Snake and Career Ladders

A strange little side quest

Even a quick game like Snake and Career Ladders sits on top of decades — and sometimes centuries — of ideas. Pong was field-tested in California bars in 1972 and helped launch the modern arcade-game era. There is another connection worth keeping in the same mental pocket: Nintendo's Donkey Kong arrived in 1981 and introduced the character first known as Jumpman, who later became Mario. Grombi files that under: small game, surprisingly large backstory.