Ludo.

How to play Ludo

1. Press Play, choose a board and set the number of seats. Set each seat to a local player or a CPU, then choose the CPU level and turn speed.
2. For Ludo, select Classic for four tokens or Quick for two. Open House rules if you want to change six-to-start, capture bonuses, exact finishing, blockades or the three-sixes rule.
3. Start the match and roll. A six can bring a Ludo token out of base. Select a highlighted token or its matching move button; the game moves automatically when there is only one legal choice.
4. Watch the safe stars, blockades and opposing pieces. Choose a route home with care, and use Hint when you want an explanation of a promising move.
5. On the Snakes & Ladders board, follow the numbered squares to 100. Land exactly on a ladder bottom or snake head to use its jump; with two-dice choice enabled, select one die before moving.
6. Finish the race, replay or return to setup. You can pause and resume at any time. An unfinished match is saved after each action when browser storage is available.

Make your move

About Ludo

Ludo is a free browser board game about getting every token from base to the center before your opponents. The board has four colored corners, a shared outer track, protected star squares and a private home lane for each color. Every turn begins with a die roll. That roll creates a small decision: bring a new token into play, move a runner closer to home, protect a vulnerable piece or capture a rival before it can reach safety. Dice supply the uncertainty, while the choice of token gives you something to think about between rolls.

With the standard rules, you need a six to leave base. A six also gives another roll, so one turn can contain several moves. Landing exactly on an opponent on an unprotected square sends that token back to its base. Captures and successfully bringing a token home grant another roll. Stars and colored starting squares protect every token standing on them. Two tokens of the same color on an unsafe square form a blockade: opponents cannot pass through or land on it, while tokens of the same color can pass. You must enter the center with an exact roll. If you roll three sixes consecutively, the third roll is forfeited and the turn passes; earlier moves remain where they landed.

Match setup gives you control over the pace and the company. Classic has four tokens per player, while Quick has two and keeps the same movement and capture rules. Two seats sit opposite one another; three and four seats use more of the board. Any seat can be a local player or a CPU, provided at least one person is playing. Local players take turns on the same screen. CPU opponents are always labeled, and their dice come from the same generator as yours. Easy, Balanced and Strategic change move selection rather than the numbers rolled. Runner, Hunter and Careful styles place different weight on progress, captures and safety. Relaxed, Normal and Fast change animation and thinking time without changing the board rules.

Snakes & Ladders uses the same table controls for a different kind of race. Each player has one token and starts before square one. Follow the numbered route across the bottom row, back across the next and onward toward one hundred. Land on a ladder’s lower square to climb; land on a snake’s head to slide to its tail. Passing either square does nothing. Tokens share spaces freely, without captures or blockades. By default, reaching one hundred needs an exact roll, so a roll that would go too far leaves you in place. A six advances your token and gives another roll. An optional two-dice rule lets you choose one of two rolled values, adding a small decision about which square and jump you want to reach.

Daily play fixes the opening seed by UTC date and board type. Ludo daily uses a quick match against one CPU; the Snakes & Ladders daily uses the standard race. The same date starts with the same dice sequence, so different token decisions can change how the match unfolds. A human victory records the fewest total rolls for that date, and the result button copies a short summary for sharing. Daily records, local wins, sound preferences and an unfinished match stay in this browser. They are not an online leaderboard, and there is no account or cross-device synchronization.

The board fits desktop windows and phones held upright or sideways, including fullscreen. Tap or click the die, then a legal token; larger move buttons below the turn display offer the same choices when pieces are close together. A sole legal move happens automatically. Keyboard players can roll with Space and choose tokens with the number keys. A free hint explains a suggested move, while Pause gives you time to leave the board without the CPU continuing. Reduced-motion settings remove hopping and rolling effects. If browser storage is unavailable, a visible message explains that the current match can still be played but will not survive closing the page.

A little help for your next high score

• Bring out a second Ludo token when you can. A choice between pieces is often more useful than having only one runner exposed.
• Count backward from an unsafe token to see which enemy rolls could capture it. A star can be worth more than a few extra steps.
• A blockade can hold up opponents, but moving one of its pieces breaks the protection. Consider both tokens before you split it.
• Near home, keep track of the exact roll each token needs. A larger roll is not automatically a better one.
• In two-dice Snakes & Ladders, compare the final destination after any jump. A smaller die that finds a ladder may be the stronger choice.

Good questions