snakes and ladders

Definition

A children's luck-based board game of Indian origin, played on a numbered grid, the aim of which is to proceed to the end, and in which ladders aid progress and snakes impede it.

Example Sentences

• "Teachers, senior teachers, and principal teachers would have built-in status and the scales would offer well-defined career prospects instead of the ambiguous and often misleading snakes-and-ladders situation which at present exists."
• "His Mireille has had a snakes-and-ladders career, starting up, going down, then finally rising once more."
• "But his snakes and ladders career would soon take its biggest hit."