Chutes and Ladders
It's from 1943, before you were born.
- Maker
- Milton Bradley / Hasbro
- Type
- Board game (children's)
- Debuted
- 1943
- Note
- Westernized from the ancient Indian 'Snakes and Ladders'
As an Amazon Associate, OlderThan earns from qualifying purchases.
About
As of 2026, it's 83 years old.
Chutes and Ladders is the friendlier American face of Snakes and Ladders, an ancient Indian game built to teach morality — climb the ladders for good deeds, slide down the snakes for bad ones. Milton Bradley swapped the snakes for playground chutes in 1943 and kept the not-so-subtle lesson: be good or you'll slide all the way back to square one.
Like Candy Land, it's a pure-luck game with no decisions to make, which makes it perfect for tiny kids and quietly maddening for the adults rolling alongside them. Nothing teaches a four-year-old about life's unfairness like landing on the big chute at square 87.
Moralizing, luck-driven, and ancient at heart, Chutes and Ladders is the children's classic that's been teaching karma — and crushing toddler hopes near the finish — for generations.
