What is the best opening move in Ludo?

Bring one piece out and run it, rather than spending every six on a new piece. A six is the only way out of base and it also earns another throw, so the six that frees a piece is worth less than the six that moves one already running — the freed piece starts on a square everybody can see, with nowhere safe within reach.

Should you always take a capture?

No, and this is where most games are lost. A capture earns an extra throw, which makes it feel free, but taking one usually means leaving the safety of a pair or a starred square to reach the target. Ask what your piece is standing on before you ask what it can reach.

Is it better to spread out or keep pieces together?

Together, more often than the common advice suggests. Two of your pieces on one square protect each other, so a pair is the only protection you can create yourself — starred squares are fixed and there are only so many of them. Four pieces spread across the board are four pieces that can each be sent home.

Should you rush every piece to the doorstep?

No — it is the most common way a winning position stalls. A piece parked just short of home can only use one number, so four of them parked together makes most of your rolls unusable while an opponent walks past. Bring them in one at a time and leave the rest out on the track, where any roll still does something.

How much of Ludo is luck?

Most of it, and any page claiming otherwise is selling something. The dice decide what you are allowed to do; you only decide which piece does it. That narrow choice is enough to win more often over a long evening, and nowhere near enough to win a single game you were unlucky in.

Does the turn clock change how you should play?

A little. Turns run to 30 seconds here, which is ample for an obvious move and tight for a close decision. If a turn is genuinely balanced, take the safer option rather than the clever one — a clock-expired move is played for you, and it will not be the clever one.

Ludo Strategy — How to Actually Win

Almost every Ludo tips page gives the same seven pieces of advice, and none of them says which rules it assumes. That matters more in this game than in most: Ludo is played with one die or two, with blockades or without, and with safe squares in different places depending on where you learned it. Advice written against a board you are not playing is advice that quietly does not apply.

Play Ludo free2–4 players · about 30–60 min · no download, no account

The rules everything below assumes

These are the seven this site plays by. If your board differs, the tactics change with it — which is the point of listing them rather than hiding them.

A six is the only way to bring a piece out of base.
A six, or a capture, earns another throw.
Two of your own pieces on one square protect each other.
Starred squares are safe for anybody standing on them.
Coming home needs the exact number — an overshoot does not move.
All four pieces must be home to win.
A turn runs to 30 seconds.

The famous tip that is wrong here

“Always bring all four pieces out as early as you can.” It is the first tip on nearly every Ludo page, and under these rules it costs you games.

The reason is the pair. Two of your pieces on one square protect each other, and that is the only protection you can make — starred squares are fixed, and you have to be lucky enough to reach one. A piece brought out early lands on an exposed square with no partner anywhere near it, and every six you spend freeing another piece is a six you did not spend bringing two together.

Four pieces spread thin across the board are four separate things that can be sent back to the start. Two pieces moving as a pair are almost nothing.

A six is not automatically good

A six gives you another throw, so it feels like a free move. But a six is also the only roll that can free a piece, and the temptation is to spend it that way every time. Ask instead which piece the extra throw is going to move afterwards. A six that frees a fourth piece, followed by a three that has nowhere useful to go, is a wasted turn dressed up as a good one.

Captures are a trade, not a gift

Sending an opponent home is the most satisfying move in the game and the one most often taken without thinking. It earns an extra throw, which makes it look free. It rarely is: the piece that takes the capture almost always has to leave a starred square or break a pair to reach the target, and it arrives alone on a square the whole table can now see.

The question worth asking every time is not can I take it but what am I standing on, and what will I be standing on afterwards. Against one opponent the trade is usually worth it — there is only one player who can punish you. At a full table of 4 it usually is not.

The endgame is a queue, not a sprint

Because coming home needs the exact number, a piece sitting two squares short is waiting for a two and nothing else will do. Park all four on the doorstep and most of your rolls become unusable — you will throw fives and sixes and have nowhere to put them while an opponent walks past.

Bring them in one at a time. A piece still out on the track can absorb any roll; a piece parked outside home can absorb exactly one.

What none of this can do

Ludo is mostly luck and this page will not change that. The dice decide what you are allowed to do and you decide only which piece does it, so a better player wins more often across an evening and loses plenty of individual games to somebody who rolled better. Anyone promising a system that wins consistently is describing a different game.

Common questions

What is the best opening move in Ludo?: Bring one piece out and run it, rather than spending every six on a new piece. A six is the only way out of base and it also earns another throw, so the six that frees a piece is worth less than the six that moves one already running — the freed piece starts on a square everybody can see, with nowhere safe within reach.
Should you always take a capture?: No, and this is where most games are lost. A capture earns an extra throw, which makes it feel free, but taking one usually means leaving the safety of a pair or a starred square to reach the target. Ask what your piece is standing on before you ask what it can reach.
Is it better to spread out or keep pieces together?: Together, more often than the common advice suggests. Two of your pieces on one square protect each other, so a pair is the only protection you can create yourself — starred squares are fixed and there are only so many of them. Four pieces spread across the board are four pieces that can each be sent home.
Should you rush every piece to the doorstep?: No — it is the most common way a winning position stalls. A piece parked just short of home can only use one number, so four of them parked together makes most of your rolls unusable while an opponent walks past. Bring them in one at a time and leave the rest out on the track, where any roll still does something.
How much of Ludo is luck?: Most of it, and any page claiming otherwise is selling something. The dice decide what you are allowed to do; you only decide which piece does it. That narrow choice is enough to win more often over a long evening, and nowhere near enough to win a single game you were unlucky in.
Does the turn clock change how you should play?: A little. Turns run to 30 seconds here, which is ample for an obvious move and tight for a close decision. If a turn is genuinely balanced, take the safer option rather than the clever one — a clock-expired move is played for you, and it will not be the clever one.