Ultra Mega Chutes & Ladders

Hello and welcome to the first Saturday of August here at the Wannaskan Almanac. We are in the midst of the dog days of summer, folks, and school starts one month from today.

"Nobody wants to play with me!" the Youngest complained this week.
"You're in luck! Nobody is my middle name!" I said.
He glared. "No, it's NOT, Mom."

The joke that had gotten us through most of the summer had lost its intended effect. The Youngest was genuinely feeling dejected. I'd seen an uptick in the bickering between his sister and him; full-out screaming, "LEAVE ME ALONE!" "NO!" "YES!!" etcetera, etcetera, usually punctuated by a dull *whack* and a resounding *thump* followed by the Youngest bolting out of their shared bedroom, down the hallway, into the kitchen, and around the table, his sister in hot pursuit. "THE CLOCK!" I bellow, adding to the mayhem.

Aaaah, yes. The kids were readying themselves to go back to school, if anything, to get some new company. 

With a month left of summer to go, I knew it was time to recommit to creating some semblance of harmony between the members of our household. So when the Youngest complained, "Nobody wants to play with me!" I answered, "Yes, she does!"

Three years ago, the kids and I upgraded Candyland with a few spicy rules to create Candyland 2.0. (Click the link to read more!) So, it was no surprise (and quite a thrill) to see the cogs whirring in the Youngest's mind as he added layers of complexity to Chutes & Ladders throughout the week until he finally landed on:

4-Tiered Ultra Mega Chutes & Ladders

Yes, this was ultra mega.

There are four boards in this game. The first board - or tier - is a chess/checkerboard with improvised "chutes" and "ladders" cut out of paper and taped to the board. The first tier is pretty tame until the very last row of squares which is a minefield of chutes. "The Lane of Doom," I called it after sliding away from victory a good five or six times while the kids were enjoying mid-field Tier 2 status.

The second tier was the original Chutes & Ladder board with all of the regular rules. This might be a good time to mention that instead of the cardboard boy and girl figures that originally came with the game, we fashioned our own Lego mini figures.

The third tier was a "Snakes & Ladders" knock-off from a 100-games-in-a-box set I bought at a rummage sale twenty years ago. It's smaller than the original C&L, but, interestingly, has the exact same positioning of the snakes and ladders as the original game.

At this point, I'd like to insert a short side note to say it is absolutely maddening to find oneself sliding down from square 87 to square 24 only to slide again from #49 to #11 (Curse those cookies!), then to slide again from #16 to #6 - and then repeat the loop of that last slide four more times.

But all that sliding makes it all worth it once you get to the fourth tier - the Candyland tier. As the Youngest says, "It's ultra mega!"

In this final frontier of Chutes & Ladders the ultra mega addition, the Youngest switches over to the Candyland 2.0 rules. If you haven't clicked over to my post on that game, here's a quick summary of the rules:

1) You pick a Candyland color. Whenever you land on your designated Candyland color, you get to jump to the next square of your color. (So, if I'm red, when I land on a red square, I get to jump to the next red square.)

2) If you land on a candy square, i.e. peanut brittle, gum drop, etc., you have to go back to the last candy square you passed. (So, if you land on peanut brittle, you have to go back to the gum drop.)

3.) If you land in someone else's "black hole" or "pit" (note, we added some pits so every color had one) you lose a turn. But, if you land on your OWN black hole you hyper jump to Candy Castle and WIN.

After two days of playing our way through the first three tiers, this sweet rule *finally* got me through the pearly gates of Candy Castle.

I applauded the Youngest's super summer genius and we all celebrated with freezies, then watched Zathura on Hulu, which - very timely - is about two bickering siblings who play a Jumanji-type game in outer space.

We've got a whole month of summer left. What can you and your family dream up?

The Youngest asked me to tell you all that in a future blog post, we'll write about his next game masterpiece: The Super Ultra Mega Fun Fun and Tall game. 

Enjoying my victory at Candy Castle.

4-tiered Ultra Mega Chutes & Ladders

On This Day

Historic Highlights (credits)

2008 - Coup in Mauritania

In the 6th coup in the North African country since 1978, President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was overthrown and General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, a career military officer, was installed in his place.

1965 - Voting Rights Act Becomes Law in the United States

President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the act, which prohibited any discrimination in voting. The act enforces the 14th and 15th amendments to the US Constitution.

1962 - Jamaican Independence

The Caribbean island country was first colonized by the Spanish in the early 16th century. In 1655, the British invaded Spanish Jamaica and made it a colony after the Spanish surrendered. Jamaica soon became one of the most profitable colonies of the British Empire, especially after sugarcane was brought to the island by the English. The Jamaica Independence Act of July 1962, which was a result of anti-colonial sentiments that were spreading throughout the globe, gave Jamaica full independence by leaving the Federation of the West Indies.

1945 - US Bombs Hiroshima

In the first of the only two times nuclear weapons have been used in warfare, the United States dropped a nuclear bomb, nicknamed Little Boy on the industrial city of Hiroshima in Japan. Over 150,000 people were estimated killed by the resulting explosion. Japan had joined the Second World War in December 1941 on the side of the Axis powers. After the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings 3 days later on August 9, Japan surrendered to the Allies and ended the Pacific War.

1926 - First Woman to Swim Across the English Channel

Gertrude Ederle, an American Olympic swimmer swam across the English channel a body of water between England and France, in 14 hours and 34 minutes. Only 5 other people, all men, had swum across the channel before Ederle.

Happy Birthday to You!🎶 

1983 - Robin van Persie, Dutch footballer

1928 - Andy Warhol, American artist

1911 - Lucille Ball, American actress

1881 - Alexander Fleming, Scottish scientist, Nobel Prize laureate

1809 - Alfred, Lord Tennyson, English poet

Remembering You

1978 - Pope Paul VI

1969 - Theodor W. Adorno, German sociologist, philosopher

1931 - Bix Beiderbecke, American pianist, composer

1637 - Ben Jonson, English writer

Keep playing and make it a great Saturday. 

Kim