Snakes and Ladders (similar to Chutes and Ladders) is a luck-based board game which can be played with 2 or more individuals where each player rolls a die to see how many spaces forward they are able to advance on a multi-row grid. The catch is that there are certain squares upon which you can either shoot up several rows or fall back several rows, which allows for ever-changing player positions and sudden lead changes. The goal of the game is to reach the top of the grid first, but the only control a player has is their dice roll. After rolling the dice, the end result of a player’s token is completely up to the design of the board. When I recently played with my sister, I recount that there was no real strategy that you could actually apply that would effect your position at the end of a turn. The mechanics are essentially static and built into the board rather than being tied to strategies other players try to instill on the game (because there literally is no strategy that could be applied, unless you could somehow figure out a way to roll a dice such that you know how to roll a certain number, which is essentially impossible for the purposes of a hand roll). What this does is it creates an environment where players do not have to think through strategically on any of their moves, and they could simply roll the dice and let the board itself do the gameplay itself. This allows for players to socialize more and elicits a more non-strategically competitive vibe overall.
Unlike other games that are chance-based, snakes and ladders is purely based on luck since there is no player-agency in any of the actions they take. The dice roll is effectively random and so the player has no real control throughout the entirety of the game, as each player’s turn up until someone wins is completely up to chance. In Poker, there are elements that you cannot control, such as the cards that are dealt to the players and the shared cards in the middle of the table, but in terms of the decisions each player makes as to how much to bet, whether to fold or not, or even bluffing strategies, players have a lot of agency that they can capitalize on. In other words, while luck is a factor in the game, the eventual outcome is driven by the strategies and gameplay of the players, as they have their own agency to make decisions based on the initial randomized distribution and layout of the cards.
The no-strategy and high-chance aspects of snakes and ladders also leads to an addictive gameplay as the sensation of rolling a dice and “hoping” it’s the number you want is similar to that of pulling the crank and hoping for triple 7s in a slot machine. Ultimately, it is the lack of strategy and mental effort required but the ability to still win that makes snakes and ladders potentially addictive. Just like with a slot machine, where you need not any skill nor need to put in any effort to potentially “win big”, Snakes and Ladders is also a low skill requirement game, and the thrill of winning by just rolling a dice can cause a sensation of attaining large gains with minimum effort.
