Ludo

Ludo is a classic game, enjoyable and competitive, played by two to four players. Each player has four stones in a colour of their own (red, yellow, green or blue), and the aim is to bring every stone out of home and finish it in the safe zone before the opponents do.

The aim of the game

Each player's aim is to move all four of their stones out of the starting area (home) and into the final safe zone at the centre of the board, travelling along a fixed route to get there. Under the Quick Ludo option, finishing two stones is enough to win.

Setting up

• The ordinary mode is played by two or four players; Free mode by three or four.
• Each player owns 4 stones in a colour of their own: red, yellow, green, blue.
• Each stone is numbered within its colour: red1, red2, red3, red4.
• Every player begins at home, and no stone can move until a 6 is rolled.
• At the start, every player rolls the dice; the first to roll a 6 picks a colour, and the other colours are handed out automatically.
• Before play begins the table owner is asked which options to use: Free mode (with four players), then Safe squares if Free mode was declined, then Play as teams (with four players), and Quick Ludo and Mandatory kill (always asked).

How a turn works

1. Play starts with the owner, or with the player who rolled a 6 first.
2. If a player rolls a 6, they may bring a stone out of home, or move a stone already on the path.
3. Rolling a 6 earns another roll, which the player must take.
4. If a 6 comes up three times in a row, the turn passes to the next player and nothing moves.
5. Rolls such as 6 and 5 may be used on one stone in sequence (6 then 5), or spread across several stones.
6. If a stone lands on a square holding an opponent's stone that can be killed, that stone is killed and sent back home.
7. Once a stone reaches the safe zone, no opponent can kill it.

The rules

• The 6: brings a stone out of home, or moves any stone already out.
• Rolls below 6: move stones already on the path, nothing else.
• Killing: a stone landing on the same square as an opponent's stone sends that stone back home. In the ordinary mode a kill happens only between facing colours: red kills blue (and blue red), green kills yellow (and yellow green).
• Finishing: a stone must reach the last square of the safe zone on an exact count; a roll larger than the count left cannot be played with that stone.
• Three sixes: three 6s in a row end the turn on the spot.

Safe squares (an option in the ordinary mode)

Safe squares once belonged to Free mode alone; they are now an option in the ordinary mode as well. The table owner is asked about them at the start of any game where Free mode is off: always in a two-player game, and in a four-player game once Free mode has been declined. A three-player game is Free mode by force, and its safe squares are already on.

• The eight squares: 0, 8, 13, 21, 26, 34, 39, 47. They are the same in both modes, because the shared path is numbered the same way.
• Protection runs both ways: a stone standing on a safe square cannot be killed — and cannot itself kill anyone standing there with it.
• The square protects any colour: protection belongs to no particular colour; even the square that is another colour's starting square protects everyone standing on it.
• When you ask where the stones are, any stone standing on one of these squares is reported as being in the safe zone.
• The option changes nothing else: a kill still happens between facing colours (red and blue, green and yellow), and with the option off the game is exactly as it was.

Quick Ludo (an option in every mode)

An option the table owner is asked about at the start, available in every case: ordinary mode and Free mode, any number of players, with teams or without. Turning it on changes not a single rule — the same route, the same killing, the same safe squares, the same turn order — only the winning condition changes.

• Win with two stones: the first player to finish two stones wins, instead of four.
• The rest are lifted: the moment you win, your two remaining stones are lifted off the board — they no longer appear when the stones are listed, and nobody can kill them.
• With teams: a player who finishes two stones moves on to play their partner's stones as usual, and the team wins once each partner has finished two stones — four for the team.
• You still hold four stones throughout. The spare two are useful for killing and for holding safe squares, but finishing them is not needed to win.

Mandatory kill (an option in every mode)

An option the table owner is asked about at the start, available in every case: ordinary mode and Free mode, any number of players, with teams or without, and alongside Quick Ludo. The idea is that you may not enter your safe zone until you have killed an opponent's stone at least once.

• No safe zone before a kill: as long as you have killed nobody, your safe zone is shut to you and no stone of yours can finish.
• The stone turns rather than stops: if a stone of yours reaches the door of its safe zone while it is shut, it returns to the path and finishes its steps there. For example: red on 51 playing a 2 lands on 1, and blue on 25 playing a 2 lands on path square 27 rather than in its safe zone. The return is announced aloud to the table.
• No stopping on 0 or on 26: these are the colours' starting squares — they are crossed, and the step counts, but no stone stops on them. So red standing on 51 cannot play a 1, and needs a 2 or more.
• The first kill opens it for good: for all four of your stones at once, and immediately — even if you kill on the first roll and enter on the second. The opening is announced to the whole table.
• A stone that has turned back still kills and can be killed like any stone on the path; the turn itself may even land on an opponent and kill it.
• Having a stone of yours killed afterwards does not shut your safe zone again; it opens once and stays open.
• Killing is unchanged: in the ordinary mode between facing colours (red and blue, green and yellow), and in Free mode every colour kills every colour.
• With the option off the game is exactly as it was, with no difference at all.

Free mode

A group mode in which every player plays for themselves, and every colour is a rival to every other (there are no teams). Here the players' homes are spread over four entry points around one shared circular path, so all the colours meet on the same route.

• With four players: the owner is asked at the start whether to play in Free mode.
• With three players: Free mode is turned on automatically, and the colours are red, green and blue.
• Turn order follows the colours: red, then blue, then green, then yellow.
• Winning is individual: the first player to finish all four stones wins and the game ends — or two stones, if Quick Ludo is on.

Killing and protection in Free mode

• A kill against everyone: every player can kill any other colour; landing on an opponent's stone sends it back home.
• Safe squares: a stone standing on a safe square cannot be killed. The safe squares on the path are: 0, 8, 13, 21, 26, 34, 39, 47. They are always on in this mode, with no question asked.
• Stacking: two or more stones of your own colour on the same square cannot be killed. Two stones of different colours on the same square give each other no protection.
• The safe zone: the moment a stone enters its final lane towards the finish, no opponent can kill it.

Special items

• Ludo Custom Dice can be bought from the shop and used at any time to choose the number the roll will show.

Game gestures

Important notes

• The game rests on luck and strategy at once.
• Colours are handed out automatically once the first player has chosen.
• The game supports two and four players in the ordinary mode, and three and four in Free mode.
• The positions of the stones on the board are updated automatically after every move.
• In the ordinary mode red and green start from home square 0, and the other colours from 26.
• In Free mode each colour has its own home: red 0, blue 13, green 26, yellow 39.