How old is Snakes and Ladders? The evidence for "ancient" keeps coming apart
- By Alexander Krasnobaev, who builds Leela Online · Published September 10, 2026 Short answerNobody has produced a board, or a written mention of one, from earlier than the late eighteenth century.
- Several claims have been made that push the game further back, and over the past twenty years each of them has been examined and each has weakened rather than held.
- This is the story of what happened to them, one at a time.
Unverified
- By Alexander Krasnobaev, who builds Leela Online · Published September 10, 2026 Short answerNobody has produced a board, or a written mention of one, from earlier than the late eighteenth century.
- Several claims have been made that push the game further back, and over the past twenty years each of them has been examined and each has weakened rather than held.
- This is the story of what happened to them, one at a time.
Sources: Quantumgame