How to play Ludo

Ludo is a classic four-player race game descended from the centuries-old Indian game of pachisi. Each player guides four tokens out of their base, all the way around a cross-shaped track, and up into the centre. It is easy to learn in a minute, but the choices you make with each roll give it real depth. Here's everything you need to play well.

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The goal

Be the first player to move all four of your tokens from your base, clockwise around the shared track, and up your own coloured home column into the finishing centre. Every token has to complete the full lap, so pacing all four is the whole game.

Setting up

Each player takes a colour and places their four tokens in the matching base (the large corner square). Players take turns rolling a single six-sided die and moving clockwise. In TAPSIXTY Ludo you simply pick your difficulty and how many rivals you want, and the computer plays the other colours.

How a turn works

• Roll the die. You move one of your tokens forward by the number shown.
• You need a 6 to leave base. A token stuck in base can only come out onto its starting square when you roll a 6.
• A 6 grants an extra roll. Roll another 6 and you go again — but three 6s in a row forfeits the turn in many rulesets.
• Choose wisely. If you have several tokens in play, you decide which one to advance with each roll. That single decision is the heart of the game.

Capturing

Land exactly on a square holding a single opponent token and you capture it — sending it right back to its base, where it must wait for another 6. Capturing is powerful: it can undo an opponent's entire lap in one move. You cannot capture your own tokens, and you cannot capture anything sitting on a safe square.

Safe squares and the home column

The marked star squares (and each player's coloured start square) are safe havens where tokens can't be captured. Once a token turns off the main track into its own home column, it is completely safe — no opponent ever enters it. You need a fairly exact roll to slot a token into the final centre cell.

Strategy: how to win more games

• Get tokens out early. Every 6 is a chance to add a token to the board — more tokens means more options each turn.
• Don't over-commit one runner. Spreading progress across tokens makes you far harder to set back with a single capture.
• Use safe squares as stepping stones. Park an exposed token on a star when opponents are close behind.
• Weigh capture vs. progress. A capture that leaves your own token exposed can cost you more than it gains — sometimes racing home is the better move.
• Watch the whole board. Count how far each opponent token is from a square it could reach next turn before you park nearby.

🎲 Play TAPSIXTY Ludo vs the computer →