Roll, race and capture your way home. Play Ludo free with 2 to 4 players on one phone, or vs computer. Roll the die, race four tokens home, capture rivals and hide on safe squares.
How to play
Ludo is the classic race around a cross-shaped board. Each player has four tokens in a coloured yard. Tokens travel clockwise around the shared track, turn into their own home lane and finish in the centre. Bring all four home first to win.
Play with 2, 3 or 4 people passing one phone around, or switch any seat after the first to CPU on the setup screen and play vs computer. With two players you sit in opposite corners. The current player’s yard glows and the die moves to their side.
Tap the die (or anywhere, or press Space) to roll. Tokens that can move start to bob and glow: tap one to move it, and it hops square by square. If only one move is possible it plays by itself after a short pause, and if no move is possible the game says so and passes the turn. On a keyboard, use the arrow keys to pick a token and Space to move it, or press 1 to 4.
Rules
- You need a 6 to bring a token out of the yard onto your start square.
- Rolling a 6, capturing a token or getting a token home gives you another roll.
- Rolling three 6s in a row loses the rest of your turn, and the third 6 doesn’t move anything.
- Land on a single rival token and it is captured: it goes back to its yard and needs a 6 to come out again.
- There are 8 safe squares: the four coloured start squares and the four star squares. Nobody can be captured on them, so tokens of different colours can share them.
- Two or more of your tokens on one square form a stack, which can’t be captured. Rivals can still pass over a stack and even land on it to share the square.
- Your home lane is yours alone: nobody else can enter it, so tokens there are always safe.
- From the track to the centre is six steps: five lane squares and then home. You need the exact number to reach home. A roll that would go past it can’t be used for that token.
- If you can move, you must. When the first player finishes, the rest keep playing for 2nd and 3rd place. The game ends when only one player still has tokens out.
Options
- Blockades: turn this on and a stack of two or more becomes a wall. Rivals can neither pass it nor land on it, and a stack on your start square keeps your tokens in the yard until it moves.
- Speed: Fast makes the computer players think quicker and makes every animation snappier.
Tips
- Get tokens out early. A 6 is precious, and tokens stuck in the yard can’t help you.
- Use the stars. A token resting on a safe square can wait there while rivals pass.
- Count behind you. A rival one to six squares behind your token can capture it next roll. Move away or reach safety when you can.
- Stack up with blockades on. Two tokens together can trap a rival behind them and buy you time.
A game for everyone
Ludo is easy to learn in one round, and every game is full of lucky rolls, near misses and revenge captures. Hand the phone around at family night or play the computer on a break. Every token shows a shape as well as a colour, so colour-blind players can follow along.