Ludo Strategy: 12 Tips to Win More Games

Luck decides each roll, but it doesn’t decide which token you move. With four tokens to choose from and bonus rolls that can chain within a turn, you face a real decision on most rolls, and over a full game those decisions add up. Strong players don’t roll better than anyone else. They make fewer risky moves, waste fewer rolls and capture at the moments that hurt most.

The twelve tips below run roughly from the opening to the endgame. Where the math matters, we quote it; the full workings are in our Ludo dice odds guide. The tips assume the rules used on Thunder Ludo, which are explained in How to Play Ludo.

1. Get tokens out early

When you roll a six, it is tempting to use it to push your leading token further ahead. Usually it is better to bring a new token out. The more tokens you have on the board, the more ways you have to use each roll, so fewer rolls go to waste and you can pick the safest move instead of the only move.

We tested this with a simulation of 100,000 solo races, with no opponents, using an ordinary fair die. A player who brought out a token with every six needed about 68 turns on average to get all four tokens home. A player who raced one token at a time needed about 77, mainly because they spent around 19 turns with no legal move at all, against about 8 for the first player. In a real game there is a second benefit: more tokens on the board means more chances to capture.

2. Know the danger zone

The squares one to six in front of an opponent’s token are the most dangerous places on the board, because that token can reach them with a single roll. Seven to twelve squares away it needs a six followed by the right number, which is far less likely. For one attacking token and a fair die, the chance of being hit on its next turn is roughly:

The lesson is the cliff between six and seven squares. If you have to stop near an opponent, try to stop behind them, where you are the threat, or at least seven squares in front of them.

3. Hop between safe squares

The four start squares and four star squares are safe from capture, and on Thunder Ludo any number of tokens can share them. Treat them as stepping stones. When an opponent is close behind you, look for a roll that lands you on the next safe square rather than one that moves you furthest. The safe squares follow a regular rhythm: from each start square it is eight squares to the next star, and from each star five squares to the next start square. So a token resting on a star is always exactly one roll of 5 away from more safety.

4. Beware the launch pads

Opponents’ start squares deserve special respect. A token parked on its own start square can’t be captured, so it can sit there indefinitely, threatening the six squares in front of it. An opponent with tokens still in their yard adds to the danger: a six brings a new token out, and the bonus roll can strike straight away. Avoid ending your move just past an opponent’s start square, especially when that opponent has tokens on it or waiting behind it.

5. Capture the most advanced tokens

A capture costs your opponent everything that token had travelled. An ordinary turn moves a token a little over four squares on average, so capturing a token that is 40 squares into its journey wipes out roughly ten turns of progress, plus the wait for another six to bring it back. Capturing a token that has only just left its yard costs your opponent almost nothing. When you have a choice of captures, take the one that sets your opponent back the most.

6. Protect what you have invested

Apply the same logic to your own tokens. Risk is not just the chance of being hit; it is that chance multiplied by what you would lose. A token five squares from your start costs you little if it is captured, while a token about to turn into your home column is worth ten or more turns. When you can’t keep everything safe, leave your cheapest token exposed and move your most valuable one out of danger.

7. Use blocks as shelters

Two of your tokens on the same square form a block, and on Thunder Ludo a block can’t be captured. Blocks don’t stop other tokens passing, so they won’t trap your opponents, but they are an excellent way to wait out a dangerous stretch of the track. If a token is threatened and another of your tokens is the right distance behind it, joining them up can be the safest move available.

8. Count every attacker

Danger adds up. Two separate opponent tokens one to five squares behind you, at different distances, roughly double your risk, to about 40% on a fair die. The exception is two attackers on the same square: they need the same roll to reach you, so together they are no more likely to hit you than one of them alone. Before you settle on a square, count every token that could reach it, including tokens that a six could bring out of a yard.

9. Remember a capture is also defence

Capturing earns a bonus roll, and that extra roll is often the best defensive tool you have. If one of your tokens is in danger and another can capture, capturing first gives you a second chance to move the threatened token afterwards. You set an opponent back and buy yourself another move in the same turn. The worked example at the end of this guide shows how this plays out.

10. Keep your options open near home

Tokens in your home column are completely safe, but they need exact rolls to finish, and the closer a token gets, the fewer numbers it can use:

If your last two tokens are both two steps from home, only a 1 or a 2 helps, and two-thirds of your rolls are wasted. If one is two steps away and the other five, any roll from 1 to 5 can be used. Late in the game, keep your tokens at different distances, and keep at least one token out on the track if you can, to soak up rolls that don’t fit.

11. Adapt to the number of players

Two players: there is only one opponent, so there are fewer threats and racing is strong. You can afford to spend less effort on defence, but every capture is a direct swing between the only two players in the game, so take good ones when they appear.

Three or four players: the board is crowded and threats come from every side. Safe squares and blocks become more valuable, and lingering anywhere for long is risky. When you can choose whom to capture, aim at the player in the lead: a capture against the leader helps you and everyone else who is chasing them.

12. Use your clock

On Thunder Ludo you have 30 seconds to roll and 15 seconds to choose a move. Do your thinking during your opponents’ turns: work out which squares are threatened and what you would do with each roll, so you can move quickly and calmly when it is your turn. And don’t let the timer play for you. If the game has to roll for you more than five times in a match, you lose it.

A turn, analysed

You are red and you roll a 4. Your three tokens on the board are placed like this:

• Token A is three squares in front of a lone yellow token. If it stays there, yellow will hit it about one time in five.
• Token B is exactly four squares behind a lone green token that has travelled 38 squares.
• Token C is resting on a star square.

Moving A four squares puts it seven squares in front of yellow, cutting its risk from about 20% to about 3%. Capturing with B sends green’s token back 38 squares, about nine turns of progress, and earns you a bonus roll. Moving C gives up a safe square for no reason.

The capture is the better move. It costs green far more than you are risking with A, and the bonus roll gives you a second chance to rescue A: a 4, 5 or 6 still takes A seven or more squares clear of yellow. Before committing, check one more thing: whether B is safe on green’s old square. If an opponent sits one to six squares behind it, factor that into the decision.

Want to test these ideas? A game against a bot is a low-pressure way to practise, and our guide to playing online explains every game mode.