Clever New Version of Chutes and Ladders Helps Cities Promote Cycling

Copenhagenize Design Company

Cycling has been having something of a renaissance in recent years: Cities the world over have figured out that letting cars dominate the road isn’t in the public interest, and many are taking decisive action to make getting on a bike or public transit easier and safer. That’s not always easy, and the Copenhagenize Design Company is there to help.

The latest project from the urban design firm’s CEO, Mikael Colville-Andersen, is simple and fun: It’s a board game that doubles as a guide for the best and worst ways to encourage cycling. The Race for the Life-Sized City is a cycling-focused take on Chutes and Ladders.

The idea came to him while in a toy shop in Montreal last month. He noticed many board cars centered on cars, but none with a livable city focus. “I thought I would be cheeky and make one myself,” he says. “I played it with my kids and they liked it. It’s a simple gameplay and it has been around for millennia.” You can’t buy it in a store, but are free to print out the board, find a die, and play at home.

The original version of Chutes and Ladders dates to ancient India, and may have been used by religious teachers to impart lessons about good and evil. Colville-Andersen’s version has the same goal, without the morality bit. It doubles as a guide for cities that want to encourage cycling.

Your city launches a bike share system with lots of bikes and well-placed racks? Go forward 22 spaces. It launches a tram network? Move forward 28. You mayor doesn’t ride to work? Back up eight. You have local media like the notably anti-cyclist New York Post or Daily Mail? Back five. The gravest sin is reserved for space 99: “Hapless, ignorant politicians start a helmet law.” Back 92 spaces. “We know that promoting and legislating bike helmets is the surest way to kill off any hopes of reestablishing the bicycling as transport,” Colville-Andersen says. (No really, it’s true—largely because they add a barrier to biking, and cyclists are safest when they are many.) “Cycling levels plummet after laws are put into place.”

So what does the game teach us about encouraging healthy modes of transportation? “Bicycle infrastructure and public transport are signs of a modern city,” Colville-Andersen says. “A city that still only builds roads for cars is hopelessly old fashioned.” His point of view is catching on around the world, as cycling resurges in popularity. We suspect “The Race for the Life-Sized City” isn’t much fun to play: Chutes and ladders itself is super boring and rewards luck, not skill. Nonetheless, the game is a clever way to teach lessons about building cities where cars aren’t the premier mode of transportation. It’s not quite a battle between good and evil, but it’s a good fight to win.