Ludo – Play Online for Free

Ludo is the English name of a family of race games that goes back to Pachisi, the cross-and-circle game of India. A simplified version was patented in England in the late 19th century under the name Ludo, Latin for "I play," and in the United States the family is best known through Parcheesi®. Our Ludo plays by the rules of its German cousin "Mensch ärgere Dich nicht®," roughly "Don't get angry, man," which the Munich merchant Josef Friedrich Schmidt devised in the early 1900s for his three sons. It went into production in 1914, Schmidt gave away some 3,000 copies to soldiers and military hospitals during World War I, and by 1920 the first million had been sold.

The German name is still a trademark of Schmidt Spiele, which registered it as early as 1918; our Ludo is independent and has no ties to Schmidt Spiele or to the makers of Parcheesi. Here you can take on one, two or three computer opponents in Ludo online at no cost, game after game, with no registration needed.

Roll, Move, Capture: Rules and Tips for Ludo

Play happens on the familiar cross with 40 squares around it. Each player has four pieces in their color: at the start one already stands on its own start square while the other three wait in the corner. Whoever is first to get all four once around the board and into their four home squares wins.

• A turn: you roll the die and move one piece forward by exactly that many squares. Occupied squares count, and you simply jump over your own pieces and others'. You may not land on a square already taken by one of your own pieces.
• The six: only a 6 brings a waiting piece onto your start square, and as long as pieces are waiting and the start square is free, you have to do it. If one of your pieces is already on the start square, it has to move on first. After every 6 you roll again, even several times in a row.
• Three rolls: this variant from the official rules always applies here. If none of your pieces is on the track and none can move up in your home row, you get up to three tries to roll a 6. Small dots next to your waiting squares show how many are left.
• Capturing: if your move ends exactly on an opponent's piece, that piece goes back to its waiting squares, even if it was standing on its own start square. There are no safe squares on the track; only in the home row is a piece out of reach. Capturing is never compulsory, and it does not earn an extra roll.
• Going home: once a piece has made the full lap, you count the home squares one by one. You cannot move past the last one, so you need the exact number. Your own pieces in the home row can be jumped.
• No move possible: if no piece can use the number rolled, the die turns gray for a moment and the next player goes.
• The end: as soon as one player has all four pieces home, the game is over. The others are ranked by how many pieces they already have home and how far the rest have come.

To roll, give the table a click or a tap. All pieces that can move then lift up, and the square each would reach gets a ring; a click on the piece or the ring makes the move, even when there is only one. The buttons 2, 3 and 4 in the bar decide how many players take part, and the first roll is always yours. On larger screens the palette lets you pick your color as well. Here is how to bring your pieces home more safely:

• Get out of range: a piece standing one to six squares ahead of an opponent's piece can be hit on the next roll. Given the choice, move a piece out of that danger rather than one that is safe anyway.
• Avoid other start squares: every 6 brings a new piece onto an opponent's start square, and whatever stands there gets knocked off. Do not linger there if you can help it.
• Capture with purpose: since capturing is optional, the choice is yours. Sending back a piece that is about to reach home costs your opponent far more ground than hitting one that has only just set out.
• Keep several pieces in play: with only one piece on the track, you must move it on every roll, even into danger. Two or three pieces out give you a choice each time.
• Move up in the home row: push your pieces to the last free home square so the next one has room. And once no piece is left on the track, you get your three tries for a 6 again.
• Keep your cool: getting knocked off is part of the game, and the die decides a lot. Players who take a lost piece in stride play more calmly and make fewer mistakes.

After the Last Roll: Five Classics for Dice Fans and Board Strategists

If you like rolling, planning and outwitting your opponent, your next game is right here:

• Backgammon: another race driven by dice, but with two of them and fifteen checkers each. A checker left alone can be hit and has to start over, which will feel familiar.
• Chinese Checkers: a race into the far corner for up to four players, with no die at all. Pieces hop over each other, and nobody is ever captured.
• Nine Men's Morris: no luck involved. Each side has nine men, and every mill of three in a row takes one of the opponent's men off the board.
• Checkers: pieces move diagonally and capture by jumping over an enemy piece. One that reaches the far side is crowned king.
• Rummikub: another family favorite for the table, with numbered tiles instead of pieces. Lay out runs and groups and race to empty your rack.