Ludo – I still remember

Last week I was at my native place. While I was searching for my old school diaries in an old box, just to get a little nostalgic about my school days, I found something very very interesting. I stumbled upon an old torn board of Ludo. Yes Ludo, that game which we used to play so very often. We never used to let a single evening of our summer vacations pass without a round of it. Whenever some uncle or aunt used to visit us, our parents used to instruct us to play a game of Ludo with their children. I remember once playing it even with my ‘strict’ grand-father; I played the whole game in utter discipline which was never my usual self.
Ludo, for those of you who have heard of it for the first time, is a simple board game for two to four players, in which the players race their four tokens ‘goti’ from start to finish according to dice rolls. Some know it by its cousin ‘Pachisi’. Pachisi has a history dating back to the 6th century.


A Ludo board is normally a square marked with a cross. Each arm of the cross is divided into three columns, with the columns divided into usually six squares. The centre of the cross is the finishing square which is often divided into four coloured triangles. Each coloured triangle is combined with a coloured middle column appears as an arrow pointing to the finish. The shaft of each arrow is a player's "home column" and is five squares long. My favourite was red as it used to get the first chance to throw the dice.
To the left of each home column, one square from the edge of the board is a starting square, also coloured. During game play a piece moves from its starting square, clockwise around the perimeter of the board, and up the player's home column to the finishing square. In the space to the left of each arm is a circle or square to hold a player's pieces before they are allowed into play. Huhh, that much of an explanation!! We were the ‘experts’ of it. We used to make several rules and many a times break them too.
Usually, at the start of the game, the player's four pieces are placed in the start area of their colour. Players take it in turn to throw a single dice. A player must first throw a six to be able to move a piece from the starting area onto the starting square. In each subsequent turn the player moves a piece forward 1 to 6 squares as indicated by the dice. When a player throws a 6, the player may bring a new piece onto the starting square, or may choose to move a piece already in play. It was very pleasing to watch the face of the player who had all four of his pieces inside and he was throwing the dice waiting for a 6.
If a player's piece lands on a square containing an opponent's piece, the opponent's piece is captured and returns to the starting area. We wanted all our moves to land at such places. Once a piece has completed a circuit of the board it moves up the home column of its own colour. The winner is the first player to get all four of his pieces onto the home square.
We had some special rules like if a player's piece lands on another of his own pieces; they are doubled and form a "block" which cannot be passed by any opponent's pieces. Doubled pieces may move half the number if an even number is thrown. A doubled piece may capture another doubled piece. Ahh!! That’s called a ‘Double Bonanza’.
Ludo may seem pretty lame to most people, but when played with proper strategy it would be very absorbing. Another game, usually comes packaged with Ludo, is Snakes and Ladders. It is also as engrossing as Ludo. Here the cells are numbered from 1 to 100 and a player has to tread through it. The players would meet several ladders and snakes in between. And that adds the spice to the game.


I have spent much of my childhood playing Ludo and thus I got very sentimental about it. I immediately rushed out to buy a new one. Though it was difficult to find one, I found it at last at a small shop around a km from my home. It was a feeling of bliss when I found it. I did not buy it just to play it again, but to recall those happy days when we used to play and fight over it. I bought it because it reminds me of my childhood days. I bought it since it teaches that the game depends just on the turn of the dice but still we fought over it, so very similar to life. It teaches me about life, its true nature.