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Four colours, four homes
Red, green, blue, yellow. Each player gets four pawns starting in their home base and races them along the cross-shaped track to the centre column.
Classic board · 1-4 players · free
A real Ludo board game, not a slot-machine in disguise.
Four colours. Sixteen pawns. Safe squares, sixes to release, sixes roll again. Play solo against AI, pass the phone around the dinner table, or link phones in the same room over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. No coins to buy, no daily bonus to chase, no signup.
What makes a Ludo board game
The rules every house plays — and the ones every house argues about
Ludo isn't one game; it's a family of rules that descend from Pachisi. We respect the differences instead of picking sides.
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Eight safe squares
Marked with a star. While your pawn sits on one, an opponent landing there can't capture it. The classic Pachisi safe-square rule — on by default, switchable off for a more cut-throat game.
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Sixes bring out pawns
You need to roll a six to release a pawn from home. Prefer the Yalla-style variant? Turn on "roll sixes first" and every six earns another roll before you move.
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Sixes roll again
Roll a six, take another turn. Three sixes in a row forfeits the round — the original rule most commercial Ludo apps quietly removed. We kept it (and made it optional).
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Capture and send home
Land on an opponent's unsafe pawn and they go all the way back to start. The oldest heartbreak in board games, faithfully kept.
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Your table, your options
Tokens to win (1 for a quick race, 4 for classic), 1 or 2 rolls per turn, a turn timer (or none), plus optional arrows and power-ups. All set before the game starts.
Configurable
The three multiplayer modes
Same board, three offline ways to get pawns moving with the people you actually want to play with — plus solo against the AI.
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Pass & play
One phone. Hand it around. The classic sitting-on-the-floor experience, with no internet and no second device. How it works ❯
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Bluetooth (same room)
Phones discover each other through Google Nearby. No router, no signup, no mobile data — just two thumbs and a six. (13+, as Android needs location permission for discovery.)
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Same Wi-Fi
Same Wi-Fi network, fastest mode. The host shows a QR code; friends scan it to join. Great for family rooms and offices with patchy cellular.
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Solo vs AI
No friends around? Play 1 to 3 AI opponents at Low, Medium or High difficulty. Online play over the internet isn't in the app yet.
Full multiplayer walkthrough, latency tips, and host requirements live on the multiplayer page.
Ludo across the world
One ancient game, a dozen national flags
The board you grew up with has cousins on five continents. They all trace back to one game.
Pachisi (پچیسی) is the original South Asian race board, attested in Indian courts as far back as the 6th century CE and depicted in murals at Fatehpur Sikri where Emperor Akbar reportedly played on a marble courtyard with palace servants as living pawns. The Hindi word pachis means twenty-five, the highest score on the traditional cowrie-shell throw.
Spanish settlers brought a derivative back to Iberia as Parchís, which then spread into Latin America. The American version Parcheesi was trademarked in the US in the 1860s and remains a staple board-game brand. The British simplified the rules into Ludo (Latin for "I play") in 1896 and patented it — the version most of Pakistan, India, the UAE, and the rest of the Commonwealth still plays today.
Korea has its own cousin in Yut Nori, played with four flat-stick dice, especially around the lunar new year. Iran's Pachis is functionally identical to ours. Once you've played the Game Night board, every other regional name will feel like home.
The rule that the British modernised most was the dice. The original Pachisi used six cowrie shells, scored by how many landed mouth-up — a deeply unequal distribution that rewarded patience over speed. The 1896 Ludo patent swapped them for a single fair six-sided cube, which is what makes the modern game faster and arguably more chaotic. Game Night lets you nudge the pace: switch to two rolls per turn and a wasted first roll no longer ends your turn, which rewards planning over luck.
Sources: Britannica entry on Pachisi (2024 revision); Wikipedia's Pachisi and Ludo (board game) articles; H.J.R. Murray, "A History of Board Games Other Than Chess" (Oxford, 1952). We linked the references from the research blog.
Who it's for
The five tables that picked this board
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Family game nights
Parents who want one tap to start, kids who want a real board. Pass-and-play on a single phone keeps everyone in the same room.
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Travel and load-shedding
Bluetooth and pass-and-play work in airplane mode and during power cuts. Two phones, one board, zero internet required.
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A houseful of cousins
The host opens a Wi-Fi room and shows a QR code. Everyone on the same router scans in and sees the same board within seconds.
Honest comparison
Game Night Ludo vs the popular Ludo apps
All four below are real, popular Android Ludo apps. We've installed each. Here's where Game Night actually wins and where it doesn't.
| Feature | Game Night | Ludo King | Parchisi STAR | Ludo Star |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free, no paywall | Yes | Yes (ads) | Yes (ads) | Yes (ads) |
| No signup or phone number | Yes | Sign-in for online play | Account needed | Phone signup |
| Bluetooth play (no internet) | Yes | No | No | No |
| Wi-Fi LAN play | Yes | No | No | No |
| Pass-and-play on one phone | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited |
| Configurable rules (tokens, rolls per turn, timer) | Yes | Fixed | Some | Fixed |
| No coins or in-app currency | Yes | Coins | Coins | Coins |
| Non-personalised ads (COPPA-safe) | Yes | Targeted | Targeted | Targeted |
| 18 other games in the same app | Yes | No | No | No |
Ludo King with over a billion installs is the category leader — its global tournaments are something we don't try to replace. Game Night is what you install when you want the board, not the casino. If you've been searching for a Ludo King alternative, this is it.
FAQ
Ludo questions, plainly answered
Is the Ludo board game app free to play?
Yes. Every board, rule, and multiplayer mode is free. Non-personalised interstitial ads run between games, never during a roll, and pass-and-play Ludo is ad-free. We don't sell coins, dice skins, or "lucky packs".
Can I play Ludo offline without internet?
Yes. Every mode works without internet: vs AI and pass-and-play in airplane mode, Bluetooth in the same room, or a shared Wi-Fi router. Great for flights, long car rides, and load-shedding evenings.
How many players can play Ludo at once?
Up to 4. Any combination of humans and AI — solo against the AI, 1v1, 1v1v1, or the full 4-colour table.
What is the difference between Pachisi, Parchisi, and Ludo?
Same family of games, different eras. Pachisi is the ancient Indian original. Parchís/Parcheesi is the Spanish/American descendant. Ludo is the 19th-century British simplification. Our board reproduces the classic cross with 16 pawns and 4 colours.
Can I play Ludo online with friends far away?
Not yet. Game Night has no online play in this release — Ludo multiplayer works on one phone, over Bluetooth, or on the same Wi-Fi. No account, phone number or email is needed for any of them.
Will I see ads during my turn?
No. Ads only run between games, never during a roll or move animation, and pass-and-play Ludo has no ads at all. Ads are non-personalised so they meet child-directed policies.
Roll the first six. Win the round.
Install Game Night free on Google Play. No card, no account, no nonsense — just a real Ludo board for the people you actually want to play with.
GET IT ONGoogle Play