Snakes and Ladders Game in Visual Basic 6

Game Rules

Snakes and Ladders is a classic board game for children that involves:

2-4 players taking turns to roll a dice
Moving their tokens along a 100-square board
Encountering snakes that send players backward
Finding ladders that advance players forward
The first player to reach square 100 wins

Game Implementation in VB6

This implementation uses mathematical logic to create the game board and movement mechanics. The board is represented as a 10×10 grid where each cell has specific coordinates.

Board Coordinate System

The game uses two arrays c(10) for column positions and r(10) for row positions. These arrays store the coordinates for each cell on the board.

Player Movement

The object.Move col(i), row(j) method moves player tokens based on dice rolls. The movement follows a zigzag pattern from bottom to top.

Snake and Ladder Logic

Special logic handles when a player lands on a snake's head (moves down) or the bottom of a ladder (moves up).

Turn Management

The game alternates between players, manages dice rolls, and checks for win conditions (reaching the final square).

Coordinate System Setup

The game board is initialized by defining coordinates for each cell:

' Declare coordinate arrays
Dim c(10) As Variant
Dim r(10) As Variant

Private Sub Form_Load()
    ' Set initial position (bottom-left corner)
    c(1) = 600
    r(1) = 8200
    
    ' Calculate column positions
    For i = 1 To 9
        c(i + 1) = c(i) + 800
    Next i
    
    ' Calculate row positions (moving upward)
    For j = 1 To 9
        r(j + 1) = r(j) - 800
    Next j
End Sub

Board Coordinate Visualization

100

Figure: Simplified board showing snakes (red) and ladders (green)

Player Movement Code

Moving a player token involves calculating the new position based on the dice roll:

' Move player token to new position
Private Sub MovePlayer(playerIndex As Integer, diceValue As Integer)
    ' Calculate new position
    newPosition = currentPosition(playerIndex) + diceValue
    
    ' Check for snakes and ladders
    newPosition = CheckSpecialPositions(newPosition)
    
    ' Calculate grid coordinates
    row = ((newPosition - 1) \ 10) + 1
    col = CalculateColumn(newPosition, row)
    
    ' Move the player token
    Image1(playerIndex).Move c(col), r(row)
End Sub

Game Interface

Figure: VB6 implementation of the Snakes and Ladders game

Game Demonstration

Video Demo

View Complete Code

Key Programming Concepts

This implementation demonstrates:

Coordinate-based positioning of game elements
Array manipulation for game state management
Conditional logic for special squares (snakes and ladders)
Turn-based game flow control
Image manipulation for player tokens