Ludo

About the Game

Ludo is a strategy game where 2 to 4 players race their pieces from the start to finish.

The game is derived from the Indian game of Pachisi. It is also closely related to other games such as Sorry! and Aggravation.

Game Board

The board used in Plato is slightly smaller than regular Ludo boards to encourage quicker gameplay:

In each corner is a "Home" for each player with the corresponding color where their four pieces are first placed:

Goal of the Game

The goal of the game is to use the die roll to navigate all four of your pieces out of your Home and to your Finish area of the board:

Each player first takes their turn to roll 1 common die in a counter-clockwise fashion.

After rolling the die and if you have any pieces out of Home (see Exiting Home below), you can move those pieces according to the result of that die roll.

Below is the path for each corresponding colored piece from Home to Finish:

Only 1 piece can occupy a space. You cannot share a space in our version of Ludo.

If your roll sends you to an already occupied space, you will not be able to move your piece there and the turn goes to the next player.

Reaching the Finish

When you're in the last stretch of the Finish, you must roll the exact number needed to reach the final Finish space.

For example, in the image below, you'll need to roll an exact 2 to move that piece to Home:

The winner is the player who manages to get all 4 of their pieces to the Finish.

Exiting Home

In Plato's version of Ludo, you can exit from Home with a roll of 6 or 1.

Capturing Opponent's Pieces

When you land on a regular space (see Safe Spaces below) occupied by an opponent, the opponent's piece will be sent to home. When this occurs, it's customary to yell out "Oopsie!", "Sorry!" or "Man, don't get upset!"

Extra Turns

You get an extra roll of the dice when you do either of the following: rolling a 6, capturing an opponent's piece, landing in the Finish.

Safe Squares

If Safe Squares option is enabled, there will be spaces on the board marked with stars.

These spaces are considered "Safe" and any piece that are on them cannot be captured by an opponent.

The space adjacent to the exit are also permanently considered Safe Squares, but only for the same corresponding colored piece.

Penalties

If you roll a 6 3 times in a row, you will lose your turn.

2v2 Teams

There are special rules when playing in 2v2:

• Each team only need a total of 4 pieces in any or both partner's Finish spaces to win the game.

• If you roll a 6 or a 1, you can help your partner to exit their Home.

• If your partner has any piece in the stretch of the Finish, you can use your die roll to help them to reach Finish.