About Ludo
Ludo is the family race game of dice and luck with a dash of strategy. Each player has four tokens in a coloured base and needs a six to bring one out onto the track. Move round the board, send rival tokens back to their base by landing on them, shelter on the safe squares, and bring all four tokens up your own home column first. Play against one, two or three robots, or pass the device round the table and play with friends.
How to play Ludo
- Roll the die and move one token that many squares round the board, clockwise. You need a six to bring a token out of your base, and a six earns another roll.
- Land on a single enemy token to send it back to its base. Tokens on a star or a start square are safe.
- After a lap, a token turns into its own coloured home column and needs the exact roll to reach home. Get all four home first to win.
- Tap Roll (or press Space), then tap a highlighted token or its button below the board (or press 1 to 4). Results are saved on this device.
Tips & strategy
- Bring a second token out early: with only one on the track, a bad roll has nowhere useful to go.
- Count the squares behind your token: an enemy one to six squares back can land on you next turn.
- Stars and start squares are safe; park there when an enemy token is close behind.
- Near the end you need an exact roll, so keep a token on the track as a spare move.
Ludo: questions and answers
Is the die fair?
Yes. Every roll uses your browser’s cryptographic random numbers, so each face comes up one time in six, for you and for the robots alike.
Which house rules can I change?
You can let a one bring a token out as well as a six, switch the bonus roll for a capture or a token reaching home on or off, end a turn after three sixes in a row, and turn the safe squares off.
How do the robots play?
They look at every move the die allows and prefer capturing, getting home and staying out of reach of your tokens, so they play a sensible game rather than a random one.
Can colour-blind players tell the tokens apart?
Yes. Every colour also has its own shape, red triangle, green circle, yellow square and blue diamond, on the tokens and the bases, and every colour is named.