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Snake & Ladders

Sep 18

2 min read

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Let's Play Snake & Ladders


1. Setup


  • Board Orientation: Place the board so that each player has a white square on their right.

  • Piece Arrangement:

    • 1st Rank: Rooks on corners, knights next to them, then bishops, queen on her color (white queen on white square, black queen on black square), and king next to the queen.

    • 2nd Rank: Place all pawns in the second row.



2. Objective


  • The goal is to checkmate your opponent's king. This means putting the king in a position to be captured (in "check") where there are no legal moves to escape.



3. Movement of Pieces


  • Pawn: Moves forward one square, captures diagonally. On its first move, a pawn can move forward two squares.

  • Rook: Moves horizontally or vertically any number of squares.

  • Knight: Moves in an "L" shape: two squares in one direction and then one square perpendicular. Knights can jump over other pieces.

  • Bishop: Moves diagonally any number of squares.

  • Queen: Moves horizontally, vertically, or diagonally any number of squares.

  • King: Moves one square in any direction. The king cannot move into check.



4. Special Moves


  • Castling: A move involving the king and a rook:

    • Conditions: Neither piece has moved, no pieces between them, and the king is not in check, passing through check, or moving into check.

    • The king moves two squares towards the rook, and the rook moves to the square next to the king.

  • En Passant: A special pawn capture:

    • If a pawn moves two squares forward from its starting position and lands beside an opponent's pawn, the opponent can capture it as if it had only moved one square forward.

  • Promotion: When a pawn reaches the opponent's back rank, it can be promoted to any piece (usually a queen).



5. Taking Turns


  • Players alternate turns, with White going first. Players must make a legal move on their turn.



6. Check and Checkmate


  • Check: When the king is under threat of capture. The player must move out of check on their next turn.

  • Checkmate: When the king is in check and cannot move to a safe square. The game ends.



7. Stalemate


  • A position where one player has no legal moves and their king is not in check. This results in a draw.



8. Draw Conditions


  • Other than stalemate, a draw can occur through:

    • Insufficient material: Not enough pieces to force checkmate.

    • Threefold repetition: The same position occurs three times with the same player to move.

    • Fifty-move rule: If 50 moves occur without a pawn move or piece capture.



9. Ending the Game

  • The game ends with checkmate, stalemate, or mutual agreement between players.



10. Etiquette

  • Be respectful and sportsmanlike. Shake hands before and after the game!

Sep 18

2 min read

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