Game Instructions - STEP-tw/ludo-dvamps GitHub Wiki

Overview

Four players may play the game. At the beginning of the game, a player's tokens are out of play and staged in one of the large corner areas of the board in the player's color (called the player's home). When able to, the players will enter their tokens one per time on their respective starting squares, and proceed to race them clockwise around the board along the game track (the path of squares are not a part of any player's destination column). When reaching the square below the destination column, a player continues by racing tokens up the column to the finish square. The rolls of a single cube die control the swiftness of the tokens, and entry to the finish square requires a precise roll from the player. The first player to successfully reach the finish with all their tokens wins the game. The other players often continue the game to determine second-, third-, and fourth-place finishers.

Equipments

  • A Ludo board is square with a pattern on it in the shape of a cross, each arm being divided into three adjacent columns of eight squares. The middle squares form the destination column for each color and cannot be landed upon by other colors. The middle of the cross forms a large square which is the 'destination' area and which is divided into 4 home triangles, one of each color. At each corner, separate to the main circuit are colored circles (or squares) where the pieces are placed to begin.

  • Counters start their circuit one square in from the end of the arm and adjacent to the starting square. Avoid modern boards which incorrectly place the first square at the end of the arm.

  • The starting square, the home triangle and all the destination column squares are colored to match the corresponding pieces.

  • Each player chooses one of the 4 colors (green, yellow, red or blue) and places the 4 pieces of that color in the corresponding starting square. A single die is thrown to determine movement.

Dice Roll

  • Each player rolls the die, the highest roller begins the game. The players alternate turns in a clockwise direction.

  • To enter a token into active play from his staging area to his starting square, a player must roll a 6.

  • If the player has no tokens yet in play and does not roll a 6, the move turn passes to the next player. Once a player has one or more tokens in play, he selects a token and moves it forward along the track the number of squares indicated by the die roll.

  • If a player rolls a 6 he may choose to advance a token already in play, or alternatively, he may enter another of his tokens into active play. The rolling of a 6 earns the player an additional ("bonus") roll in that move turn.

  • If the additional roll results in a 6 again, the player earns an additional bonus roll. If the third roll is also a 6, the player may not move a token in that turn and the move turn immediately passes to the next player.

  • Players must always move a token according to the die value rolled, and if no move is possible, pass their turn to the next player.

  • A player may not end his move on a square he already occupies. If the move of a token finishes on a square occupied by an opponent's token which is on the unsafe square, the opponent token is returned to its home.

  • The returned token may only be reentered into play when the owner again rolls a 6.

  • A player's destination column squares are always safe, however, since no opponent may enter them.

  • Ludo played in the Indian subcontinent features a safe square in each quadrant, normally the fourth square from the top in the rightmost column. These squares are usually marked with a star.

  • A board may have only four spaces in each "destination column". All four of a player's pieces must finish in these spaces for the player to have finished the game. Extra turns or bonus moves can be awarded capturing a piece or getting a piece home.

Winning

  • When a piece has circumnavigated the board, it proceeds up the destination column. A piece can only be moved onto the home triangle by an exact throw.

  • The first person to move all 4 pieces into the home triangle wins.

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