Arcade · Rules

How to play Ludo

Four pieces each, one die, and a long way round. Roll a six to come out, land on a rival to send them back to the yard, and get all four home first. The rules below are the ones our tables play, including the ones your house may do differently.

Players
2–4
Pieces
4 each
Dice
One
To come out
A six
The rules

Nine things, and most of them are about the six.

  1. Set up

    Every player has four pieces, and all of them begin in the yard. The shared track is 52 squares round. Each player has a start square on it, 13 squares on from the last player's, and a home lane of their own.

  2. Roll

    On your turn you roll one die. If any of your pieces can use the number, you have to move one of them, and you choose which. If none can, your turn passes.

  3. A six to come out

    A piece only leaves the yard on a six. It goes onto your start square and stops there. That is the whole move: it does not travel six as well.

  4. Move one piece the full number

    A piece on the board moves forward by exactly what you rolled. You cannot split a roll between two pieces or move part of it.

  5. Sharing and capturing

    Any number of pieces can stand on the same square, and nothing blocks the way past. If you land on a square where an opponent's piece is standing, that piece goes back to its yard. A landing captures one piece only. If more are standing there, the rest stay and share the square with you. You capture where you land, never by passing over.

  6. Your start square is your only safe square

    Your pieces cannot be captured while they stand on your own start square. That protection is yours alone. An opponent's piece resting on your start square can be captured, by you when you come out with a six or by anyone else who lands there. There are no other safe squares on the track.

  7. Roll again

    You roll again after moving on a six, after a capture, and after bringing a piece home. One move earns one extra roll, even if it does two of those at once. There is no limit on sixes in a row. A six that none of your pieces can use earns nothing, and the turn passes.

  8. The road home

    A piece takes 50 steps round the shared track from its start square, then turns into its own home lane. The lane is five squares, and home is the step after that: 56 steps from the start square in all. Nobody can capture a piece in its home lane. Home needs the exact number. A roll that would carry a piece past home cannot be used on that piece.

  9. Winning

    The first player with all four pieces home wins. At a table of three or four, the players still racing can vote to carry on for second and third. A game that reaches 1,000 rolls without a winner ends as a draw.

One roll

A capture, and what it earns you.

Your pieceTheir piece

Before. Their piece is three squares ahead of yours, on an ordinary square and not on their own start. You roll a 3.
After. You land on their square. Their piece goes back to the yard and will need a six to come out again. You roll again.

Say the extra roll is a 6. You can bring a new piece out of the yard onto your start square, or move a piece already on the board six squares. Either way it is a six, so you roll a third time.

Now the other end of the board. One of your pieces is three steps from home and you roll a 5. That piece cannot move, because five would carry it past home. If another piece of yours can use the 5, you have to move that one. If none can, your turn passes.

People ask

The arguments this page is meant to settle.

Do you need a six to start in Ludo?
Yes. A piece only leaves the yard on a six, and it lands on your start square. It does not also move six. If all your pieces are in the yard and you roll anything else, your turn passes.
Do you roll again after a six?
Yes, every time you move on a six. You also roll again after capturing a piece and after bringing a piece home. There is no limit on sixes in a row, and three sixes do not cost you your turn.
Are there safe squares in Ludo?
One each. Your pieces cannot be captured on your own start square. Everywhere else on the shared track they can, and an opponent standing on your start square is not safe there. Pieces in the home lane cannot be reached by anyone.
Can two pieces block a square?
No. Any number of pieces can share a square and nothing blocks the way. Two of your pieces together are not protected either: an opponent who lands there captures one of them.
Do you need an exact roll to get home?
Yes. A piece cannot move past home, so it needs the exact number. If the roll is too big, that piece stays where it is and you move another one. If no piece can move, the turn passes.
Is it played with one die or two?
One. You roll a single die each turn and move one piece by the full number.
Where it comes from

An old race, played a hundred ways.

Ludo is a simpler form of pachisi, the old Indian race game, and it has been on tables everywhere for generations. Every house has added its own rules along the way.

Some that you may know are not played here: two dice, safe squares marked round the track, two pieces forming a block, and losing your turn on a third six. If your family plays with those, your family is not wrong. These are the rules our tables use, so that two people who have never met can sit down and agree.

Now a table

Four pieces, one die, and somebody to send home.

Free tables
Open one, send the link, play. No stake needed to sit down, and no download for whoever you invited.
A day a move
Each player has up to a day for every move, so a game fits around Lagos and Dallas being awake at different hours. Or sit down together and play it straight through.
Brackets
Not yet. The four-player tournament format isn't in. Ludo tables work fine; it's only the bracket that's waiting.
Open a Ludo table

Ludo is one of the games in the Arcade.