Learn Ludo: Interactive Tutorial for Beginners
Ludo is a race: four tokens round the board and home, with a die deciding how far each one goes. In seven steps on the real board, you bring a token out, capture, find the safe squares, get a token home and learn to stay out of reach.
Step 1 of 7
Four tokens, one track
Ludo is for two to four players, each with four tokens of one colour. You play Red, from the base in the bottom left corner. Every token leaves its base onto its colour's start square, goes once round the shared track clockwise, then turns up its own home stretch into the centre. The first player to bring all four tokens home wins.
The red arrow starts on your start square and points the way round. The gold arrow runs up your home stretch, the last few squares into the centre.
Roll a 6 to come out
A token can only leave its base on a 6. It comes out onto your start square, and the 6 also earns you another roll. Tokens that can move have a gold disc under them. In a match you press Roll the dice on your turn; here the rolls are set for you. You rolled a 6.
Your move
Bring a token out, then move it with your next roll.
Three 6s in a row
Every 6 you play earns another roll. You roll a 6 and move, roll another 6 and move, then roll a third 6. What happens?
Capture
Land exactly on an opponent's token and you capture it: it goes back to its base, and it needs another 6 to come out. A capture doesn't earn an extra roll; only playing a 6 does. You rolled a 4, and Yellow has a token out on the track.
Your move
Capture the Yellow token.
Safe squares
The board has eight safe squares, each marked with a pentagon: every colour's start square, and the square eight further on from it. A token on a safe square can't be captured, and two colours can share one. Yellow's token is two squares behind one of yours, and you rolled a 4.
Your move
Move the token Yellow is chasing to safety.
The home stretch and the exact roll
After a full lap, a token leaves the shared track up its home stretch: five squares only that colour uses, leading to the centre. A token only goes home with the exact roll, because it can't move past the centre. If no token can use a roll, your turn passes. Your token on the third square of the home stretch needs exactly 3, and you rolled a 5. It has no gold disc: a 5 would carry it past the centre. Yellow plays next, then you roll again.
Your move
Move another token, then bring the home stretch token in.
Stay out of reach
Before you move a token, look behind the square it lands on. A token that stops on a square that isn't safe, one to six squares in front of an opponent's token, can be captured with a single roll. A 6 rolls again, so a token a little further ahead, or just past an opponent's start square, can still be caught, but one to six squares is where the risk is highest. You rolled a 4, and Yellow has a token between your two.
Your move
Move a token without stopping where Yellow can reach it.
What you learned
- A token leaves its base only on a 6, and every 6 you play earns another roll. A third 6 in a row ends your turn.
- Land exactly on an opponent's token to send it back to its base.
- No token is captured on the eight safe squares, marked with a pentagon.
- Your home stretch is yours alone, and the centre takes the exact roll.
- Off the safe squares, a token one to six squares in front of an opponent's is the easiest to catch.
- The first player to bring all four tokens home wins.
Take it to the table.
Put what you just read into practice. No sign-up needed.