More likely hopscotch than snakes and ladders. All the boards I ever played never took me back to worse than square two. Once agin, the phrases website has some good research:
Just a few moments’ search would have informed them the thing is little more than a prank and the whole ensemble is twaddle. They’re the sort who really do believe ‘gullible’ has been removed from the dictionary.
Not unrelated, I enjoyed reading this article the other day about the inventor of the toaster
I like “sleep tight” as a phrase to wish someone a restful night. I think that originates from (circa Elizabethan?) beds that were made of rope lattices piled with hay, feathers, wool etc so to ‘tighten’ the ropes made for a more comfortable bed.
Finally dug out my Oxford Dictionary of Phrases & Fables. Covers some but not all that have been mentioned so far
@B3 Buggins' turn a system by which appointments or awards are made by rotation rather than by merit - from Buggins used to represent a typical surname.
Bully A description often in the news /SM. Who else is surprised that the original use was as a term of endearment ( mid 16th C ) and then later became a familiar term of address to a male friend.
Posts
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/back-to-square-one.html
Not unrelated, I enjoyed reading this article the other day about the inventor of the toaster
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/the-reporters-63622746
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
@B3 Buggins' turn a system by which appointments or awards are made by rotation rather than by merit - from Buggins used to represent a typical surname.