Play Paramapadham
The original snakes and ladders
Tap to roll Space
How to playClimb to Paramapadham
- Everyone starts before square 1. Take turns to roll the dice.
- Count the dots and move that many squares, saying each number as you hop.
- Land at the foot of a ladder? A good deed lifts you up. Climb to the top.
- Land on a snake’s head? An unkind act pulls you down. Slide to its tail.
- Roll a 6 and you get one more roll.
- The first to reach 100, Paramapadham, the highest place, wins. Switch on “Exact roll to finish” for older children: then you need the exact number to land on 100.
Traditional Paramapadham boards differ from home to home: the number of squares, where the snakes and ladders sit, and what each one stands for. On this board, each ladder is a good habit and each snake is an unkind one, in words young children know.
While you playAsk each other
- Which number will you land on? Count on from your square.
- How many more do you need to reach the next ladder?
- When did you last share, or help someone? How did it feel?
- What can we do when we feel angry, like the snake?
- A snake sent you down. How can you feel better and keep playing?
On this boardLadders and snakes
Ladders: good deeds lift us up
Snakes: unkind acts pull us down
The climb to the highest place
Paramapadham means the highest place. In many Tamil homes the board comes out on the night of Vaikunta Ekadasi, and families play through the night to stay awake. The board is a picture of a life: good deeds are ladders that lift you, and unkind deeds are snakes that pull you back down.
Versions of the game were played across India under names like Mokshapat and Gyan Chaupar. In the late 1800s it travelled to England, where it became Snakes and Ladders and most of the lessons were dropped. Here we keep them, so children count to 100 and talk about kindness in the same game.
Bring play back into the classroom
Paramapadham is one of the traditional games we use in our kindergarten teacher training, alongside Waldorf, Montessori and Reggio Emilia practice. Draw a big board on the floor and let children be the counters.