Ludo is the game everyone thinks they know, which is why every gathering produces an argument. The core is simple; the disputes come from six specific rules that groups resolve differently without realising there is a standard.
The standard rules
Four players, four tokens each, a shared track of 52 squares and a private home column of six.
- Roll one die. You need a six to move a token out of its base onto your starting square.
- Rolling a six grants an extra roll.
- Move one token the number rolled, clockwise around the track.
- Landing on a square occupied by an opponent sends their token back to base. This also grants an extra roll.
- Starred squares and each player’s entry square are safe: tokens there cannot be captured.
- After a full circuit you turn into your own home column, which opponents cannot enter.
- You need an exact roll to land on the final home square.
- First to bring all four tokens home wins.
The six places groups diverge
1. Three sixes
Standard: three consecutive sixes forfeits the turn, and the third six does not move anything.
Common variant: no limit, keep rolling.
Keep the forfeit. Without it, one player can occupy the table for several minutes.
2. Blocking
Standard: two of your own tokens on one square form a block that opponents cannot pass.
Common variant: no blocking; tokens simply stack.
Blocking adds genuine strategy. Agree it before you start, because discovering it mid-game always causes a row.
3. Exact roll to finish
Standard: required. A token two squares from home waits for a two.
Common variant: any roll equal or higher gets you home.
The variant speeds up the endgame considerably and most casual groups prefer it.
4. Capture bonus
Standard: a capture grants an extra roll.
Common variant: no bonus.
The bonus makes captures decisive. Without it they are merely annoying.
5. Must you move if you can?
Standard: yes, if any legal move exists you must make one, even when it hurts you.
Common variant: you may pass.
Forced moves are the more interesting rule — being compelled into a bad position is part of the game.
6. Entry on a one
Standard: only a six releases a token.
Common variant: a one works too.
This one is worth adopting. It removes the opening stretch where a player rolls nothing useful for five turns.
Settle it in thirty seconds
Before the first roll, go round the six above and say yes or no to each. It takes half a minute and removes every argument the game is capable of producing.
A note on the board
Ludo descends from the Indian game Pachisi, which used cowrie shells and a cloth board, and was simplified and patented in England in the 1890s. The modern board is a compressed version of a much older and longer game — which is why the rules feel slightly arbitrary in places. They are the residue of simplification.
