History of Snakes and Ladders Game Inspired by India’s Moksha Patam
History of Snakes and Ladders Game Inspired by India’s Moksha Patam
Snakes and Ladders is a traditional board game that originated in ancient India.
Its earliest form was called Moksha Patam, meaning “the path to liberation.” The game was designed as a moral and religious teaching tool: players moved through life, with ladders representing virtues that helped people progress and snakes representing vices that caused them to fall backward.
The exact date of its invention is uncertain, but versions of the game existed in India by at least the 16th or 17th century.
some people connect its development to the poet and saint Gyandev, although this attribution is not certain.
Ancient Indian Origins
Name: Moksha Patam (“Board of Liberation”) or Gyan Chaupar.
Purpose: Not entertainment, but a moral and spiritual lesson.
Concept:
Ladders = Virtues (faith, generosity, knowledge, asceticism).
Snakes = Vices (lust, anger, greed, theft, lying).
Message: Life is a journey from birth to liberation (moksha). Virtues elevate you, vices drag you down. Dice rolls symbolized karma and fate.
Origins: Some scholars trace it to the 2nd century BCE, others to the 13th century saint Gyandev of Maharashtra
Snakes and Ladders was not originally invented as a children’s game.
It began in India as a religious and moral teaching game. Its older forms were known by names such as Moksha Patam, Mokshapat, Gyan Chaupar—“the game of knowledge”—and, in different regions, Vaikunthapali or Paramapada Sopanam.
The game did not have one confirmed inventor.
It developed over time among Hindu and Jain religious communities. Some popular accounts connect it with the 13th-century poet-saint Jnanadeva, also called Gyandev, but historians cannot prove that he personally invented it. Jain versions are documented in later historical periods, and the game was adapted by several religious traditions.
What the original Indian game meant
The board represented a person’s spiritual journey through life. A player moved upward toward liberation, or moksha.
Ladders represented virtues and good actions, such as faith, generosity, knowledge, humility, and reliability.
Snakes represented vices, such as pride, anger, theft, lying, drunkenness, greed, lust, and murder.
Reaching the top symbolized spiritual liberation.
Falling down a snake represented the consequences of immoral behavior, including being pushed backward toward further rebirth.
The old boards were therefore not merely games of luck.
They were visual lessons about karma: good actions could raise a person, while bad actions could cause a spiritual fall.
Traditional Indian boards often had more snakes than ladders, expressing the idea that the path to liberation was difficult.
The game was played by adults and children, and some boards were beautifully painted on cloth or made for wealthy households and courts.
It could also be adapted to different religious ideas.
Hindu versions might show a journey toward the realm of a deity, while Jain or other versions used different spiritual symbols.
The Islamic form is commonly called Shatranj al-ʿĀrifīn, usually translated as “The Game of the Gnostics” or “The Chess of the Wise.”
It was related to the Indian spiritual game known as Gyan Chaupar or Moksha Patam.
In Persian and Indo-Islamic culture, the game was adapted so that the journey across the board represented the Sufi path toward spiritual knowledge and closeness to God.
The connection with India
The game developed in the cultural world of medieval and early-modern India, where Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, and Muslim communities lived alongside one another. Indian religious board games were not always confined to one faith. Artists, manuscript painters, merchants, nobles, and religious teachers could borrow and adapt visual ideas from each other.
When the game was adapted for Muslim or Sufi use:
The religious vocabulary changed.
Hindu gods and specifically Hindu ideas could be replaced by Islamic or Persian terms.
The board might emphasize spiritual knowledge, discipline, repentance, and purification of the soul.
The final goal was no longer necessarily Hindu moksha or Jain liberation, but could represent reaching divine truth, spiritual perfection, or union with God.
The basic mechanism stayed similar: a player rose through virtues and fell through spiritual faults.
How the Sufi version worked symbolically
A Sufi board could treat the player’s movement as a journey through stages of the soul. Ladders might represent:
Repentance
Patience
Gratitude
Charity
Devotion
Trust in God
Spiritual knowledge
Detachment from worldly desire
Snakes could represent:
Pride
Anger
Greed
Jealousy
Hypocrisy
Lust
Attachment to wealth
Ignorance
Carelessness in religious practice
The player’s progress was therefore not just physical movement around a board.
It represented the movement from the lower, ego-driven self toward a purified and spiritually awakened state.
How it reached Britain
During the 19th century, Britain controlled large parts of India. British soldiers, colonial officials, merchants, missionaries, and their families encountered Indian games and sometimes brought them back to Britain as souvenirs or curiosities.
There is no securely documented single British explorer who can be identified as “the man who brought Snakes and Ladders to Britain.” It was more likely transported gradually by British people returning from India. The game entered Britain through the wider movement of Indian objects, customs, and games during the British colonial period.
This is important because the game was not invented in Britain. Britain took an existing Indian game and reshaped it for a Victorian audience. The Indian religious meanings were simplified or replaced with moral ideas that British parents considered suitable for children.
The British version became commercially established near the end of the 19th century. Jaques of London, a British games manufacturer, is commonly credited with publishing an early English-language edition in 1892. That edition helped give the game the familiar English name Snakes and Ladders and turned it into a product that could be sold in British homes.
Indian → Victorian Adaptation
In Moksha Patam (India), ladders symbolized virtues like faith, thrift, industry, penitence, while snakes symbolized vices like lust, anger, greed, indolence.
When the British adapted it into the Victorian Snakes and Ladders, they kept the moral framework but changed the wording to suit Christian/Western values.
Example Mapping -
Thrift (Indian virtue) → became a ladder leading to fulfilment or success in the Victorian game.
Penitence (Indian virtue of repentance) → became a ladder leading to grace or improvement.
Industry (Indian virtue of hard work) → became a ladder leading to advancement.
Indulgence (Indian vice of excess) → became a snake leading to illness or decline.
Disobedience (Indian vice of ignoring dharma) → became a snake leading to disgrace.
Indolence (Indian vice of laziness) → became a snake leading to poverty.
Meaning
So, the Indian moral framework of Moksha Patam was re‑expressed in Victorian English terms:
Virtues → ladders → success, grace, advancement.
Vices → snakes → illness, disgrace, poverty.
This shows how the game carried forward its ethical teaching role, even after being Westernized, though the spiritual goal of moksha (liberation) was replaced with more worldly outcomes.
In this version, a ladder rewarded behavior such as hard work, self-control, repentance, or thrift.
A snake punished behavior such as laziness, disobedience, or excessive pleasure.
The British adaptation also generally used an equal number of snakes and ladders, making the game less severe than many Indian versions.
Its original spiritual lesson was gradually changed into a Victorian lesson about personal conduct.
How it became a children’s game
Several changes made the game attractive to children:
Religious ideas were removed or simplified. Children no longer needed to understand karma, rebirth, or liberation to play.
The board became colorful and pictorial. Pictures made it understandable even for children who could not read well.
The rules were extremely simple. Players only needed to count spaces and follow the snakes and ladders.
The game was short. A match could usually be completed in less than an hour.
Adults and children had almost equal chances. Since the game depends mostly on dice rolls, an adult’s experience does not give a large strategic advantage.
It taught basic social skills.
Children practiced counting, taking turns, following rules, winning, and losing.
By the early 20th century, the game had largely become a nursery or family board game in Britain.
What happened in the United States
The American history is slightly more complicated because the company Milton Bradley had already produced a related morality game called The Checkered Game of Life in 1860. That game was influenced by the same broad idea of a moral journey through good and bad choices, although it was not simply the standard British Snakes and Ladders board.
Milton Bradley, the American printer and game manufacturer, created The Checkered Game of Life after suffering a business setback when one of his printing projects failed. The game became popular and helped establish his company in the board-game industry. It used a track in which players moved toward success or failure, with moral and social outcomes connected to different spaces.
The American version specifically called Chutes and Ladders was introduced by the Milton Bradley Company in 1943.
The company changed the British name and imagery for American children:
Snakes were replaced by playground chutes or slides.
Religious and Victorian moral references were removed.
The board used cheerful scenes of children behaving well or badly.
Good actions led upward through ladders.
Bad actions led downward through slides.
For example, a child might climb because they helped someone or played fairly, while another child might slide because they littered, misbehaved, or broke a rule.
This made the game feel like a harmless playground lesson rather than a religious map of salvation.
The change from snakes to chutes was also practical. Snakes could seem frightening to young children, while playground slides fitted American ideas about childhood and recreation.
The game was easier to market as a friendly preschool and family game.
Britain, America, and Europe
The game spread through several routes rather than through one official international launch:
India: spiritual and moral board games such as Moksha Patam and Gyan Chaupar.
Britain: colonial contact and returning families brought the game west; Jaques of London helped commercialize it in the 1890s.
United States: Milton Bradley turned it into the child-friendly Chutes and Ladders in 1943.
Europe: similar ladder-and-snake race games appeared under local names.
In Germany, for example, versions were known as Leiterspiel, meaning “ladder game,” and some replaced snakes with circus or animal imagery.
The game was therefore repeatedly redesigned according to local culture.
India emphasized spiritual progress, Victorian Britain emphasized moral discipline, and the United States emphasized playground behavior and childhood fun.
The important people and companies
Indian religious teachers and artists: They developed and illustrated the early moral-spiritual versions. No single inventor is definitively known.
Jnanadeva or Gyandev: Traditionally associated with the game in some accounts, but the claim is uncertain and should not be treated as proven authorship.
British colonial communities: Soldiers, officials, traders, and returning families helped carry Indian versions to Britain during the 19th century.
Jaques of London: Published an early commercial English version around 1892, helping establish the modern British form.
Milton Bradley: American printer and businessman who created The Checkered Game of Life in 1860 and founded the company that later published Chutes and Ladders.
Milton Bradley Company: Released the American Chutes and Ladders version in 1943, transforming the game into the colorful children’s classic familiar today.
In short, the game’s journey was:
Indian spiritual teaching game → Victorian British morality game → American playground game → worldwide children’s classic.
The modern game looks simple, but underneath it is a record of cultural exchange, colonial history, changing ideas about childhood, and the transformation of a religious teaching tool into commercial entertainment.
Surviving examples of the traditional Indian game exist, although the oldest surviving boards are not from the medieval period. Because they were usually painted on cloth or paper, many earlier boards were lost. The oldest known surviving example is generally described as a 17th-century board from Mewar, Rajasthan.
Examples and collections are associated with:
National Museum, New Delhi
Rajasthan Oriental Research Institute, Jodhpur
Calico Museum of Textiles, Ahmedabad
British Museum, London
British Library, London
Royal Asiatic Society, which has an Indian board from Maharashtra dated around 1800
Photographs of surviving boards are available online. One well-known image shows a 19th-century Indian Gyan Chaupar board painted in gouache on cloth. There are also photographs of an approximately 1800 Maharashtra board, and a late-19th-century board from Punjab in the British Museum’s collection. These boards look very different from the modern children’s version: they contain religious figures, inscriptions, symbolic images, many snakes and ladders, and sometimes a winding or non-square layout. imp-art.org
How the original Indian game was played
The traditional game had several regional forms, so there was not one universal set of rules. The best-known versions were called Gyan Chaupar, Moksha Patam, Gyan Bazi, or Vaikunthapali. “Gyan Chaupar” can be translated roughly as “the game of knowledge,” while Moksha Patam refers to the path toward liberation.
The usual equipment consisted of:
A painted cloth or paper board
Counters for the players
Cowrie shells, dice, or special long dice used to determine movement
A set of numbered squares connected by snakes and ladders
Players moved their counters around the board according to the throw. When a counter landed at the bottom of a ladder, it climbed upward. When it reached the head of a snake, it descended.
The crucial difference from modern Snakes and Ladders was that the snakes and ladders had specific moral meanings. They were not random decorations.
A ladder might represent:
Faith
Generosity
Compassion
Good conduct
Humility
Knowledge
Renunciation
Devotion
A snake might represent:
Anger
Pride
Greed
Theft
Lying
Lust
Violence
Ignorance
Disobedience
The board presented human life as a spiritual journey. A player could rise through virtuous conduct but fall because of immoral behavior. The ultimate destination was usually moksha—release from the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.
The meaning of the squares
The squares were often more important than the movement itself. They could represent:
Stages of spiritual development
Different worlds or realms
Virtues and vices
Forms of existence after rebirth
Deities or religious teachers
Parts of the human body
The seven chakras or spiritual energy centers
Some boards began in a heavenly or divine realm, while others began at the lowest level of worldly existence. The exact order depended on the community that made the board.
A Jain version, for example, could express Jain ideas about karma, nonviolence, attachment, and liberation. A Hindu version might lead toward Vaikuntha, the heavenly abode of Vishnu, or toward another sacred destination. Some later versions were used by Vaishnava, Jain, Hindu, and even Sufi communities, with the symbolism altered to match their beliefs.
Was winning based only on luck?
Not entirely in the way the modern game is understood.
The movement was determined by chance, but the game’s purpose was not simply to reach the last square first. It was meant to encourage reflection on a player’s actions and spiritual condition. In some traditions, the board was used almost like a teaching diagram or meditation device.
A player might ask:
What caused me to climb?
What vice caused my fall?
What does this square represent?
What must a person overcome to reach liberation?
In that sense, the “winner” was not merely the person who finished first. The deeper goal was to understand the moral journey represented by the board.
Why old boards have so many snakes
Modern boards usually balance the snakes and ladders. Traditional boards often contained many more snakes than ladders.
This reflected the belief that spiritual progress was difficult. A person could lose the benefits of good actions through pride, anger, desire, or other faults. The imbalance also reinforced the idea that liberation required discipline and spiritual knowledge rather than luck alone.
Some traditional boards used very long ladders and snakes. A single virtue could lift a player across many levels, while one serious vice could send the counter almost back to the beginning.
What the board looked like
A traditional board might include:
A grid of numbered squares
Sanskrit, Hindi, Gujarati, Rajasthani, or other regional writing
Images of gods, saints, demons, animals, or celestial beings
Names of virtues and vices
Decorative borders
A central spiritual diagram
Snakes painted in different colors
Ladders connecting distant squares
They were often works of religious art as much as game boards.
Some were painted on fabric so they could be rolled up and stored.
This explains why museums possess examples but why so few very old ones survived.
How it changed into the modern game
When British visitors encountered these Indian boards during the colonial period, they separated the movement system from its religious meaning.
By the late 19th century, British manufacturers were selling simplified versions.
The changes included:
Fewer religious images
Fewer philosophical explanations
More regular square layouts
Simple numbered spaces
A moral lesson based on Victorian behavior
More emphasis on children and family play
So the preserved Indian boards are not just early versions of a toy.
They are evidence of a much older idea: that a board game could represent the entire journey of human life—from worldly existence, through moral choices and spiritual setbacks, toward liberation.
Photos - Shatranj al-ʿĀrifīn
