Ludo descends from Pachisi, played in India for something like fifteen hundred years, and was patented in England in 1896 in the simplified form most of the world now plays. It has survived that long because of one mechanic: a capture sends a piece all the way back to the start, which means the game stays genuinely undecided until nearly the last roll.
That is also what makes it the right pick for a mixed group. The dice mean a beginner can beat someone who has played a hundred games, so nobody is playing a decided match, which is not true of chess, and is the practical reason Ludo gets played at family gatherings and chess does not.
Game modes
Online with friends
Two, three or four players in the same game. Unused colours simply stay in their yards, so a two-handed game is a complete game rather than a compromise, and a sharper one, because every capture is aimed directly at your only opponent with no third party to absorb the aggression.
Versus the computer
Fill any or all of the remaining seats with the computer. Useful for learning the flow of the board, and for keeping a three-player game at four colours so the board stays busy.
The rules we implement
- Roll one die and move one piece that many squares clockwise.
- A six is needed to bring a piece out of your yard, and a six always earns another roll.
- A six lets you either bring a piece out or move a piece already on the board. You choose; you do not do both.
- Landing on a single opponent piece captures it, sending it back to its owner's yard. Capturing earns an extra roll.
- Eight squares are safe, marked with a star. A piece on one cannot be captured.
- Two of your own pieces on one square form a block. Opponents may not land on it or pass it.
- After a full lap, pieces turn into their own colour's home column, which only that player may enter.
- Reaching the centre requires an exact roll. Overshooting is not allowed.
Full detail, including the house rules and where they came from, is in Ludo rules explained.
Tactics that beat rolling well
- Spread out early. Four pieces on the board give you four choices per roll; one piece gives you none.
- Do not race a single piece home. A lone leader is a target for the entire table and costs you all your flexibility.
- Learn to build blocks. Two pieces on one square stop an opponent colour dead, and most casual players never build one deliberately.
- Hold the safe square in front of your own home column entrance. It is the most valuable real estate on the board.
- When you capture, take the piece that is furthest along. Sending someone back sixty squares is worth ten times sending them back six.
Controls
One tap per turn. Tap to roll, then tap the piece you want to move. Legal moves are highlighted, so there is no dragging, no misdrops and no accidentally moving the wrong piece. On desktop it is the same with a mouse.
Devices and requirements
Any modern browser on phone, tablet, laptop or desktop. Because Ludo is turn-based it is completely tolerant of a slow or unstable connection, because a dropped moment costs you nothing, which makes it the most reliable of our games on poor mobile data.