Ludo

Roll, race your sweets home, send friends back to start

How to play

Ludo on Matsuri is a free online Ludo game for two to four players: roll the die, race your two sweets round the board and into your home lane, and send other players back to start. Play friends from an invite link or play Mocha, the hall's host, with her friends Latte and Cocoa. It runs in any browser on phone or desktop and inside Telegram via @MatsuriGamesBot, with no download, and on the web a guest account is made for you, so there is no sign-up.

A quick game of Ludo for two to four players. Each player races two sweets once round the board and up their own coloured lane into the middle. A sweet leaves its base only on a 6; land on another player's sweet to send it back to base, except on the eight safe squares, the four starts and four stars. A 6, a capture or a sweet reaching home rolls again, and home needs the exact count. The first player with both sweets home wins. Send the invite link to friends in Telegram or any browser, start with whoever has sat down or fill the empty seats, or play Mocha, Latte and Cocoa.

  1. Tap the dice in the middle to roll, then tap a glowing candy to move it. A 6 lets a candy out of your corner.
  2. Land on someone's candy to send it back to their corner (not on a star or a start square). A 6, a catch or a candy home rolls again.
  3. Take both candies round the board and up your own lane into the middle, with the exact count. First one home wins.

How to play Ludo

The board is the classic cross: a track of 52 squares round the outside, a corner base for each colour and a coloured home lane leading to the middle. This is a quick Ludo with two sweets per player instead of four, so a table of four is usually over in about ten minutes. Players take turns rolling one die. A sweet leaves its base only on a 6, onto its colour's start square; after that it moves forward by the number rolled, once round the board and up its own lane. With two players the seats sit opposite each other.

Land on a square held by another player's sweet and it goes back to its base, unless that square is one of the eight safe squares: the four start squares and the four stars. Sweets in their home lane are out of reach. Rolling a 6, capturing a sweet or bringing one home earns another roll. Getting home needs the exact count. A roll that no sweet can use simply passes the turn, and when only one sweet can move it moves by itself. The first player with both sweets home wins.

If a player resigns, their sweets leave the board and the others play on, and the last player left wins.

Ludo strategy and tips

  • Get both sweets out early. With only two per player, a sweet still in base is half your game waiting for a 6, so spend your first sixes bringing sweets out rather than pushing one far ahead.
  • Count the six squares behind you. A sweet one to six squares in front of an opponent's sweet can be hit with a single roll; a star, a start square or more distance keeps it safe.
  • Take captures when you can. A capture sends their sweet all the way back to base and gives you another roll, so it often pays twice.
  • Once a sweet turns into its coloured lane, nobody can touch it. Moving a threatened sweet into the lane is often worth more than racing the other one.
  • Near the middle the exact count matters. Keep your second sweet in play so that a big roll still has somewhere to go.

Modes and difficulty

Open a table and send the invite link to friends, a Telegram group or a DM. Ludo seats two to four: whoever opens the link takes a free seat, and the host can start as soon as two are seated or fill the empty seats with Mocha and her friends. Play Mocha puts you at the usual table of four against Mocha, Latte and Cocoa, who capture when they can, head for safe squares and keep out of reach. After a match, a rematch opens a new table with the seats turned so someone else starts. There are no difficulty settings or ranked ladders.

Playing Ludo on Matsuri

The server rolls the dice and keeps the dice generator to itself, so neither the page nor any player can predict the next roll, and every move is checked against the rules. So that one absent player cannot stall a table, a player who keeps friends waiting for 45 seconds has a move made for them, and a turn left for a whole day loses the match. Mocha sits at the table and reacts to captures and to anyone close to home. A properly played match pays a little candy within the day's budget: against friends 15 for a win and 5 even for a loss, against Mocha 6 for a win.

A little history

Ludo descends from Pachisi, a cross-shaped race game played in India for centuries; the Mughal emperor Akbar is said to have played it in the 16th century on a giant courtyard board with people as the pieces. A simplified English version with a die was patented as Ludo in 1896, from the Latin for "I play". Its relatives include Parcheesi in the United States, Mensch ärgere Dich nicht in Germany and aeroplane chess in China.

Questions

Can I play Ludo online with friends for free?
Yes. Open a Ludo table, send the invite link to friends or a Telegram group, and each one who opens it takes a seat, in Telegram or any browser. It is free with no download, and the web makes a guest account for you.
How many players can play Ludo here?
Two to four. The host can start as soon as two are seated or fill the empty seats with Mocha and her friends. Play Mocha seats you at a table of four with Mocha, Latte and Cocoa.
What happens when I roll a six in Ludo?
A 6 is the only roll that brings a sweet out of base, and it also gives you another roll. Capturing a sweet or bringing one home rolls again too.
Why does each player have only two pieces?
This is a quick Ludo: two sweets each instead of four, so a table of four is usually over in about ten minutes. Everything else is the classic race: exact count home, safe squares and captures.
More games