Jamaican Ludi

How to Play

The online manual. The same reviewed rules are in the game under Help › How to Play, with a guided tutorial.

The goal: be first to bring all four of your pawns from your yard, once around the board, and home on an exact count.

Getting born

Your pawns start in your yard. Roll a 6 to bring a pawn onto the board at your START square — that’s getting born. In two-dice mode, a later 6 may be used early only to get a yard pawn born.

Two dice, in order

In double-dice mode you roll two dice and use them in the order shown. If the first die cannot move any pawn, save it, use the second, then check the saved die again. After a normal first move, any legal pawn may use the second die — including the same pawn. Tap a glowing pawn and it moves automatically; glowing paths show you exactly where each move lands.

Single-dice mode plays the classic way: one die, one move.

Cutting (captures)

Land exactly on a square holding a single enemy pawn and you cut it — it goes back to its yard to wait on a six, and the capture lands with a finisher worth watching. After a first-die cut, another legal pawn must use the remaining die; if none can, the cutter may continue but cannot cut again that turn.

When exactly one of your shared-track pawns can legally move for the roll, both dice form one continuous move — you may cross an enemy at the first-die midpoint, but you cut only on the final landing.

Roadblocks

Park two of your own pawns on the same square and you’ve built a roadblock. Enemy pawns cannot pass or land on it. Roadblocks are powerful — and everybody at the table will have opinions about yours.

Home — exact count only

After a full lap your pawn turns into its home lane. Pawns in the home lane are safe and cannot be cut. To finish, a pawn must land home on an exact count — overshoot and the move isn’t legal, so plan your dice order carefully. First player with all four pawns home wins the pot.

Modes

Dice throws

Choose your style in Settings: click to roll, drag to flick the dice with your mouse, or the cup throw — grab the cup, shake it, and release. The tumbling dice you watch are the real result, not an animation.

Coins, gems, and cosmetics

Coins and gems are earned entirely by playing — match rewards, captures, daily bonuses, and win streaks. Spend them on entry stakes and unlocking pawn, dice, and board cosmetics. They are virtual only, with no real-money value. On PC there are no purchases of any kind.