Chutes and Ladders Board Game: Rules and Instructions for How to Play

Since Chutes and Ladders is a public domain game that is hundreds of years old, the game has had quite a few names over the years. Another common name for the game is Snakes and Ladders. Outside of possibly a difference in the layout of the board, all of these games are played the same.

Objective of Chutes and Ladders

The Objective of Chutes and Ladders is to be the first player to make it to space 100.

Setup

Place the gameboard in the middle of the table.
Each player chooses a pawn and places it off the board next to square one.
The youngest players starts the game.

Playing Chutes and Ladders

You will begin your turn by spinning the spinner. The number you spin determines how many spaces that you will move your pawn.

Spinning a number — This player has spun a five on the spinner. They will move their playing piece five spaces.

Note: Some versions of Chutes and Ladders use a six sided die instead of a spinner.

When moving your pawn you will move along the board following the spaces in numerical order. Due to how the board is designed, sometimes you will move left and sometimes right (follow the arrows). You must use all of the spaces that you spun on the spinner.

Movement in Chutes and Ladders — As the player spun five on the spinner, they move their playing piece five spaces forward on the gameboard.

You can move through other player’s pawns and can land on a space that already has a pawn on it.

After you have finished moving your pawn, your turn ends. Play passes to the player on your left.

Ladders

Should you land on a space featuring the bottom of a ladder (after you moved all of your spaces), you will get to use the ladder to move forward.

Follow the ladder and place your pawn on the space that is connected to the top of the ladder.

Chutes

If you land on the top of a chute after you have finished moving your pawn, you will need to use the chute.

Slide your pawn down the slide until it reaches the bottom of the chute. You will place your pawn on the space corresponding to the bottom of the chute.

Using a chute in Chutes and Ladders — Due to landing on the chute this player slid down from space 49 to 11.

Winning Chutes and Ladders

The first player to reach the final space on the gameboard (space 100), wins the game. You can reach the final space in two different ways.

Should you spin a number allowing you to land on space 100 by exact count, you win the game. Should your spin move you past the last space, you will not move your pawn at all. On your next turn you will spin the spinner again.

Winning Chutes and Ladders — This player spun a three on the spinner. Since they are exactly three spaces away from the finish space, they will land on the last space and win the game.

Otherwise there is a ladder that takes you to the final space. If you land on the bottom of this ladder, you will climb the ladder to the final space and win the game.

Chutes and Ladders FAQs

What Spaces Have Chutes and Ladders?

The spaces for the chutes and ladders have changed over time. Based on the 2013 version of Chutes and Ladders as well as most newer versions of the game, the ladders are on spaces:

1 to 38
4 to 14
9 to 31
21 to 42
28 to 84
36 to 44
51 to 67
71 to 91
80 to 100

The chutes are on the following spaces:

16 to 6
48 to 26 (In older versions this was 47 to 26)
49 to 11
56 to 53
62 to 19
64 to 60
87 to 24
93 to 73
98 to 78

Chutes and Ladders Components

There have been many different versions of Chutes and Ladders released over the years. Therefore the components will slightly differ depending on the versions.

Between 2-6 Playing Pieces (the version pictured only has 3 playing pieces)
Spinner
Gameboard
Instructions

Year: Unknown | Publisher: Hasbro, Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers, Spin Master, Winning Moves

Genres: Children’s, Spin and Move

Ages: 3+ | Number of Players: 2-6 (depending on version) | Length of Game: 15-30 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light | Luck: High

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