Sugoroku

thumb|Man and woman playing ban-sugoroku (from Hikone Screen) (literally 'double six') refers to two different forms of a Japanese board game: e-sugoroku (絵双六, 'picture-sugoroku') which is similar to Western snakes and ladders, and ban-sugoroku (盤双六, 'board-sugoroku') which is similar to western tables games like backgammon. With ban-sugoroku being obsolete, today the word sugoroku almost always means e-sugoroku.

==E-sugoroku== thumb|E-Sugoroku (1925) The simpler e-sugoroku, with rules similar to snakes and ladders, appeared as early as late 13th century and was made popular due to the cheap and elaborate wooden block printing technology of the Edo period. Thousands of variations of boards were made with pictures and themes from religion, political, actors, and even adult material. In the Meiji and later periods, this variation of the game remained popular and was often included in child-oriented magazines. With ban-sugoroku being obsolete, today the word sugoroku almost always means e-sugoroku.