Chutes and Ladders

A fantastic follow-up to Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders is ideal for younger children who are still learning to take turns and just beginning to recognize numbers (the spinner stays in the single digits). It's also a gentle introduction to the higher numbers as players climb to 100 at the top of the board. And, thanks to all those chutes and ladders, it's got enough excitement to keep your 7-year-old on the edge of her seat. English and Spanish instructions are included; no reading is necessary to play. Chutes and Ladders is for two to four players. --Julie Ubben

1.The child needs to be able to visually recognize the numbers 1-100, so that they know where to move. If your child, like ours, can't do this yet it becomes frustrating with having always to tell them where to move. It feels like you are playing for them. So, we play lots more Candy Land that Chutes and Ladders. So, this game probably isn't good for preschool children - unless you are willing to give them considerable help (which means no games played among just the children themselves).

2.The game pieces are made of cardboard that fits into little plastic stands. After several times of putting the cardboard into the stand the cardboad becomes compressed and will no longer stay in the stand. So, you will need to try to leave the stands on all the time, or you'll have to glue the pieces into the stands. Considering how classic a game this is and that families will play it for generations and hand it down, it would have been nice if they could have come up with better pieces (like the nice plastic pieces in Candy Land's anniversary edition).

3.In the last row of game play there are three chutes with only a couple of spaces separating them, which makes it VERY difficult for anyone to win and the game to be over. This gets annoying after a while and frustrating to little people.

So, we like this game, but it isn't our favorite. Be aware of your child's ability to recognize numbers and handle game frustration.


This is the second game most kids play for good reasons   October 19, 2002
Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota)
26 out of 28 found this review helpful

I was interested in which games were popular in a particular decade, but of course "Chutes & Ladders" has remained popular for so long because it relates to young children, not the children of a particular decade. I would certainly go along with the consensus that "Candy Land" is the first board game you buy your kids and "Chutes & Ladders" is the second.

This game has three strong qualities which recommend it to small children. The first is simplicity, so that the child can easily understand it and start playing immediately. The second is luck, so that the child has a fair chance against older siblings, babysitters, parents, grandparents and the family cat. The third is repetition, so that the child can grasp the basic structure of such games and be prepared for those board games that are rites of passage down the road as they mature. As an added bonus, "Chutes & Ladders" certainly helps young children learn their numbers.


Taught moral values so subtly...   July 2, 1999
25 out of 27 found this review helpful

The object of this game is to reach square 100 first, using a spinner numbered 1 through 6 to indicate how many spaces to move ahead on the board. Some of the squares are "rest" spaces -- nothing happens to the cardboard children that the players move around the board. Other spaces have chutes (more commonly known as slides) the character swoops down, back toward the beginning of the game, on which are depicted scenes of children behaving badly -- pulling a cat's tail, breaking a window, stealing cookies from the jar. Of course, there are also ladder squares, with illustrations of the children performing samaritin-esque good deeds (helping someone across a street, mowing the lawn). Each of these scenes is a narrative -- first the action, good or bad, then the consequence at the top of the ladder or at the end of the slide.

The scenes depicted are truly unobjectionable moral issues (who can argue that pulling a cat's tail is not such a good thing for a child to do?), but the randomness of the spinner removes the players a bit from the feeling that they're actually being rewarded or punished -- it's just a game, with a subtle golden-rule theme.

I played this game many, many times as a child, preferring it by far to CandyLand!


A classic game for young children   April 20, 2005
Peter Durward Harris (Leicester England)
17 out of 18 found this review helpful

As a British child, one of the games I played frequently was Snakes and Ladders. It remains one of the most popular games in Britain for young children. Many years later, I discovered that American children play this game too, but with the snakes replaced by chutes. There are other differences too (at least as far as this particular product is concerned) - the die (a simple, solid cube) used in the British game is replaced by a less durable spinner, while the counters (simple circular pieces of plastic) used in Britain to move around the board are replaced by cardboard characters that fit into plastic stands - again, much less durable than their British equivalents. Perhaps these fancy pieces are designed to make the game seem more interesting. The British game is sufficiently appealing to children without them - the snakes are colourful and much more attractive than chutes can ever be.

Aside from these differences, the British and American games are the same although the layout of the board may vary from one individual product to another. I played the game on several different boards (from different manufacturers) and the positions of the snakes and ladders certainly affected the game. On this particular American version, I can see that having three chutes close together near the end would be particularly frustrating - if a game is too difficult to finish, enthusiasm wanes somewhat.

While it certainly helps if the children playing the game recognize the numbers 1 to 100, it is also true that if they play the game often enough, they should eventually understand which way they have to move their pieces, though parents or older children may need a lot of patience while this process happens.

The result of the game is pure luck with no element of skill so, no matter how often you play, you cannot improve your chances of winning by fair play, so everybody has an equal chance. This is an advantage in a children's game - they learn all about winning and losing and the emotions involved.

This is a fun game for young children of school age. Bright children of pre-school age might also enjoy it but these children will grow out of it at an earlier age than average children.

If you buy this particular product, I recommend replacing the spinner with a die and the cardboard pieces with more durable pieces. Do that and the children will have plenty of fun.


It is a pretty good game for a young (age 4-7) child.   August 3, 1999
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

I've given this game to several of my nieces and nephews, and I've received rave reviews from to each child that I've given it.