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Computing
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E-commerce snakes & ladders

Will you make a Mint or lose your shirt?

Rules

1. There is no element of skill in this game. Everything is chance, just like real e-commerce
2. Your business starts at the `break-even point': five steps away from debtor's prison, and a ninetyfive away from making a Mint
3. Click `Throw' to throw the die.
4. You will move left-to-right and up the board. If you land on a snake's head, you will slide down. If you land on the foot of a ladder you will climb up. These moves represent the vagaries of fortune in the e-commerce world.
5. If you get to the final square, you win. If you end up back at square one, you lose.

`E-commerce snakes & ladders' is a demonstration of how Java applets can be used to provide real interactivity in a Web page. Although this example is a silly one, it's based on a `real' program that I developed for a firm of solicitors. The intention of that program was to demonstrate the pitfalls and benefits of commercial property conveyancing law. The `board game' metaphor is an interesting way of doing this.