New Ludo

The game that taught most of the world how to lose gracefully, and some of us how not to.

Ludo descends from Pachisi, played in India for centuries before a British patent tidied it up in 1896, and it has never really gone away because the rules fit in a sentence. Roll, move, send somebody home. This edition, made in India by Creative Educational Aids, opens it up to six players rather than the usual four, which changes the character of it entirely: with six sets of counters on the board the odds of getting through unmolested drop sharply, and the game becomes considerably more sociable and considerably less fair.

There is no strategy to learn and nothing to read, which is exactly why it works across a wide age spread and why it still ends in accusations. Board, counters, dice, done. At this price it is the sort of thing that lives in a holiday house and gets played once a year with great intensity.

Perfect for: Large family gatherings where somebody needs to be publicly and repeatedly sent back to the start.

Up to 6 players | Classic race game