Ludo is one of those games almost everyone learns before they learn to read, and then argues about for the rest of their lives. Ludo Jim keeps the rules your family plays by and puts them on a board that fits in one hand.

Each player has four tokens waiting in their yard. You need a six to get a token onto the board, another six lets you roll again, and the whole game is decided by whether you use those sixes to bring out fresh tokens or push the ones already running.

How a match plays out

• Roll the dice and move any one of your tokens by that number.
• Land on a square holding a single opponent token and it goes back to their yard, losing everything it had gained.
• Two of your own tokens on one square form a block that nobody can pass.
• Star squares are safe, so a token sitting on one cannot be sent home.
• Get all four tokens around the board and up the home column to win.

Where the game is actually decided

Most players lose Ludo in the middle of the board, not at the end. Spreading all four tokens out feels productive but leaves each of them alone and easy to knock back. Keeping two tokens close together, so you can form a block on a busy square, is usually worth more than a few squares of progress.

The other habit worth breaking is spending every six on a new token. A six late in the game is often better used to run a token that is nearly home than to introduce a fourth one that still has the whole board to cross.

Ways to play

• Online against real players, with a room you can share so only your friends get in.
• Pass and play on one device, which is still the version that causes the most arguing.
• Against the computer, on three difficulty settings, with no connection needed.

Matches take about ten minutes, and there is no login wall in front of them. Open it, roll, and see whether the dice are on your side today.