Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Some of my most cherished memories of my dearly departed grandmother are of us sitting on her settee in her quaint terraced house in northern England, playing traditional card and board games, writes Kristian Harrison.
Games of Ludo, Draughts and Snap (the latter of which I had a winning streak in which would make Floyd Mayweather blush …. her reaction speeds weren’t the best) devoured entire afternoons, but it always fell to Snakes & Ladders to settle the score.
So it was with fond remembrance that I bounded down to City Centre Bahrain to sample their latest promotion, a giant Snakes & Ladders game for visitors to play and win prizes.
This was Snakes & Ladders with a twist though. The game features a game board dotted with famous miniature landmarks of the kingdom, which players can learn the history of if they land on certain ‘Did you know?’ squares.
Even better, certain squares are emblazoned with logos of City Centre outlets, such as Wahoo! Water Park, A La Mode, Wool House and Magic Planet. If players land on them, they win gift vouchers and prizes to redeem at those places.
Editor Stan and I were eagerly awaiting our turn in the media waiting area at the big launch, but weren’t called for the first game. We were eyeing up the biscuits laid out on a table close by, but as an unwritten media convention goes, you never unwrap the cling film yourself and instead wait for some brave soul to do it.
Luckily, a plucky fellow from an Arabic publication took the plunge and grabbed a cheeky biccy, at which point the rest of the waiting crowd swarmed on them like flies.
Next up, we were called along with five others. I myself was #4 and Stan was lucky #7 … or so he thought!
The game is pretty simple. Usually there are 100 squares, although for space reasons there were only 40 here. You roll the die (Yes, the singular form of the word dice is die) and move forward the designated number of squares, and if you land on a ladder you move up and take a shortcut, but if you hit a snake you fall back down again.
To speed up proceedings in this version, the game ends after five rolls of the dice regardless of if someone has won outright or not. With 40 squares and a maximum roll score of 30, you need to hit at least one, but probably two, ladders to win. I never usually win anything, so I wasn’t fancying my chances.
Grabbing the fluffy white die before my go, I was eyeing up either a two or a three. Two would allow me to land on a charity donation square. Every time a player ‘falls’ on one of these allocated spaces, BD1 will be donated to Bahrain Down Syndrome Society. According to organisers, the total donations from the game will provide essential school supplies to children. Three would get me to a ladder which would jump me to square 16.
Luckily, I got a three and zoomed up the board. Not a bad start! This also happened to land me on a ‘Did you know?’ square, which the quizmaster took advantage of to ask me if I knew which person had a part in designing Bab-Al Bahrain.
My answer of “I dunno … Shaikh Al Bab?” triggered a shake of the head from the host and the real answer. Had I not been on holiday at the time I would have read the answer in this newspaper on a recent story about artist Jack Melville being commissioned to draw a portrait of the late Charles Belgrave - the man known to be the driving force behind the gate’s creation.
As the game progressed, I was doing well. A roll of two safely moved me to square 18, before a three got me to 21 … and the next ladder. I was on 35, with only six needed to win with two more rolls left. Unfortunately, a roll of four would see me run into a giant snake, my last obstacle.
Sensing my moment of glory, with the patrons of the mall watching from the side-lines and from the balconies above, I felt like I was in an intense Olympic final. I picked up the dice, rolled, watched as it flirted with four …. but no, it was a five! I positively skipped to square 40, knowing that I just needed one from one roll to step off the board and onto the finish plaque.
Meanwhile, behind me Stan was keeping the GulfWeekly end up by hoovering up the prize squares. He landed on the Wahoo square, then A La Mode, and was precariously placed in second place waiting for his chance to pounce if I’d landed on the snake.
However, this victory was mine, and mine alone. Slamming the dice down on the floor with number one facing up, I stepped off the board to mass cheers and backslaps, with two employees lifting me on their shoulders to take in the acclaim.
Not really. In fact, the crowd went mild, but I enjoyed my moment anyway. I was excited to see what prize I would claim for being the outright winner (which I imagine will be a rarity considering you need specific rolls with only five turns). It was a magnetic Snakes & Ladders game, the media prize.
Meanwhile, Stan accepted his Wahoo! vouchers and posh pen from A La Mode. I opened my board game pack quietly in the corner, hoping to find my gift vouchers or golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory hiding in the rule book. Alas, no luck.
As he headed off to get his trunks on and splash around in the water attraction, showing off his prize pen, while I trudged home, ‘the boss’ winked at me and offered that old chestnut: “It’s always better to come second, mate!”
Snakes & Ladders is located in the Central Galleria until August 31, operating from 10am-10pm on weekdays and from 10am-12am on weekends. To participate, visitors have to spend BD30 in shopping, dining, or entertainment at City Centre Bahrain and present their receipts to the customer service desks to receive a participation coupon. Players will get a chance to win prizes from the participating retailers in addition to the weekly prizes of BD1,000 worth in gift cards.
