What is Ludo for six players?
The usual Ludo board is a cross with one arm for each of up to four players. Ludo for six players uses a board with six arms set round a hexagonal centre, so five or six can play. Choose five or six players in the setup and the game is played on the six-armed board; with two to four players it stays on the cross.
Every arm has the same shape as an arm of the cross. Each arm adds thirteen squares to the shared track, which makes it 78 squares long instead of 52, and each player has a yard, a start square and a home column of six squares on their own arm. The two new players are Purple and Orange. Seats sit on the arms in turn order; with five players the arm between Purple and Red stays empty, and its squares are simply part of the track.
Nothing else changes. Each player has four tokens, a 6 brings a token out of the yard and earns another roll, a token goes once round the track and up its home column, and landing on an opponent's token sends it back to its yard. A token now travels 77 squares before it turns into its home column, half as far again as on the cross, so games are longer and there are more tokens to dodge on the way.
The rule options in the setup work as before: safe squares, an exact roll to finish, entering on a 1, the three-sixes rule, blockades and the extra roll for a capture. With six players, team play makes three teams of two, partners sitting opposite: Red with Yellow, Blue with Purple and Green with Orange. Pachisi rules belong to the four-armed board and are not offered with five or six players.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Ludo | Ludo for six players |
|---|---|---|
| Players | Standard Ludo2, 3 or 4, one on each arm of the cross. | Ludo for six players5 or 6, one on each arm of the six-armed board. |
| Board | Standard LudoA cross with four arms and a 52-square track, 13 squares to each arm. | Ludo for six playersSix arms round a hexagonal centre and a 78-square track, still 13 squares to each arm. |
| Route home | Standard Ludo51 squares round the track from your start square, then six squares up your home column. | Ludo for six players77 squares round the track from your start square, then the same six-square home column. |
| Colours | Standard LudoRed, Blue, Green and Yellow. | Ludo for six playersRed, Blue, Green, Yellow, Purple and Orange. With five players the arm between Purple and Red is empty. |
| Safe squares | Standard LudoWith the option on, your own start square protects your tokens. | Ludo for six playersThe same on each of the six start squares: it is safe for its owner only. |
| Team play | Standard LudoOff, or with four players two teams of two: Red and Green against Blue and Yellow. | Ludo for six playersOff, or with six players three teams of two: Red and Yellow, Blue and Purple, Green and Orange. Not offered with five. |
| Dice and turns | Standard LudoOne die. A 6 brings a token out and earns another roll; the turn passes round the table. | Ludo for six playersThe same, with the turn passing round all five or six players. |
| Other options | Standard LudoSafe squares, exact finish, entering on a 1, three sixes, blockades, the capture bonus and Pachisi rules. | Ludo for six playersAll of them except Pachisi rules, which are played on the four-armed board only. |
History
Ludo was patented in England in 1896 (British patent 14,636) as a game for two, three or four players, one on each arm of its cross-shaped board. That is still how it is usually played.
Boards for more players exist, though they are less common. A variant for six players is available in some countries, Denmark among them, but it is uncommon. Parchís, Spain's member of the family, likewise has boards that are not square, use more than four colours and are made for more than four players.
Such boards add arms round the centre instead of stretching the cross, so every player keeps an arm of the same shape and the same way home. The version played here follows that pattern: six arms of thirteen track squares each, with the six-square home column of the standard board. The exact track, colours and team pairings are the ones chosen here, not copied from any one published board.