How to play
- Choose players. Play against the computer, alone, or with 2 to 4 people taking turns on one phone or computer.
- Roll the dice on your turn, and your token moves forward that many squares. Everyone starts off the board, before square 1.
- Land at the foot of a ladder (a green square) and you climb to its top. Each ladder is a virtue, such as truthfulness or generosity.
- Land on a snake's head (a red square) and you slide down to its tail. Each snake is a vice, such as anger or greed.
- Land exactly on 100. If the roll would take you past it, you stay where you are and the turn passes on.
- The first to reach 100, Vaikuntha, wins. At the end you see the virtues and vices you met on the way.
Tap any coloured square on the board to read what it means. The game is saved in this browser, so you can close the page and carry on later.
What the snakes and ladders mean
In Moksha Patam the dice stand for fate, but where you land stands for karma: the fruit of your own actions. A virtue lifts the soul toward liberation; a vice sends it back into another round of birth.
Ladders: virtues
| Square | Meaning | Goes to |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Compassion (Daya) Kindness to every living being lifts the soul. | 23 |
| 12 | Faith (Shraddha) Trust in the good path gives the strength to keep walking it. | 34 |
| 20 | Good company (Satsang) Keeping the company of wise and good people carries you upward. | 42 |
| 28 | Truthfulness (Satya) Speaking and living the truth is a long ladder. | 55 |
| 37 | Contentment (Santosh) Being at peace with what you have frees the mind. | 60 |
| 51 | Reliability (Nishtha) Keeping your word and doing your duty steadily. | 72 |
| 57 | Generosity (Daan) Giving freely, without expecting a return. | 83 |
| 66 | Devotion (Bhakti) Loving devotion to the divine draws the soul close to it. | 86 |
| 76 | Knowledge (Gyan) True knowledge of the self is the ladder nearest liberation. | 96 |
| 78 | Self-discipline (Tapas) Restraint and steady practice burn away old habits. | 88 |
Snakes: vices
| Square | Meaning | Goes to |
|---|---|---|
| 41 | Disobedience (Avagya) Ignoring the guidance of elders and teachers pulls you back. | 26 |
| 44 | Vanity (Dambh) Showing off what you are not. | 24 |
| 49 | Crudeness (Asabhyata) Coarse speech and conduct lower the mind. | 30 |
| 52 | Theft (Chori) Taking what is not yours. | 35 |
| 58 | Lying (Asatya) Every lie needs another, and the fall is long. | 39 |
| 62 | Drunkenness (Madyapan) Clouding the mind with intoxicants. | 43 |
| 69 | Debt (Rin) Living beyond your means binds you to others. | 48 |
| 73 | Violence (Hinsa) Harming a living being is the gravest fall on the board. | 27 |
| 84 | Anger (Krodh) A moment of anger can undo years of climbing. | 64 |
| 92 | Greed (Lobh) Wanting more and more is never satisfied. | 71 |
| 95 | Pride (Ahankar) Thinking yourself above others, just when you are near the top. | 77 |
| 99 | Lust (Kaam) Desire can pull you down even one step from liberation. | 80 |
Why there are more snakes than ladders
This board has 12 snakes and 10 ladders. Old boards also had more snakes than ladders, to teach that it is easier to fall than to rise. The snake of lust sits on square 99, one step from the goal: even close to liberation, one weakness can pull you down. The longest fall is violence (hinsa), from 73 to 27. Old boards differed in size and in where each snake and ladder stood; this one uses the virtues and vices most often described for the game, placed so that a game takes about 40 rolls.
History of the game
Moksha Patam, also called Gyan Chaupar, is an old Indian board game. It is often credited to the 13th-century Marathi saint Dnyaneshwar, though its exact origin is not certain. Hindu, Jain and Sufi versions were played, each with its own virtues and vices; some Jain boards had 84 squares, for the 84 lakh births a soul is said to pass through. The British took the game to England in the 1800s, where it lost its moral teaching and became Snakes and Ladders, and later Chutes and Ladders in America.
Playing as a family
Each time someone meets a snake or a ladder, stop and ask what that virtue or vice looks like in everyday life: when did you see someone be generous this week, and what does anger make people do? That conversation is what the game was made for.
The game runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you do here is sent anywhere; only the fact that a game was finished is counted, with no details.