Pull up a chair, here’s how.
Luddo, the game many know as Ludo, and Snakes & Ladders, as the house plays them: the rules, the house rules a host can turn on, and how an online table works.
Luddo
Getting started
- Everyone has four pieces waiting in their base.
- Roll a 6 to bring a piece out onto your start square.
- Two to four players share the square board. Five or six play on a hexagonal board with six arms — the rules are the same, the trip round is just longer.
Moving
- Move one piece forward, clockwise, by the number you roll.
- Each piece goes once round the board, then up your color’s lane to the center.
- Reaching the center takes an exact roll. A roll that would go past it can’t move that piece.
- Your own pieces can share a square. No square ever blocks the way.
Capturing
- Land on an opponent’s piece to send it back to their base, along with any others there.
- The star squares, including every start square, are safe: no one can be captured on them.
Rolling again
- Roll a 6 and you roll again straight away, before moving. Once you roll something else, move by each roll in the order you rolled them.
- Each roll is used before the next. If one can’t move any piece, your turn ends there and the rolls after it are lost, so a 6 that can’t move doesn’t earn another roll.
- Three 6s in a row cancel out: none of them moves, and your turn ends.
- Capture a piece or get one home and you roll again once those rolls are used. Just one extra roll, however many of those happen along the way.
- The extra roll for getting a piece home is a house rule. It’s on unless the host of a private table turns it off.
Winning
- The first to get all four pieces home wins.
- With three or more players, everyone else plays on for the other places.
Snakes & Ladders
Getting started
- Everyone has one piece, waiting off the board.
- Roll a 6 to start: your piece goes straight to square 6.
Moving
- Your piece moves itself by the number you roll, along the numbered rows.
- Land at the foot of a ladder to climb it. Land on a snake’s head to slide down.
- Pieces can share a square. No one gets captured.
- Rolling a 6 earns another roll.
Winning
- Reaching 100 takes an exact roll. A roll that goes past it leaves your piece where it is.
- The first to 100 wins. With three or four players, everyone else plays on for the other places.
Playing online
At an online table
- You have 15 seconds for each roll and each move (30 seconds at new Party tables). If time runs out, the game plays for you.
- Run out of time three times in a row, or once after being away for 45 seconds, and a computer keeps your seat warm. Come back any time to take it back.