Back to square one means forced to start all over again from the beginning. Right back to square one, we are back to square one, back to square one again.
It is always said with weariness, since going back to square one means the work was not merely paused but lost. The likeliest origin is a board game where a bad throw sent a counter back to the start.
1phraseback to square oneForced to start all over again from the beginning.
“The computer crashed before I saved my essay, so I'm back to square one.”
back to square one is a restarting.
Also accepted in games: square one
Probably from a board game such as snakes and ladders, where a throw can send a counter back to the start.
Probably from a metaphorical use of the children’s games snakes and ladders.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Idioms