Popular SriLankan Board Games
Board Games – Sam
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News, Views and More from Batch'64, Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, SriLanka
"Best and the Brightest from 1964"
News, Views and More from Batch'64, Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, SriLanka 
My 2 cents worth of cooments:-
We still have a Carrom board & Snake and ladder in our house in Sydney, but not the others shown, Carrom is a fantastic game to play but Snake &ladder seems to be for the grand kids.
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Totally agree with you Seelan
Enjoyed when we were at Bloem
Skills learnt are still intact
Yet no carrom board to play at our home
Mischievous boys like us those days
Used to classify ladies heaving chests
Rating zero was carrom board
Hefty one was called a ‘milk board’
Ariya
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I do remember these board games. One game that is missing is LUDO.
I do love Carrom. Maybe I shall look into buying a Carrot board.
Nisantha
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Dear Sam
I love Carrom and I brought a carrom board here but the children don’t know how to play and Ranjit is not interested. This carrom board reminds me of our faculty days as Swarna and I used to rush to the common room to play a game carron before the others got hold of the board . I am looking forward to the Pasikuda trip to play a game with Swarna as we used to do in the olden day’s.
Apart from the first one I k or only the Carrom board and snakes 🐍 and ladders. Let us know what the others are. One looks like Acdifgerent form of Ludo . Praxy
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Carrom- Snakes and Ladders and Ludo– great games , great quality family time back in the day .
I have none of the above at home now .
Up The Ladder and Down the Snakes Mouth !– for this Snake Charmer Eagle Woman – -right up her alley !
Idea — Praxy/ Swarna / Ariya — try to bring along a Snakes and Ladders board game to Passikuda- we could have a nice game on the beach !
eagleD
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Thanks Sam for reminding us of these favourite board games of times past. Carrom, Ludo and Snakes and ladders were a part of every household in those glory days, because there was no T.V and surprise,no Mobile phones.!!.We did enjoy the company of siblings and family and friends.What else would you do on a rainy day.?
Interestingly, Carrom and S&Ladders originated in India.Have you noticed the number of snakes and ladders on each board.? They are equal now, modified by our colonial masters.However, in the days gone by, there were more snakes than ladders as the game was predominantly a teaching tool for Indian children,the squares with the ladders teach virtue and the squares with the snakes evil. (Reminding the young ones that there is more evil in life!!) and to avoid them.!!
Apart from the Virtue and evil, I believe it is a good game to teach kids the value of numbers from 1 to 100.It is clear on the board as they translate the spots on the roll of the dice to numbers and move their coloured markers up and down the numbers on the roll of the dice.
I am sure the hotels in S.L will have Carrom boards stored away for a rainy day.Enjoy a game and show off your skills.Did you know that the first official carrom tournament was held in Ceylon in 1935.? No wonder we are a carrom playing nation. Eddie.
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I agree with you Eddie, we all grew up with these for entertainment when playing outdoors was not an option.
Thanks for the extra trivia on Snakes and Ladders. I bought a Carrom Board for use when the grand kids visit during the Holidays, but none of them have perfected the correct shooting technique.
Sam
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Well I hope thhe image Sam will post will take our memories back a 50 years to a common site seen at a way side kiosk, the simple, way the villagers spend their leisure time playing Checkers.
The other two boards shown are the Pancha Keliya, played with shells.
I am certain that most of you will agree with me ?
Playing Snakes and ladders and Ludo are the most popular ways for the grandparents to keep the attention of grand kids away from iPads etc
Carrom yes I play with my grand kids, and was also a house hold popular game among us
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Not sure if I can, Rani. It is a copywrited stock image from Alamy.
Let me find a suitable replacement. Thanks
Sam
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