The game Snakes & Ladders is not really a game at all, as there are no choices or decisions to make. Just throw the dice and move. With one simple rule change the game can be transformed in to a real strategy game.

On every roll of the dice the player decides which direction to move, either forwards or backwards. On the surface this looks like a no-brainer, as you would always move to the nearest ladder. But what if that ladder took you to a level that was nothing but snakes? You might be better to sacrifice some height to avoid a risky part of the board. This is the kind of oportunity-cost decision making that one small rule change brings to a boring game.
-- simonj, Aug 15 2008

It's been a long time since I played it, but isn't ludo a bit like that? (No it's not)

Looking at ludo, it occurs to me that the other way you could introduce choice would be to have a series of pieces to navigate to safety, the player having the freedom to decide which one to apply a particular die roll to.
-- zen_tom, Aug 15 2008


- or give the players a set of pre-rolled dice (or a list of random numbers) and the players can decide which number they use on any given turn (but can only use a given number once). This would turn it into a 'perfect knowledge' game (each player knows all the possibilities and also knows everything their opponent knows) like Chess.
-- hippo, Aug 15 2008


You could play the game the normal way but give each person a set of special powers (e.g. "Go Only HalfWay Down Chute" or "Roll Again") but you can only use each power once.

The game would then be mostly luck with a bit of fun judgment added.
-- phundug, Aug 15 2008


one player could try to move around the board and the other player could move the snakes and ladders.
-- po, Aug 15 2008


- or both players could move the same counter - each trying to get to opposite ends of the board.
-- hippo, Aug 15 2008



random, halfbakery