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Kontest

Ludo

Two to four, two dice: a 6 brings a counter out, play each die on its own, land on theirs to send it back and yours straight home.

Players
2 to 4 (3 or 4 in a group)
Dice
Two, rolled together
Luck
Mostly: just for fun, never for Koins

The board

A cross-shaped track of 52 squares, four houses in the corners, and a coloured home straight leading to the middle. Each player has four counters in their house. Two players sit opposite each other, and can choose at setup to take two houses each (side by side, or across), with eight counters each to bring home. In a group, three or four can play, a house each.

Your counters wait in your house. Every start square is safe, and so are the stars unless the game was set up without.

Rolling and moving

Roll both dice at once. Then use each die on a counter: the same counter twice, or two different ones, in either order. A counter leaves the house only on a 6, onto its start square, and that 6 is used up bringing it out.

You rolled 6 and 3

A 6 and a 3. Everything is still in the house.

Each tap plays one die: on a double six, a counter brought out stays on its start square, and the other 6 waits for the next counter you tap. Only when one counter alone can move and there is no 6 do both dice go on it in one tap, together: it passes over whatever the first die would land on, and captures only where it ends. If the two together would overshoot home, it moves by the one die that fits. A die no counter can use is lost, and once neither die can be used the turn is over.

You rolled 4 and 2

A 4 and a 2, and one counter out.

Sending counters home

Land exactly on an opponent's counter and it goes back to its house, to start again on a 6, and your counter goes straight home: the capture finishes it. If several opponents share the square, you choose which one to send back. Counters pass over everything; nothing blocks a square. Two of your colours on one square: you choose which to move.

You rolled 3 and 5

Their counter is three squares ahead of yours.
  • Safe squares: off by default, so nowhere is safe, start squares included. Turn the setting Safe squares on and every start square, and the star eight squares on from each, is safe: nobody can be captured there.
  • Double six, and only a double six, rolls again once both dice are played. A third double six in a row loses the turn without moving.

Getting home

After a lap a counter turns into its own home straight. It needs the exact number to reach home; a die that would overshoot cannot move it. With two players, the first to bring every counter home wins. There are no draws.

With three or four, the setup chooses how it ends:

  • Count (the default): the first to bring every counter home wins, and the game ends there. Everyone else is placed by how far their counters still have to go, added up: a counter already home counts nothing, one still in its house the whole way. Fewest steps comes second, and so on.
  • Play on: whoever gets home is out of the game, and the rest carry on until only one is left. Places follow the order everyone got home.

On Kontest

Series. A game can be one game or a best of 3, 5 or 7: a win is a point, a draw half each, and the first past half wins the match. Who moves first swaps every game, against KBot too.

Start between games. After each game both players press Start for the next. You have the clock’s base time to do it (3 minutes on 3 + 2, an hour on an hour a move). Not pressing in time loses that game. If nobody presses Start, the match ends there: the leader wins it, and a level score is a draw.

Clocks. Either a time per move (from a minute to a day), or a time for the whole game, with or without an increment added after each move (“3 + 2” is three minutes each plus two seconds a move). Run out and you lose. The default is an hour a move.

Draws and resigning. You can offer a draw or resign at any time; in a series you choose whether it is for this game or the whole match, and the other player sees which. At a table of three or more you leave instead: you’re placed last, and the rest play on.

KBot. In your own chat you can play KBot, on Normal (it plays properly) or Easy (it makes mistakes). Games against KBot don’t count towards your stats or the leaderboards.

Just for fun. Dice and card games involve luck, so they are only ever friendlies: they never carry a prize.

Ready for a game of Ludo?

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