Ludo · Rules
Ludo rules for 2 to 4 players, explained.
Everything you need to teach the game and settle the arguments: setup, a turn, capturing, safe squares and getting home. The rules your family argues about most have their own table and a short FAQ at the bottom.
The short version
Race four tokens around the board and into the centre.
Each player has four tokens. You need a 6 to bring one out of your yard, then you walk it clockwise around the whole board, up your own coloured column and onto the centre square. Land on a lone opponent and you send their token back to the yard. The first player to get all four tokens home wins.
Ludo is old and has no single official rulebook, so boxes and families differ on small points. Everything below is the game as most people play it today. Where a rule is a newer addition or a house rule, the table further down says so, and you can switch it off if your table prefers a plainer game.
The board
Four yards, one ring, one centre.
The board is a cross. Each corner holds a coloured yard where that player's four tokens wait. Between the yards, a ring of white squares runs around the board: 52 squares in all, three squares wide at each arm and walked clockwise.
Every colour has a start square, the coloured square on the ring just outside its yard, where a token lands when it comes out. Four squares marked with a star sit on the ring as well. Near the end of a lap, each colour has its own home column of coloured squares leading to the centre, where the four colours meet.
Colours sit in different corners on different sets, but the layout is the same: yards in the corners, a ring in the middle, a coloured column that is yours alone.
Setup
Who plays and where everything goes.
Pick a colour and place your four tokens in your yard. With four players, everyone uses their own corner. With two players, sit in opposite corners. With three, leave the fourth yard empty.
Roll once each. The highest roll goes first, and play moves clockwise. If two players tie for the highest roll, they roll again.
A turn, step by step
From the first roll to the last token.
Roll
Everyone rolls the die once, and the highest roll goes first. Play passes clockwise.
Get out
Roll a 6 to move a token from your yard onto your start square. Any other number does nothing while every token is still in the yard.
Move
Once a token is out, each roll moves one of your tokens that many squares clockwise around the track.
Roll again on a 6
A 6 earns another roll. Use it to bring out another token or to keep moving.
Capture
Land exactly on a square holding one opponent token and it goes back to that player's yard. They need a 6 to start it again.
Turn up the home column
After a full lap, your token leaves the ring and climbs the coloured column that leads to the centre. Only your tokens can use it.
Finish with an exact roll
Land on the centre with the exact number. Too high, and that token waits while you move another.
Captures and safety
Landing on someone, and not being landed on.
Capturing
If your move ends on a square holding exactly one opponent token, that token is captured and goes back to its owner's yard. It needs another 6 to re-enter, so a capture costs the victim both the distance it travelled and the wait for a 6. You only capture by landing exactly. Passing over a token does nothing.
Your own tokens never capture each other. Two of your tokens can sit on one square, and on a board with a blockade house rule, nobody else may land on or pass that pair.
Safe squares
In the modern set, your start square and the starred squares are safe. A token on one cannot be captured, and an opponent who lands there shares the square. That gives you places to park a token that is being chased. If your board has no marked stars, every square outside your home column is open to capture.
The home column
Once a token has gone all the way round, it turns off the ring onto its own coloured column. Opponents cannot enter it, so a token there is out of reach. The column leads to the centre.
Getting home
The last step needs the right number.
A token has to land on the centre with the exact number. If you need a 3 and you roll a 5, that token waits and you move another token instead, or pass if nothing else can move. This is why the final few squares feel slow. A token that is two squares from home only moves on a 1 or a 2.
You win by getting all four tokens into the centre. Most families stop when the first player finishes. If you want a full finishing order, keep playing until the other players are done and give out second and third place.
Classic vs house rules
Which rules are classic, and which are house rules.
Rules that are classic come from the traditional game. Modern rules are common enough to be standard on many boxes and apps. House rules vary from table to table. The ones you can safely drop are the ones marked house rule.
Six to leave the yard
A token leaves the yard only on a 6 and lands on your start square.
Classic
Extra turn on a 6
Roll a 6 and you roll again.
Classic
Capturing
Landing on a lone opponent token sends it back to its yard.
Classic
Exact roll to finish
You must roll the exact number to reach the centre.
Classic on most boards
Safe squares
Start squares and star squares cannot be captured on.
Modern sets, optional
Three 6s forfeit the turn
A third 6 in a row cancels the move and passes the dice.
Modern sets, optional
Extra turn on a capture or finish
Sending a token home, or getting one into the centre, earns another roll.
House rule
Blockades
Two of your own tokens on one square cannot be passed or landed on.
House rule
Three tries for a 6
With every token in the yard, you roll up to three times to find a 6.
House rule
Start with a token out
Each player begins with one token already on the start square.
House rule
Bounce back at the centre
Overshoot the centre and count the extra steps back out.
House rule
Whatever you choose, say it out loud before the first roll. Nearly every Ludo argument comes from two people remembering a different version of the same rule.
Fewer players
Two and three player games.
With two players, each of you has four tokens and the two sit opposite. You will meet each other's tokens less often, so the race is mostly about who rolls well and who spends 6s sensibly. Some groups let each player run two colours for eight tokens. See the variants page for how that plays.
With three players, the empty yard changes nothing about the track. Tokens still travel through the unused arm, and nobody's home column is shortened.
Questions
Quick answers
- Do you need a 6 to start in Ludo?
- Yes. In classic Ludo a token stays in its yard until you roll a 6, and then it moves out onto your start square. Some families start with one token already on the board, or let a player with every token in the yard roll up to three times looking for a 6. Those are house rules, so agree on them before the first roll.
- Can you capture a token on a safe square?
- No. Where safe squares are in play, the coloured start squares and the star squares are protected. A token sitting on one cannot be sent home, and an opponent who lands there simply shares the square with it. Boards without marked safe squares have no protection at all, so every token on the track is open to capture.
- Do you need an exact roll to get home?
- In classic Ludo and on most boards, yes. The last square is the centre of the board, and you need the exact number to land on it. If your roll is too high for that token, it stays put and you move a different token if you can. A few groups let a big roll bounce back off the centre instead, which is a house rule.
- Do you roll again after a 6?
- Yes. A 6 earns another roll, and that is part of classic play. Many modern sets add a limit: three 6s in a row and the turn is forfeited, with the last token moved going nowhere. Giving a bonus roll for a capture or for bringing a token home is a later addition too, not part of the classic game.
- Do you have to move if you can?
- Yes. If any token can legally move the number you rolled, you must move one of them, though you choose which. You are not forced to take a capture when another move is available. If no token can move, the turn passes to the next player.