Does the same child always win?

“How do you stop one student dominating every game?”

These games are decided by chance, on purpose. If the outcome is chance-determined then prior attainment cannot predict the winner — which is a fact about the game, not a claim about any child. The student who finds reading hard is on exactly the same footing as the student who finds it easy.

But chance alone would be Snakes and Ladders, so every round contains one real decision that the child makes: keep going, or sit down and keep what you have. That single choice is what turns luck into a game.

Three more things work against the same names always being on top. The end screen names FOUR children, not one — top score, biggest single round, most rounds banked, and BRAVEST, which goes to whoever stayed standing longest and paid for it. Each award goes to a different child. Below fifth place, students are never shown their rank, so nobody is told they came twenty-fourth. And every game is balanced so that pushing further is genuinely tempting rather than obviously correct.