I wanna play a game..... LUDO! (Hamleys Ludo)

Member Name: pmcds

Product:	Hamleys Ludo
Date:	21/10/08 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good for younger kids, can help with counting

Disadvantages: Limited age range

Ludo is a family favourite game, and one I spent many a time playing when I was a kid, mainly at my grandparents house. The game derives from India, and the word 'ludo' is taken from the Latin translation 'I play.' Ludo is not the most complicated game, and can get a little boring for older children, but on the whole it is fun and entertaining and can help children with counting and colour coordination.

If you look at the board in the picture, you can see that Ludo is played on a square board, which is split equally into patterns involving four different colours. 2, 3 or 4 people can play, each one choosing a colour, and it doesn't matter who has which colour - everything is equal. The four small squares in each corner of the board are spaces to place your four counters, which you must then travel through rolling the dice all aorund the board before finishing in your chosen colour's arrow in the centre.

Once you have decided who is going to start, the first player rolls the die. He/she must roll a 6 for their counter to come out of its space to start in the game, and from then on you move the corresponding number of spaces to the die. If a player's counter gets landed on by another player's, then it gets sent back to the start. You can only have one counter in play at any one time. Once your first counter reaches the arrow, you start again with the next, and so on until the first person to get all their counters into the centre is declared the winner.

This is a simple game, relying almost entirely on the luck of the throw of the die. It is traditionally played with just the one die, but if you want a quicker game, by all means use two, although this will mean more people getting sent back to the start. It is quite fun to play with your kids when they are still quite young, especially if they are learning to count or have trouble with colours, as it can help. Slightly older kids will end up getting bored as there isn't much variation to the game and there's not a lot you can do to adjust it to make it more appealing to them. However, Ludo is what it is, and has been a favourite of kids for a long time, and will no doubt continue to be for many years to come.

I recommend this if you have younger kids. Ludo boards are widely differing in terms of style, depending on the company making them, but a traditional and the most basic of Ludo boards can be picked up for around the £5 mark from most stores with a decent range of games.

Summary: Great game for younger kids