This is a very old friend, and in
remarkably good condition remembering how often we played it Although the width
of the fold-line shows that it has been opened and closed many times. I've seen
PC versions called Shutes & Ladders, but where's the fun in that? We want
great, big, SNAKES!
I loved this as a kid, branded to GJ Hayter & Co., of Bournemouth,
under their famous Victory mark; I
just loved the rich colours of the snakes, the Christmassy border - the whole
thing. It's actually a particularly hard one to finish due in no small part to the big, blue, Mr.
93-25 who sends you back three-quarters of the board!
We also had a family rule that you had to 'throw
your finish', which meant that if you were on say 98 and threw a six you would
have to go 99-game-99-98-97-96, and hope for a four next time, but if you were on 98
and threw a three, you'd end your turn on 58! With three snakes on the top-row,
they were sometimes long games, but fun and a great teacher of humility, humility and cynicism! As
every time you thought you had it in the bag, it went South!
Even the label is rather fine, I think? If I
recall correctly, these were sold in the old-school newsagents and corner shops
(almost totally disappeared now), just loose boards stacked up in a box on a
lower shelf, with Go boards, Sorry, Backgammon and a Chess/Draughts one etc . .
. So this was probably at Webb's in Hartley Wintney and we (Bro' and me) may have chosen it, at
some point?
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