Ludo is a race game for four players. You and three computer players each have four pieces to bring around a garden path and home into the pond in the middle. Luck of the die matters, but good choices about which piece to move decide a lot of games.

How to play

You are the blue player, and the three computers play the other colors. Each player starts with four pieces waiting in a flower plot.

Roll: tap the die (or click it). You need a 6 to bring a piece out of its plot onto your start square. If you have no pieces out, you get three tries each turn to roll a 6.
Move: tap one of your glowing pieces, and it moves that many squares clockwise around the path of 52 squares.
Extra roll: a 6 gives you another roll. Three 6s in a row lose the turn without a move.
Capture: if you land on a piece of another color, it is sent back to its plot. Squares marked with a star, and the four start squares, are safe. Nobody can be captured there.
Going home: after a full lap, your piece turns off the main path onto its own colored flower path of five squares. Other players cannot capture you there. To finish in the pond, you must roll the exact number needed. A piece cannot use a roll that would take it past the pond.

The first player to bring all four pieces home wins.

The levels

This game has three levels. The dice are the same on all of them. What changes is how cleverly the computer players choose their moves.

Easy: the computers move any piece at random.
Medium: they follow simple rules. They bring pieces home, capture when they can, and leave the plot when they roll a 6.
Hard: they watch for danger. They avoid squares you can reach and run away from your pieces.

Today's game

Each day there is one Medium game. Every roll of the die comes from a seed, so the dice come up the same for all players that day, but your choices decide what happens. If you leave, the game waits for you on your device.

Tips

Before you move, look behind your piece. An opponent up to six squares behind it can land on it with one roll, so a piece with nobody close behind is safer.
Safe squares are worth planning for. A piece resting on a star square is protected while you decide what to do with your other pieces.
Do not always rush one piece ahead. Having more than one piece out gives you a choice every turn, and a choice is what lets you avoid trouble.
When you roll a 6, think before you take a piece out. Sometimes the better 6 is a capture or a safe move for a piece that is in danger.
Capturing is strong. It sends the other piece back to the start and costs its owner a 6 to get going again.
Near home, plan for the exact roll. If a piece needs a 3, you may want to move other pieces with other numbers and wait.
Stay out of the reach of the computer on Hard. It will avoid your pieces, and it will chase yours if you leave them in range.

A bit of history

Ludo grew out of an old race game from India and became a family favorite in many countries.

Questions

What do I need to get a piece out? A 6. If all your pieces are in the plot, you get three rolls each turn.

What are the stars for? A piece on a star square, or on any start square, cannot be captured.

Why can I not move a piece? Near the end, a piece needs the exact roll to reach the pond. A roll that would go too far cannot be used by that piece.

Why are there only three levels? A fourth level was tried, but the computers on it did not play any better than on Hard, so it was left out.

Ludo