Snakes and Ladders: Adapting a Globally Renowned Game to Enhance Understanding of Ecological Sustainability

Climate change threatens a wide range of ecosystem processes that underpin the Pacific's coral reefs. While conservation actions such as managing fishing pressure and water quality have demonstrated resilience benefits, motivated and ecologically literate practi-tioners are essential to implement and adapt future strategies effectively. This paper ex-plores how a gamified learning tool based on the board game 'Snakes and Ladders' can enhance understanding of stochastic events and resilience concepts in coral reef ecology. We align this tool with intended learning outcomes (ILOs) from a third-year Coral Reef Ecology course and describe how gameplay, discussion, and simulation were integrated into the curriculum.