Some evenings do not have an hour in them. You want a proper game against a friend, with dice and risk, and you want it done before the kettle cools. That is what Quick Ludo is for. It is Ludo online with fewer pieces, and it turns a long game into a short one without changing how it feels. Here is how it works, why it is quicker, and when I would choose it among the 2 player board games online.
What is Quick Ludo?
Quick Ludo is a choice the host makes in the lobby. Instead of four pieces each, every player has two. The Ludo rules are untouched: a six frees a piece from base, a capture sends a rival piece back to base, and the finish demands an exact throw.
The full Ludo game lists thirty to sixty minutes on the site. Quick Ludo runs about five.
Why is it so much shorter?
Boardit runs Ludo in the browser, and the Quick option halves the journey.
Here is the arithmetic. In my calculation, one piece that moves on every throw needs about 20.8 throws to travel from entry to home. A player with four pieces makes that trip four times, roughly 83 throws of movement. With two pieces it comes to about 42.
That is a rough sum. It ignores captures, which send pieces back, and bonus throws, which give a free move. It also ignores the wait for a six at the start. Still, it shows the scale: halve the pieces and you halve the work.
How much does luck decide it?
A lot. In a 2 player Ludo match with only two pieces each, you have less to choose between, and a lucky start can settle the evening. I would not call Quick Ludo a game of skill.
What it has instead is sharper risk. A capture costs you half your pieces instead of a quarter. If your rival sits one to six squares behind your lead piece, a single throw can wipe out half your progress. Every move near an opponent matters.
Can you make it even quicker?
Yes, with the host's other switches. The biggest delay is the opening wait. Six throws is the average before a first six appears, and 57.9 percent of runs of three throws hold none at all. The host can enable three attempts at a six whenever no piece is out. That lifts your chance of a six in a turn to 42.1 percent.
The default is one throw while you wait. Extra throws for captures and for bringing a piece home are on, and a six always throws again.
How do you play Ludo with friends in a short game?
Open the Ludo page, create a table, and choose Quick in the lobby. Send the code or the link to your friend, who gives a name and needs no account. Phones, tablets and laptops all work, and the two of you can sit in different cities.
Each turn has thirty seconds. A seat that stays idle through two consecutive turns is taken over by a bot until the person returns. With nobody free, the host can add a bot and play alone, which makes a handy way to learn the Ludo board in five minutes.
When would I pick it?
Three occasions come to mind.
- As a warm-up before a longer game, so the evening opens with a laugh.
- During a call with a short window, when you want one finished game.
- For a rematch, since a five-minute game makes a loss easy to swallow.
Three Quick games back to back take about fifteen minutes, which is half of one full game at its shortest.
What it does not replace
It does not replace the full game. The long version has more tension, more captures and a longer story. Quick Ludo is a snack, and I like it as one. Try it once with two pieces each, then decide whether the full board is worth an evening.
Ahmed Moaz builds Boardit, a free browser game site.