Why a six is not just a lucky Ludo roll

Published

This is one subject: on this two-player board a six is the key that leaves the yard, the key that grants another roll, and the key that can throw the whole turn away. It is not the regional Ludo you may have played at a table. Captures and finishes do not grant extra rolls here.

1. Only a six leaves the yard

Each side has four tokens. A token in the yard does not move on a 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. A six brings one token out, and it also gives you another roll. You still choose which token uses a roll once more than one token can move.

2. Safe squares and a blockade are different

A marked safe square protects a token that is sitting on it. Two of your own tokens on the same square are a blockade: the other color cannot pass. A token that lands on an unprotected opposing token sends that token back to the yard. That capture does not give you another roll. Reaching home does not give you another roll either. Home still requires an exact count.

3. The third six is a penalty

One six, then another six, is two extra chances. A third six in a row passes the turn. You do not move those sixes. Online, the die comes from the server. A local game rolls in the browser. You do not type either result.

Examples on this board

  1. All four still in the yard. The die shows 4. No token moves. The turn ends. A later 6 is the first roll that can put a token on the track, and it comes with another roll.
  2. A blockade. Two red tokens share a square. A violet token behind them cannot step through that square. One red token sitting alone is not a blockade.
  3. A safe square against a capture. Violet lands on the square a lone red token occupies. If that square is a marked safe square, red stays. If it is an ordinary square, red goes back to the yard, and violet does not receive an extra roll for the capture.
  4. An inexact finish. A red token is two steps from home and the die shows 3. That token does not go home, and it does not stop on an imaginary square past home. Another token has to use the 3 if one can.
  5. Six, six, six. The third six ends the turn. The tokens stay where they were before that sequence. Separately, if you joined the public queue and no person arrived, about ten seconds later the page stops waiting and plays the computer. The third-six rule still applies to that computer game.

Why it matters

Players treat every six as pure profit and every capture as another turn. This board does neither. A six you cannot survive three times is a lost turn, a capture is only a capture, and a token that cannot leave the yard makes the other numbers useless. The extra roll is real. It is also narrower than the table rule many people remember.

The date marks the house rules as they are on the live page, including server dice for online games and the about-ten-second computer fallback.

Closing

Come out on a six, stack two tokens when you want a block, and do not expect a bonus roll for a hit or a finish. Stop on the third six. If the queue is empty, the computer takes the other color after about ten seconds. Read the about page for what the site is and the privacy page for what it stores.