and Rules
9:59 2021 Game
17:22 1943 Rule Book
17:58 2021 Rule Book
18:42 Final Thoughts
Additional images courtesy of Wikipedia:
By Jain Miniature - http://www.herenow4u.net/index.php?id=72923, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11471979
By Nomu420 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32741031
By muffinn from Worcester, UK - Berrington Hall - snakes and ladders, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=89646883
By Swapniladitya - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39650873
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