Ludo’s opening gets no attention because it feels like it is entirely dice. It largely is — but the few decisions available have outsized effects, because they determine how many options you have later.
The goal of the opening
Not speed. The aim of the first five turns is to get two or three tokens on the board, spaced apart. A player with three spread tokens has a useful move for almost any roll. A player with one token far ahead has exactly one move, and it is usually bad.
Turn one: the six
If you roll a six, release a token. There is no alternative worth considering this early — a single token moving six squares achieves nothing while your base stays full.
Remember the six grants another roll. Use it to move the newly released token off the entry square if the follow-up roll is small, or release a second token if it is another six.
Turns two and three: the second token
The second release is the important one. Two tokens on the board is the minimum for having choices.
Before releasing, check one thing: is any opponent token within six squares of your entry square? If so, the new token lands in immediate danger. In that situation, moving an existing token is often better even though it feels slower.
Spacing: the one principle that matters
Keep your tokens roughly six to eight squares apart.
The reason is mechanical. A die produces one to six. If two of your tokens are three squares apart, many rolls move either of them into the same contested area. Spread out, almost every roll has a safe destination.
This is also why racing one token ahead is a mistake. It is alone, it is a target for most of its journey, and when it is captured you lose everything it earned.
Turn four and five: watch the entry squares
Each player’s entry square is a safe square and a chokepoint. Opponents must pass through the stretch after theirs.
A token of yours sitting one to six squares past an opponent’s entry square is a standing threat to every token they release. That is a strong early position and costs nothing to hold.
What not to do early
- Do not chase a capture across the board. Early tokens have travelled little, so capturing one gains you almost nothing while exposing you.
- Do not move a token into the open just because you rolled a large number. Count the threats behind the destination first.
- Do not release a fourth token early. Three on the board is plenty; the fourth is better held until you need it.
When the dice refuse
Sometimes you roll no six for eight turns. The probability of that is about 23% — roughly one game in four, so it is normal rather than unlucky.
There is nothing to do about it, but there is something not to do: when the sixes finally arrive, resist the urge to rush everything forward at once. The spacing principle matters more when you are behind, not less.
Openings in Ludo are not about gaining an advantage. They are about not starting the middle game with your options already narrowed.
