Ladder is the “classic” style of competition that uses standard tricks. You climb down a ladder or two of tricks into a deep dungeon filled with snakes. The first trick you miss on each ladder gets you bitten by a (mostly) harmless corn snake, and then the second one gets you bitten by a copperhead. Your score is a representation of how far you made it before your untimely death.
Pick-your-trick evolved from ladder.