Ludo

Setup

• Players: four: you and three bots, each with their own color.
• Tokens: four each, starting in the yard. Our Quick game uses two each.
• The track: fifty-two squares clockwise around the board, then up your own home column.
• First move: a 6 brings a token out onto your start square. Without a 6, the turn passes.

How to play

1. 1Roll and move. Roll the die and move one token that many squares. You must move if you can.
2. 2A 6 is special. It brings a token out of the yard, and every 6 earns you another roll.
3. 3Send them home. Land on an opponent’s token and it goes back to its yard, unless it is on a safe square.
4. 4Safe squares. Start squares and the squares marked with a star can’t be hit. Tokens in a home column are safe too.
5. 5Exact finish. A token needs the exact number to reach the centre. A bigger roll can’t move it.
6. 6Beware of being hit. Stop within six squares ahead of an opponent and one roll can send you home.

Winning

The first player to bring every token home wins.

Scoring

Our Classic rules: a 6 to start and for an extra roll, no blocks, and tokens landing on a safe square can’t be hit. Some tables forfeit a turn after three 6s, or let tokens form blocks; those are house rules.

Key terms

Yard:

The corner where your tokens wait until you roll a 6.

Start square:

Where a token lands when it leaves the yard. It is safe.

Home column:

Your own five squares leading to the centre, where nobody can hit you.

Safe square:

A start square or a star. Tokens on it can’t be hit.

Hit:

Landing on an opponent’s token, sending it back to its yard.

Exact roll:

The number needed to land precisely on the centre.