The world's favourite race game, descended from Pachisi — the "royal game of India" that Emperor Akbar played on life-size courtyards with dancers as pieces. Roll a 6 to bring your tokens out, race them clockwise around the track, capture lone enemies, and bring all four tokens home. Dice fortune meets real strategy.
How to Play
Roll a 6 to move a token from your yard onto your start square
Tokens travel clockwise around the 52-square track, then up your home column
Entering the home column and home requires exact rolls — no overshooting
Land on a single enemy token to send it back to its yard — and roll again
The first player to bring all 4 tokens home wins
History
Ludo descends from Pachisi, the ancient "royal game of India." Its most famous evidence is a giant courtyard at Akbar's palace in Fatehpur Sikri, built around 1572: a huge cross-shaped board paved in red sandstone where the Mughal emperor is said to have played using courtiers as living pieces. Pachisi itself is far older still — it appears in the Mahabharata, and depictions of it survive on cave walls at Ellora dating back to around the 6th century.
A simplified version — one die instead of cowrie shells, a 52-square track, and safe star squares — was patented in England in 1896 under the name Ludo, Latin for "I play," and that ruleset is what conquered the world. Germany has its own wildly popular cousin, Mensch ärgere Dich nicht ("Man, don't get angry"), invented in 1907 and sold over 70 million copies since; France plays Jeu des petits chevaux, with horse-shaped tokens; Portugal has Não Te Irrites; and Spain has its own Parchís. Even within India, the same race-game family survives locally as Chowka Bhara or Ashta Chamma, played with cowrie shells on hand-drawn boards.
Strategy
Getting tokens out matters more than racing — every 6 is a chance to free a token, so bring pieces into play early rather than sprinting a single one home.
Stack two tokens on the same square to make them uncapturable, and use the starred safe squares as stepping stones through dangerous stretches.
Keep an eye on enemy tokens six-to-one squares behind yours: those are the ones that can land on and send you home next turn.
Balance offence and defence — a well-timed capture sends an opponent all the way back and earns you an extra roll, but chasing captures can leave your own tokens exposed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you play Ludo?
Each player has four tokens and takes turns rolling one die. Roll a 6 to move a token out of your yard, race your tokens clockwise around the track, and bring all four safely home. Landing on a single enemy token sends it back to its yard.
How do you get a token out of the yard?
You must roll a 6. Each 6 also grants an extra roll — but rolling three 6s in a row forfeits your whole turn.
What is the difference between Ludo and Pachisi?
Ludo is a simplified descendant of Pachisi. Pachisi is older and more complex — played with cowrie shells instead of a die, on a larger cross-shaped board, with team play and extra rules. Ludo streamlines all of that into one die and a single track.
Is Ludo a game of luck or skill?
Both. The dice are luck, but deciding which token to move — when to bring a new piece out, when to capture, when to play safe — is where skill and strategy decide most close games.
How many players can play Ludo?
Ludo is for two to four players. On this site you can play against the AI or pass-and-play with friends on the same device.
What are the other names for Ludo?
Ludo is known as Pachisi (its ancestor), Parcheesi in the United States, and Parchís in Spanish-speaking countries.