Ludo

Goal

Be the first to bring all your horses to the centre of the board, after a full lap of the track and the climb up the stairs of your colour.

How it works

• On your turn, roll the die and move one horse the number of squares shown, clockwise.
• A horse can only leave the stable on a 6: it is then placed on the starting square of its colour.
• After a 6, you roll again.
• Two horses of the same colour cannot occupy the same square.
• If you cannot move any horse, you pass your turn.

Captures

A horse that ends its move on a square occupied by an opponent captures it: the captured horse goes back to its stable and will have to come out again on a 6.

The stairs

• After the lap of the track, the horse must stop exactly at the foot of its stairs (the square in front of step 1).
• Step by step (traditional rule): you need a 1 to climb onto step 1, a 2 for step 2, and so on up to step 6; a final 6 brings the horse into the centre.
• Exact count (faster variant): the horse climbs as many steps as the die shows, but must reach the centre on the exact number.

Controls

Tap “Roll” (or press Space), then tap the horse to move: playable horses light up and the landing square is shown on hover. When only one move is possible, it is played automatically.

About the AI

The AI evaluates every move: horse progress, captures, stable exits and above all danger, that is, the probability that each of its horses will be captured on the next turn given the position of all the opponents. Master level goes further: for each move, it averages over the six possible rolls of each opponent and their best reply. The lower levels play more and more approximately.