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Snakes and Ladders was originally an Indian morality game called Moksha Patam. The snakes stood for particular vices (e.g. Vanity/Lying/Drunkenness) , and the ladders for virtues (e.g. Faith/Generosity/Asceticism).
It arrived in Britain in 1892, and within a few years fused brilliantly with the priorities of late Victorian/Edwardian child rearing
Early boards have the vices and virtues listed. This one above has a key on the box. A child can then see after going down a snake or up a ladder what the corresponding vice/virtue is, and reflect on what it means in his/her own life. Kinda cool.
What's ingenious about it, is that no matter how high or virtuous you get, you're still subject to backsliding. Where it becomes slightly problematic, is firstly that you're competing in virtue, and secondly the role of fate/chance.
The role of fate very roughly aligns with some typically 'Eastern' metaphysical schemes, over against the Christian. But in the period after 1892 these same schemes were gaining popularity among the London intelligentsia, and being fused with typically Victorian morality.
1890s esotericism is full of sturdily imperial schemes of virtue combined with elements of what we call Hinduism, particularly.
