Snakes and Ladders in Space

For my redesign of a Snakes and Ladders board I decided to explore a space theme.  Initially the idea was that players would travel towards the finish on comets and back down through blackholes.

Blackholes are technically invisible, and can only be seen through X-ray imagery.  For the purpose of my Snakes and Ladders board I am approaching from a more Sci-Fi perspective.  This also opens up the possibility of using wormholes rather than blackholes as this would fit in more closely with the travel aspect of the game.

Here are some images from the Hubble space telescope, showing some interesting areas of space.

Figure 1: Star Cluster. Sourced from "Space Telescope" by NASA. 2007. Photograph. 3885 x3904. Retrieved from http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/top100

I was surprised by these photos, as I didn't expect real photos of space to be so fantastical.  These photos look like space scenes created in photoshop.
     

Figure 2: Stellar Nursery. Sourced from "Space Telescope" by NASA. 2007. Photograph. 5302 x 3805. Retrieved from http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/top100

Figure 3: A Rose Made of Galaxies. Sourced from "Space Telescope" by NASA. 2011. Photograph. 5302 x 3805. Retrieved from http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/top100

Figure 4: Magnetic Monster. Sourced from "Space Telescope" by NASA. 2008. Photograph. 4633 x 3590. Retrieved from http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/top100

These filaments are suspended in a magnetic field which maintains their structure and demonstrates how energy from the central black hole is transferred to the surrounding gas.

Figure 5: Random Galaxies. Sourced from "Space Telescope" by NASA. 2004. Photograph. 6200 x 6200. Retrieved from http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/top100

Figure 5 is more what I expected to see when I began researching space imagery, somewhat amazing but subdued in comparison to the other images.

Figure 6: Orion Nebula. Sourced from "Space Telescope" by NASA. 2006. Photograph. 18000 x 18000. Retrieved from http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/top100

This Nebula is incredible.  I love the range of colours and think adding nebula to my board would enhance the sci-fi feel.

Figure 7: Starburst. Sourced from "Space Telescope" by NASA. 2006. Photograph. 7400 x 9500. Retrieved from http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/top100

Figure 8: Raditation from Young Stars. Sourced from "Space Telescope" by NASA. 2005. Photograph. 3221 x 3761. Retrieved from http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/top100

Another amazing image.  I like the scattering of tiny stars.