License to Play #2 - Snake-a-doo
“Snake-a-doo” is a board game to learn about Snakes and Snake-bites. Developed by a team from Indiansnakes.org and WASA Amravati.
The game is an original take on the conventional snakes and ladders game. The key difference being the presence of only snakes without any ladders. After all, the snakes take the centre stage here. The game aims to create awareness about 9 snake species commonly found in India including the 4 main venomous ones.
More than a million people have died due to snakebites in India in the past 20 years. While this itself is sad, snakes also continue to be killed in this conflict. Snakebites can be avoided, and snakes saved, by simple precautionary measures and better awareness. We can co-exist with the snakes in peace.
Peeyush Sekhsaria, who is the author of “Our Tigers Return” (one of our favourite books) and a subscriber of House Full of Books, is one of the people who came up with this game.
The Game is available in 3 languages - English, Marathi & Hindi and in 3 sizes as follows.
Table top: 20″ x 27″ ( 4 people playing, for home use )
Medium: 40″ x 57″ (4 people playing & upto 6 watching, for groups)
Large size: 57″x 70″ (4 people playing & upto 10 watching, for classrooms)
We used the Table Top version.
What we liked :
1. The packaging itself is quite impressive. A neat cloth bag with a simple button which serves the purpose well.
2. The fact that the game itself has been printed onto a cotton cloth and is washable.
3. The instructions to play are given below the game itself. So it is easy to just read and get started without having to go elsewhere.
4. The concept of the traditional snakes and ladders game has been adapted well for the purpose of creating awareness about the Indian snakes and the do’s and don’ts if one gets bitten by a snake.
5. Liked the differentiation of squares by colouring depending upon whether the person has done the right thing or not on spotting/getting bitten by a snake.
6. Also liked the facts given about some of these snakes in some of the other squares.
7. The brief pictorial summary at the bottom of the game serves well to reiterate the message of what we should and shouldn’t be doing around a snake or if we see someone getting bitten by one.
8. The categorisation of the snakes into venomous (V), non venomous (NV) and mildly venomous (MV) is much needed to realise that all snakes aren’t poisonous as is the common misconception.
9. My almost 8 year old had a whale of a time playing this game with us. He just couldn’t stop laughing when any of us would land on the square which made us go back 11 steps for having gone to a baba upon getting bitten by a snake :) And the 47th square where one goes back 40 steps for trying to kill a snake!
P.S - There is a simple website for the game here.
Where to buy from?
The game can be bought here.
Disclaimer - We received this game from Peeyush Sekhsaria for review. Thank you to Peeyush Sekhsaria for sending across the game!