Updated to v. 1.2 on 7/11/25 - barricades!

This guide started out mostly as a joke, but there is some legitimately good advice to be found here. Here are the secrets, revealed by one who has ascended to Ludo godhood on Mt. Olympus (though I am still ruled by Nuffle), to winning Ludo games.

I'm leaving out blatantly obvious things so as to not insult your intelligence, including never landing your pawn on an opponent's start squrare unless: 1) They have no pieces left in reserve, 2) You are completely desperate, 3) You have sacrificed to Nuffle immediately before starting the match. Human sacrifices work best, but even if your sacrifice is a mere piece of candy, you will earn Nuffle's favor somewhat. (His favorite candy is HI-CHEW.)

Good luck - unless you're my opponent! Thanks for the award, stranger!

1) Roll 6s. Roll them early, and roll them often.

2) Don't roll 1s, except when you need them. In that case, don't roll 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6! This takes a lot of skill and experience to pull off.

3) Have fun. This is more of a commandment than a tip, but it helps!

4) Pick Red. Red ones go faster.

5) If you are playing with two players on a four player board, let your opponent choose which color they want first. Whichever color they choose, don't choose the one that is in front of their color i.e. the closest one in a counter-clockwise direction. Of course, if you do this enough against the same person, they won't choose first, and it will become a Mexican standoff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_standoff

6) Let your opponent host the game. The host never gets the first roll in this version of the game. It's true - though of course I would never lie about anything else in this guide either. Update 6/10/24 -This is not correct, I was just having bad luck. However, I still think this is a good strategy because it plays into tip #5. This is psychological, but the host is more likely to pick a color first - probably their favorite color. I know I used to, before I became a Ludo guru.

7) Pray to Nuffle, the god of dice.

Some people like them, some people hate them. I consider turning barricades on to be a fundamental part of the game, but to each their own.

Barricades can be really useful, especially early on. Hold back your opponents and get two of your pawns to home base before breaking the barricade! If your opponents roll a 6 however, they can skip right through your barricade, so their usefulness is limited - but they can definitely help you win the game if used wisely.

Do not set up a barricade on your starting square unless you it is with your third or fourth pawn.

Update: besides rolling a 6 to get past a barricade, if you are on the space directly behind a barricade, and you roll a 1, you can jump past it, moving two spaces!

1) Get lucky. Very, very, very lucky.

2) Cheat.

If you have any tips that I haven't mentioned, leave them in the comments and I'll add them to this comprehensive guide on Ludo strategy. Please feel free to translate this guide to other languages as long as you give me credit. This guide has taken me over 20 minutes to write, so please respect that. May all your days be filled with sixes, and praise Nuffle, the changer of fates and the lord of chance!