Ludo is a game that invites quarrels. Somebody insists a piece cannot be taken on a star. Somebody else remembers a rule from childhood that nobody else has heard of. Without a rule sheet to hand, the argument goes to whoever talks loudest. I wrote the engine for ludo online, and an engine forces every one of these questions to have exactly one answer. Here are the ludo rules people argue about most, and what my table does in each case.
Do you have to take a capture when you can?
No. If a throw leaves you two or more legal moves, you choose, and nothing in the rules says a capture comes first. You can decline a capture to keep a piece safe, or to bring another piece out.
You must move something, though. If any piece can legally move that many squares, you cannot pass. When exactly one piece can move, the table plays that move for you. When none can, the turn ends.
Can one piece jump over another?
Yes. Nothing on the ludo board blocks the track, and that includes a pair. Two pieces of one colour on a square protect each other from capture, but they do not form a wall. Opponents can walk past them, and can even land on the same square and share it.
Some families play with blockades, where a pair cannot be passed. It is a fair house rule. It also makes a crowded board jam up, and my table does not use it.
Is a piece on a star really untouchable?
Yes, and the same goes for the other safe squares. There are eight in all: the four stars and the four front doors, where each colour's pieces enter. Nobody is taken on any of them, and several colours can stand there at once.
The front door catches people out. If your piece is sitting on an opponent's front door, their six brings a piece out onto the same square and nobody is taken. Eight squares out of 52 is a lot of shelter.
What if the throw is too big for the home straight?
A piece has to reach the centre with an exact count. A too-large throw simply cannot move that piece, so it stays put. If another piece can use the number, you must move that one instead.
There is no bounce and no wasting of a throw by stepping back out. It costs time, though. When a piece stands one to six squares from the end, you wait six throws on average for the number you need, whichever distance it is.
Does the third six cost you the whole turn?
It costs you the throw, but not the moves you already made. Two sixes in a row each earn another throw, and you move normally with both. Then the third six is wasted before any piece moves, and the turn passes. In my calculation that happens in one turn out of every 216.
I kept this rule because it stops a lucky streak from carrying one player round half the board in one turn.
Do a capture and a finished piece earn a bonus throw?
By default they do, along with a six. If the host switches extra throws off, only a six throws again. It is a common house difference, which is why it is a lobby switch and not a fixed rule.
If you use the default, remember that a capture is a bigger event than it looks. You remove a piece and keep the die.
Who settles the argument?
The log. Every throw is written down beside the board, including the sad ones such as a throw where nothing could move. Pointing at the log is faster than a debate, and it keeps the evening friendly. You can check it on Boardit's Ludo, which is free to use.
If you play ludo with friends in person, you can borrow the idea. Agree the answers to these questions before the first throw and write them on a scrap of paper. It takes two minutes and can save an hour.
Pick the answers before you roll
The rules do not need to be mine. What matters is that every player heard them and nodded. A house rule is only a rule if the whole table said yes before anybody could win by it.
Ahmed Moaz builds Boardit, a free browser game site.
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