How to play Ludo

The game

The basics

1. 1

   Rule 1: Roll a six to leave the yard

   Every pawn starts in its yard. Only a six can bring a pawn out onto your start square. If you have no pawn on the board and you do not roll a six, your turn passes.

   out
2. 2

   Rule 2: A six gives you another roll

   Whenever you roll a six, you move and then roll again. Use the six to release a new pawn or to race one already on the board.

   Roll again
3. 3

   Rule 3: Three sixes in a row ends your turn

   Roll three sixes in a row and the third six is not played. Your turn passes straight to the next player.

   Turn passes
4. 4

   Rule 4: Capture to send a rival home

   Land exactly on a square holding an opponent's pawn and it is sent back to its yard. They will need another six to bring it out. A capture also earns you an extra turn.

   yard
5. 5

   Rule 5: Safe squares: start squares and stars

   Each colour's start square and the four star squares are safe. Nobody can be captured there, so pawns of different colours can share them.

   No captures
6. 6

   Rule 6: No blocks

   In this version of the rules, two pawns of the same colour on one square do not form a block. Every pawn can pass over any square.

   Blue moves past freely
7. 7

   Rule 7: Exact roll to finish

   After one full lap, your pawn turns into your coloured home column. You need the exact number to reach home. A roll that would go past home cannot be used for that pawn.

   Home

   Too far
8. 8

   Rule 8: Reaching home gives an extra turn

   Each time one of your pawns reaches home, you get another roll.

   Extra turn
9. 9

   Rule 9: First to bring all four home wins

   The first player with all four pawns home wins the match. In a 2-player match you also win if your opponent resigns or forfeits.

   4 of 4 home

Keeping it moving

Timers and disconnections

10. 10

    Rule 10: Turn timer

    You have 20 seconds for each turn. When your turn timer runs out the server rolls for you if you have not rolled, then moves your most advanced legal token (ties: lowest token number). Three timeouts in a row forfeit the game.

    20

    time up
11. 11

    Rule 11: Disconnections

    Lost connection? You have 60 seconds to come back. After that the game counts as forfeited. Reopen the app to jump straight back in.

    60s

Game modes

Modes and what they pay

Tokens are free play points and cannot be withdrawn (they can convert monthly into bonus credit). Money modes are for adults only and every payout is shown before you play.

Fair play

Fair for everyone

12. 12

    Rule 12: Dice you can trust

    Every roll is made on our server by a cryptographically secure random number generator, never on your phone. Every roll and every move is logged with the match, turn and time so any match can be replayed and audited.

    log
13. 13

    Rule 13: Bots are always labelled

    Bots are always labelled BOT and play only in free practice. They never play in games between players.

    Bot Mukasa

    Bot

    Practice only

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