Chutes and Ladders

I'm not sure why, but all of a sudden Trevi is really into playing Chutes and Ladders. As I left for work this morning, I promised him that we'd play after school, and so we did.
The version I knew as a kid (from playing it up at the cottage) was Snakes and Ladders. I was curious about the switch from snakes to chutes (were snakes too creepy?), so I did what any self-respecting computer junkie would do, and googled it. As it turns out, the game has an extended history, and some folks have put a good deal of thought into analyzing it. Personally, it's the moral dilemmas that keep me from falling asleep after I've almost made it to the top 64 times, only to be chuted back down to the teens. It seems that the climbworthy and chute-inducing deeds (done by the large-headed children serving as our moral guides) are pretty much the same as I remember them from my childhood. There's more ethnic diversity on the modern board, though, and a few of the deeds, misdeeds, and clothes have been updated a bit. It makes me wonder if future versions will be full of naughty kids texting when they are supposed to be doing their homework, or maybe forgetting to recycle. Trevor is bothered by some of the scrapes the characters on the board find themselves in (guilty conscience or overflowing empathy?) and doesn't want to discuss them as we play. Conversely, Clara revels in naming the bad, bad children she knows, and comparing them to the Chutes and Ladders gang.

I enjoy spotting hypocrisy in the rewards and consequences. For instance, one kid eats too many sweets, and goes down the chute to a stomach ache. Another kid helps his scatterbrained mom, who has forgotten her purse, and she shows her appreciation by giving him an ice cream sundae the size of his head. Hop on over to the gluttony chute, kid.