Game Idea A Week: Snakes Uno Ladders

Week Fifty-One (26/09/2010)

The idea for this week is a game that combines two old favourites: the board game Snakes and Ladders and the card game Uno.

Platform:

Board game

Genre:

Family/Party

Why it needs to be made:

Many people have old games lying around the house. This game takes two old favourites and gives them new life. This is good for the environment because it is reusing games many people probably already have. Further, Snakes and Ladders is not a very interesting game for older children and so this game extends its usability to older children and adults.

Description:

To play this game take a Snakes & Ladders board, throw away the die and add a pack of Uno cards. You'll be using the Uno cards to advance on the board, go backwards, pick up extra cards, steal cards from others and more.

The game can be played with 2 to 6 players and takes approximately 20-30 minutes per round. Every player is dealt 4 Uno cards and chooses a token to place just before square "1" on the board. To choose who goes first, every player picks a card from the deck, if it's one of the special cards they pick again until everyone has a numbered card. The person with the highest card starts. Play rotates around clockwise.

On your turn you pick up a new card from the pile, then use one or two cards from your hand. If you can play a card, you must play that card. If you decide to use 2 cards, they must be put down at the same time. The first card you put down must follow standard Uno rules: you must match the colour or number of the last card on the pile. The second card you place doesn't need to match. Once you place your cards down they take effect immediately and you cannot change your mind if you have miscounted. Cards have the following effects:

• Yellow, blue and green numbered cards take you forwards the amount shown on the card;
• Red numbered cards take you backwards on the board. You can apply them to yourself or to any other player to make them go backwards;
• Skip cards skip the next person's go (in two player game this means you can play twice in a row);
• Draw 2 cards mean you pick up 2 new cards for yourself;
• Wild cards mean you can take a card from another player and you can choose the next colour;
• Wild Draw 4 cards mean you can pick up 4 new cards for yourself and change the colour if you desire;
• Reverse cards reverse the direction of the snakes and ladders. If a reverse card is played, the snakes will go up and the ladders will go down. If someone is sitting at the top of a ladder, they will be pushed down the ladder to the bottom. The next time a reverse card is played, the snakes revert back to going down and the ladders going up. Depending on how difficult you want to make the game, you might want to have a piece of paper to remind people which direction the snakes and ladders are currently going.

If you play two numbered cards at once, you go forward the total amount without stopping in the middle. This means that if you play a yellow "8" and a red "3" at the same time and use the red card on yourself, you will go forwards "5". Note that the Uno cards marked as "0" should be played as though they are "10". If you have no cards at the start of the turn, you will still get to pick up a card which you can play straight away if it is possible. To win the game you must land on the 100 square exactly, you cannot overshoot the mark.

Why it will be a compelling game:

The game will be easy to learn since most people already know the rules of Snakes & Ladders and Uno. It will be fast paced and the strategy will be challenging. People will need to choose between making other people go backwards and helping themselves out. Making sure you do your addition and subtraction is very important. Once you place cards down there is no taking them back, so if you accidentally count wrong and end up going down a snake or a ladder, that's your problem.

Other thoughts: