board game: O Poz Nanohpae (Pink Panther Snakes and Ladders)

Snakes and Ladders, considered a classic in the game world, originated in ancient India. The earliest examples made in England, dated 1892, carried Indian themes and iconography brought back from England's colonial holdings in that country. Earlier Indian versions carried strong messages taken from Hindu philosophy, teaching players that good deeds brought them to ladders, upon which they could ascend (to salvation or nirvana) and gain spaces in the game; while bad deeds led to the heads of snakes, which forced them to slide down the length of the snake (to rebirth) and lose space in the game. Over time these themes got altered in the English versions of the game, and came to represent less specific but more Victorian examples of good behaviors such as charity and kindness. and bad behaviors such as indulgence and disobedience. The English version, in the 1940s, still carried simple didactic illustrations, at the feet of ladders and the heads of snakes. This game undoubtedly influenced the Milton Bradley Company when it introduced the game, as Chutes and Ladders, in America in 1943. Bradley's game too featured ladder rewards for good deeds and chutes penalties for bad. Today the game is represented, in many different kinds of designs and even licensed character versions, in many countries worldwide.

A Greek language version features the cartoon character Pink Panther, from the humorous film series and the animated cartoon that followed. Made by a smaller Greek manufacturer under the auspices of Milton Bradley, it returns to the original game which inspired Bradley's Chutes and Ladders.