Snakes and Ladders, in your browser

Frequently asked questions

How do I play?

Everyone starts at square 1 and takes turns rolling one die, moving that many squares along the numbered path. Land at the foot of a ladder and you climb to its top; land on a snake's head and you slide down to its tail. First token to reach square 100 wins. Tap Roll on your turn — that's the whole game.

How does two-to-four-player mode work?

It's pass-and-play on a single device: set two, three, or four seats, name them, and hand the phone or laptop round as the turn passes. The board highlights whose turn it is, and tokens sharing a square fan out so you can always see everyone. There's no online mode and nothing to connect — you're in the same room.

Can I play against the computer?

Yes — set any seat to Computer and it takes its own turns, so you can play solo or fill an empty chair in a three-player game. In the plain game every move is forced by the die, so a computer seat can't be good or bad at it and skill changes nothing. Skill (Easy, Normal, Hard) starts to matter when a house rule gives a player a choice: which of two dice to use, whether to spend a snake shield, or bumping. Easy chooses at random, Normal takes the better outcome, and Hard also values extra turns and bumps and saves its shield for the worst snakes.

Do I need an exact roll to land on 100?

By default, yes. Overshoot and your token walks up to 100 and back down by however many squares you went over — which is how most people play, and where a lot of the drama comes from since 98 is a snake. Turn off “Exact roll to finish” before you start and any roll of 100 or more simply wins.

What happens when I roll a 6, and what are the other house rules?

By default you roll again on a six. You can turn that off, and you can switch on “Three sixes forfeits” (a third six in a row ends your turn without moving, which only matters when sixes roll again), “Need a 6 to start” (tokens wait off the board until their player rolls a six), “Bump opponents” (end your move on a square an opponent holds and they go back to the start; squares 1 and 100 are never contested), “One snake shield each” (when a snake would bite you may spend your single shield to stay where you are) and “Two dice, pick one” (roll two dice and move by the one you choose).

Which boards are there, and can I make my own?

Four ready-made boards — Classic, Kids (many ladders, four short snakes), Snake pit and Ladder heaven — plus a Random board button (Gentle, Fair or Wild) and a board editor. In the editor you drag from one square to another (up makes a ladder, down a snake), tap a start and an end square, or type the two numbers; a list lets you remove any of them. Every board is checked before it can be used: nothing starts on square 1 or 100, ladders go up and snakes go down, no jump ends where another starts, there are at most 15 of each, and 100 must stay reachable from every square a token can reach with a lone token expected to finish in under 130 rolls. A board that fails says why instead of starting a game that could not be won.

Where are the snakes and the ladders on the Classic board?

It's a 10×10 board with nine ladders and ten snakes. Ladders climb from 2, 4, 9, 21, 28, 36, 51, 71 and 80 — the one at 80 goes all the way home. Snakes drop from 16, 47, 49, 56, 62, 64, 87, 93, 95 and 98. The other boards and any board you draw have their own layouts, and the board's description for screen readers lists every snake and ladder.

How do I share a board or a setup?

“Copy link to this setup” puts the board, the house rules and the learning set-up (maths level or your spelling words) into the part of the web address after the # sign. That part is never sent to any server, so nothing is uploaded. Whoever opens the link sees your board in their setup screen; their own saved setup is not touched until they start a game, and a game they had in progress stays behind a Continue game button. A link that is damaged, too big or describes a board that fails the checks is refused.

What is learning mode?

Switch on maths or spelling and ten squares are marked with a “?”. A person who lands on one answers a question: a right answer earns another roll and a wrong one costs nothing. Maths comes in three levels (adding and taking away within 20; within 100 with small times tables; times tables to 12, division and two-step sums) and is made up on the spot. Spelling uses only the word list you type in — one word per line, with an optional clue after “ - ” — so there is no built-in dictionary and the list can be in any language. Without a clue the letters are jumbled; a button reads the word aloud where your browser has a speech voice. Computer seats skip questions.

What does kids mode do?

A big banner after every move such as “+4 → 17” (and “Ladder! Up to 38”), slower hops, and an option to count each hop aloud with your device's speech voice. Counting aloud uses the browser's speech feature, which is not available in every browser, and some voices are online ones run by your browser or operating system rather than by this site.

Can I play with the keyboard or a screen reader?

Yes. Press R to roll, S to skip a move in progress, W for “where is everyone?” (also a button), and 1 or 2 to choose a die when two dice are on. The Roll button keeps keyboard focus when you roll, every turn is announced in a live region, and the question, shield and dice choices are ordinary buttons. The drag-the-die gesture is only a bonus; the Roll button does the same thing.

What is the game recap?

When a game ends you get a picture of each player's journey across the board (their square after each of their turns), the biggest climb and the worst slide, and how many questions were answered right. Save it as a PNG or copy the text. It is drawn in your browser, has no watermark and is never uploaded.

Are my games saved anywhere?

Only in your own browser. Your last line-up, board, house rules and learning set-up, the results of your last twenty games, and the game you are in the middle of (so a reload or a closed tab brings it back where you left off) are kept in this device's local storage. Nothing is uploaded, there's no account, and nobody else can see any of it — clearing your browser data clears it too.

Is there sound, and can I turn it off?

Yes — a calm background track plus a dice rattle, hopping tokens, a rising chime for a ladder and a sliding hiss for a snake, all generated in your browser rather than downloaded as audio files. Independent music and sound-effects toggles sit in the top bar, and your choice is remembered.

Does it work on a phone, or with reduced motion turned on?

Both. The board scales to any screen and every control is touch-friendly. If your device asks for reduced motion, tokens jump straight to their destination instead of hopping and the die doesn't tumble — the game plays identically, just without the movement. You can also tap Skip mid-move to jump to the result at any time.