Guide
How to play Ludo
Ludo is a race. Each player has four pieces and tries to move all of them from their base, once round the board and into the centre. Here is everything you need for your first game of Ludo Cities.
The board
- Four colours: red, green, yellow and blue. Each colour has a base in one corner, where its pieces wait.
- A track of 52 squares runs round the board. Your pieces travel once round it, clockwise, starting from your start square.
- After going round, a piece turns into its own home lane of five squares and finishes in the centre.
- Four squares carry a star. A piece on a star is safe: nobody can kick it there.
Your turn
- Roll two dice. You use both if you can: one die on each of two pieces, or both on the same piece.
- Bring pieces out with a six. A 6 on either die moves a piece from your base onto your start square.
- Move forward. A piece moves exactly the number on the die. Your own pieces can share a square.
- Get home with an exact roll. A piece in its home lane needs the exact number to reach the centre. A roll that would go past it cannot be used on that piece.
If only one of your pieces can move, it takes both dice and only lands where it ends up. The square in between is just passed through.
Kicking
End a move on a square where a rival's piece stands and you kick it: it goes back to its base and has to come out again with a six. Stars are safe, so a piece standing on a star cannot be kicked.
In the points race your piece then goes straight home, scoring 20 for the kick and 50 for getting home. In Classic your piece stays where it landed.
Extra rolls
Only a double six rolls again. Other doubles, kicks and getting a piece home do not. You can roll again at most twice in one turn.
Winning
- Points race (the default): every square you move scores a point, kicks and pieces home score more, and three objectives pay bonuses. The highest score after 20 rounds wins, or the game ends at once when someone gets all four pieces home.
- Classic: no points. The first player to get all four pieces home wins.
The full Ludo rules have the scoring table, team play and the 1v1 game with two colours.
Tips for your first games
- Get a second piece out early. With two pieces on the board you can split the dice and choose the safer move.
- Stop on stars when a rival is close behind you.
- Look for kicks before you move: in the points race a kick takes your piece home and is worth 70 points in one go.
- The tutorial in the app walks you through a short guided game.
Play now
Ludo Cities is free on iPhone and Android. Play bots offline, pass the phone around, or play Ludo online with friends.