Ludo strategy: the choices that actually matter

Is there strategy in Ludo? Yes — about four moves' worth

Ludo is a dice game, and the die decides a great deal. But on most turns you have a genuine choice of which token to move, and that choice is worth several places over a game. Everything below comes from one question: which of my tokens is in the most danger, and which threatens the most?

1. Count the six squares behind you. Any rival token one to six squares back can hit you with a single roll.
2. Spread your risk. Two or three tokens in play give you a real choice every roll.
3. Safe squares are worth a detour. Stars, start squares and the home column cannot be attacked.

Level 1 — Basic: five habits that beat casual players

1. Bring tokens out

Every six you spend on a new token buys you options later. A player with three tokens on the track has a choice every turn; a player with one has to take whatever the die says, however bad.

2. Count the six squares behind you

Before deciding where to stop, look backwards. A rival one to six squares behind hits you with a single roll — the most common way beginners lose a nearly-finished token.

3. Stop on stars

Safe squares cost nothing and remove all risk. If two moves are close in value, take the one that ends on a star.

4. Hunt from behind

Parking a few squares behind an opponent threatens them without exposing you — they have to run or be sent home, and you keep the initiative.

5. Get into the home column

Once a token turns off the shared track it can never be captured, so a roll that gets it there is often worth more than a bigger step somewhere riskier.

Level 2 — Intermediate: risk arithmetic and the capture calculus

Know your odds

All the mathematics you need fits in one table.

The capture calculus

A capture is worth everything that token had travelled. So:

• Capturing a token near its home is devastating — often thirty or forty squares of progress lost.
• Capturing a token that has just come out is nearly worthless, and may not be worth exposing yourself.
• Being captured yourself at square 45 is worse than missing three turns.

The practical rule: advance your most advanced token past the danger zone, and let your newest tokens take the risks.

Mind the start squares

A rival with tokens still in the yard can appear on their start square at any moment. Never park just past an opponent's entry point — that square is under permanent threat from a roll you cannot see coming.

Choose which token moves

Given a roll of 4 and three tokens on the track, ask in order:

1. Does any move capture something valuable?
2. Does any move reach a safe square or the home column?
3. Which move leaves the fewest of my tokens within six squares of a rival?
4. Which move keeps the most options open next turn?

Level 3 — Advanced: spacing, blocks and the endgame

Spacing: never stack your risk

Experienced players keep their tokens more than six squares apart where possible, so no single enemy token threatens two of theirs. The corollary when attacking: position one token where it covers two enemy tokens at once, and they cannot both run.

Blocks, where the rules allow them

Two tokens on one square form a wall nobody may pass. Used well, a block placed just past an opponent's home-column turn-off can hold up their entire game. Used badly, it freezes two of your own tokens in place while everyone else races. The rule of thumb: block only when it stops a leader, and only when your own tokens behind the block are not the ones who need to move.

The endgame is about the exact roll

The last token is where games are lost. Two techniques:

• Do not bunch tokens in the home column. Tokens needing 1, 2 and 3 give you three chances per roll; tokens all needing 4 give you one.
• Bring the last token home before the last moment. A token still on the shared track when everyone else is home is a token that can be hit with nothing to defend it.

Four-player politics

With four players the leader is everyone's target, and the position that wins is usually second until the final quarter. Two practical consequences:

• Do not capture a trailing player if it means exposing yourself to the leader.
• Do take a capture that costs the leader most of a lap, even at some risk — the other players benefit too, but you benefit more if you are closest behind.

What good play is actually worth

Roughly: a strong player beats a random player around 65–70% of the time in a four-token game. The die is more than half the story — which is exactly why the remaining part should be played well.

The mistakes that cost games

1. Leaving tokens in the yard because a single runner is "doing well".
2. Stopping within six squares of a rival when a safe square was reachable.
3. Parking just past an opponent's start square.
4. Capturing a freshly released token at the cost of exposing an advanced one.
5. Bunching tokens in the home column so that only one number helps.
6. Holding a block long after it has stopped being useful.

Common questions