Chutes and Ladders

theeye · #1 05-24-2003, 11:33 PM

So the Poopster, Daddy and I were playing Chutes and Ladders earlier today. You remember Chutes and Ladders: board game for 3-5 year olds.

We each take a couple of turns and it seems like the spinner keeps coming up with the same couple of numbers. Daddy gets seriously bent out of shape: That spinner is biased. How can I be expected to play a game with a biased spinner? It just isn't fair!

I have a three year old who keeps pushing the spinner over to '2' because he likes the number two and a 42 year old who's worried about whether or not Chutes and Ladders is fair.

Shoot me now.

**thinkerlady**[$] · #2 05-24-2003, 11:55 PM

My son was babysitting a three year old in the neighborhood. They were playing a board game--either Chutes and Ladders, or Candy Land I don't remember which. Anyhow, he said everytime the kid spinned--he started counting to 10. He moved and stopped whenever he felt like it. Consequently he 'won".

The kids response everytime--"Ha Ha! I win, you stink" Can you tell that he is the youngest of 3????

CurtisEdmonds · #3 05-25-2003, 12:13 AM

My second law review article was entitled "Snakes and Ladders", which is the British name for the game. Very apropos, too.

sleeper54 · #4 05-25-2003, 01:32 AM

Quote:

"Eye" said in post #1 :

--snip--

We each take a couple of turns and it seems like the spinner keeps coming up with the same couple of numbers. Daddy gets seriously bent out of shape: That spinner is biased. How can I be expected to play a game with a biased spinner? It just isn't fair!

--snip--

Shoot me now.

Gee, I wonder if any of the 79(!) reviews on Eps address possible bias on the spinner part ??

Hasn't been reviewed in 10 months...

...tom...

**hymie**[$] · #5 05-25-2003, 02:43 AM

I flexed the cardboard base of the spinner, and all was well after that. It's a 1-6 spinner, so I had proposed replacing it with a die toss.

**mjfrombuffalo**[$] · #6 05-25-2003, 07:15 AM

Quote:

thinkerlady said in post #2 :
My son was babysitting a three year old in the neighborhood. They were playing a board game--either Chutes and Ladders, or Candy Land I don't remember which. Anyhow, he said everytime the kid spinned--he started counting to 10. He moved and stopped whenever he felt like it. Consequently he 'won".

The kids response everytime--"Ha Ha! I win, you stink" Can you tell that he is the youngest of 3????

IIRC, my edition of Candy Land came with cards with colored squares; you drew a card and went to that square (or special place, if it was a picture of the Lollipop Garden or something like that).

poseidon · #7 05-25-2003, 08:35 AM

Quote:

"Eye" said in post # :
Shoot me now.

I thought you were for gun control...

jenninca · #8 05-25-2003, 09:03 AM

I made up a reading version of Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders to play with my kids to review for the reading test. I would never have guessed that fifth graders would be so excited to play preschool games. Every day when I came in the room, half a dozen of them came up to me and asked, "Are we playing Candy Land today???"

Cindy

**theworm**[$] · #9 05-25-2003, 03:43 PM

Quote:

the omniscient sea-god said in post #7 :

I thought you were for gun control...

Anyone that pulls a gun on the Eye will have to deal with me!!!!

You can shoot her with a pea shooter! That's it!

sleeper54 · #10 05-25-2003, 08:58 PM

Quote:

MJ said...

IIRC, my edition of Candy Land came with cards with colored squares; you drew a card and went to that square (or special place, if it was a picture of the Lollipop Garden or something like that).

And sometimes you got a card with two colored squares , like a double move...

Spinners are way too vulnerable to fraud...

...tom...

theeye · #11 05-25-2003, 09:29 PM

Well, we played Chutes and Ladders again tonight. And I have a confession to make.

I just can't get through a full game of Chutes and Ladders. It's just intolerably boring. And Candyland is even worse. I always end up lying and telling the Poopster that the game is over after some small handful of moves.

So whaddya think? Am I a Bad Mommy? Can you make it through a full game of this without going beserk?

KateTPZ · #12 05-25-2003, 09:38 PM

Quote:

"Eye" said in post # :

I have a three year old who keeps pushing the spinner over to '2' because he likes the number two and a 42 year old who's worried about whether or not Chutes and Ladders is fair.

Shoot me now.

Welcome to parenthood - boys are so much fun!

*emeleel* · #13 05-25-2003, 11:28 PM

Quote:

sleeper said in post #10 :

And sometimes you got a card with two colored squares , like a double move...

...tom...

And in our house, sometimes you get a card with THREE colored blocks on it!

Sean was too fidgety for a full game when he was 3, so we had to toss out the picture cards (every time he got one, it always - ALWAYS - ended up sending him back a considerable distance which was more than his 3 year old psyche could stand) so Daddy made up 3-block cards on the computer and printed them out.

Of course, the boy and his now-existant sister are respectively 7.5 and 4.5, I think it's time to go back to the regular rules. (They don't play it much anyway, they like Life, Monopoly, chess and checkers much better)

**theworm**[$] · #14 05-26-2003, 09:17 AM

Quote:

"Eye" said in post #11 :
Well, we played Chutes and Ladders again tonight. And I have a confession to make.

I just can't get through a full game of Chutes and Ladders. It's just intolerably boring. And Candyland is even worse. I always end up lying and telling the Poopster that the game is over after some small handful of moves.

So whaddya think? Am I a Bad Mommy? Can you make it through a full game of this without going beserk?

Bad Bad Mommy! You can't lie to the kid!!!! That's just WRONG! What you're supposed to do is invite his little friends over to play with him! They are young enough to find the game fastinating!

TheWorm - who's visions of a happy family sitting around playing games together has just been shattered!

theeye · #15 05-26-2003, 11:19 AM

The kid and his friends can't play Chutes and Ladders by themselves yet. They haven't figured out the part where you don't get to just move your pawn to any old space you want.

**theworm**[$] · #16 05-26-2003, 11:21 AM

This is part of being a parent! Please don't be like dad. He used to "play" monopoly with me while he took a nap. I had to roll the dice for both of us and move the pcs for both of us. He never bought properties. He just snored till I got bored and put them game away!

theeye · #17 05-26-2003, 11:24 AM

Don't forget that the Poopster is three years old. As far as he's concerned, a few turns is a game. When he knows how to play Monopoly, I'll play a whole game with him.

Hell, when he knows that Chutes and Ladders isn't over yet, I'll play the whole game.

**theworm**[$] · #18 05-26-2003, 11:25 AM

sleeper54 · #19 05-26-2003, 11:46 PM

Quote:

"Eye" said in post #15 :
The kid and his friends can't play Chutes and Ladders by themselves yet. They haven't figured out the part where you don't get to just move your pawn to any old space you want.

Hey, it builds that all-important self-esteem to let them win early and often...

...tom...

**hymie**[$] · #20 05-27-2003, 03:33 AM

For shame, eye! Chutes & Ladders boring? Nonsense! You are just not approaching it in the right way. There are deep and sophisticated questions to ponder, even for C&L Solitaire, with only one pawn. For example, what is the average number of turns to complete the game? What is the average number of times each square will contain a pawn during a game? In a two-pawn game, what is the probability that two pawns are on the same square after a given number of moves?

Obviously a Markov chain analysis is called for. The large number of states and the limited number of target states each state can proceed to also suggest that computers are needed for the analysis and that there is room for significant optimization in the programming techniques used.

Redlass · #21 05-27-2003, 11:52 AM

Have you tried Hi-Ho Cheerio? It isn't nearly as long. Neither is Frog Tennis or the cooperative games they have out like Thomas the Tank Engine and the Magic Railway. There is also Don't Break the Ice and Don't Spill the Beans that take a little less time and can be big hits with the little guys.

Chutes and Ladders is an incredibly long game. I usually didn't mind Candyland, though our guy has now moved on to Trouble and Sorry. (Trouble can be a lot of fun--you get to hit the thing in the middle to make the die pop.)

CurtisEdmonds · #22 05-27-2003, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Hy said in post # :
Obviously a Markov chain analysis is called for. The large number of states and the limited number of target states each state can proceed to also suggest that computers are needed for the analysis and that there is room for significant optimization in the programming techniques used.

Once you figure that out, maybe you can start on the project about whether baseball teams are better off having their best hitters bat first or hit cleanup.

theeye · #23 05-27-2003, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Bridgette said in post #21 :
Have you tried Hi-Ho Cheerio?

Hm. No, I haven't. So you recommend it? For three year olds?