Ludo (board Game) - Variations

Variations

• To get a game started faster, some house rules allow a player with no pieces on the board to bring their first piece into play on any roll, on a 1 or a 6, or allow multiple tries to roll a 6 (with three rolls being the most popular).
• If a piece lands on the same space as the another piece of the same colour, the moved piece must take the preceding space.
• If a player's piece lands on another of their own pieces, they are doubled and form a "block" which cannot be passed by any opponent's pieces. Or in some variations may only be passed by rolling a 6 or 1.
• Doubled pieces may move half the number if an even number is thrown e.g. move 2 spaces if a 4 is thrown.
• A doubled piece may capture another doubled piece (like in Coppit).
• A board may have only four spaces in each "home column". All four of a player's pieces must finish in these spaces for the player to have finished the game. (See Mensch ärgere dich nicht.)
• To speed the game up, extra turns or bonus moves can be awarded capturing a piece or getting a piece home; these may grant passage past a block.
• In Denmark and some other countries the board has eight spaces marked with a globe and eight with a star. The globes are safe spaces where a piece can not be captured. The exception is that a player who has not yet entered all pieces, can always enter a piece on a roll of six. If the entry space is occupied by another player's piece, that piece is captured. Otherwise the entry spaces work like the other globe spaces. A piece which would have landed on a star instead moves to the next star.

In some parts of Africa the following rules are reportedly played:

• A doubled block also blocks trailing pieces of the player who created the block, or blocks them unless they roll the exact number to land on the block; additionally, the doubled block can't move forward until the block that landed upon it moves off again. This reduces the tactical advantage of a block and makes the game more interesting.
• If the two players sitting opposite are partners, the players can exchange numbers.
• There are 4 safety squares on the board, like castle squares in Pachisi, as well as the safe home squares, where a piece may able to move forwards or backwards and start their turn before previous player finishes.
• A piece landing on a square with an opponent's piece not only sends the opponent piece back to the starting area but also sends the landing piece to its home square.
• A player cannot move their first piece into the "home column" unless they have captured at least one piece of any of the opponents.