Ludo King™

Combining both quality gameplay and nostalgic vibe from the childhood days, Ludo King promises to bring you hours of joy.

Visuals and Sound

Ludo King is the epitome of a casual Android game. It's hard to find another title, which is as plain, mellow and innocent-looking. You're presented with the classic Pachisi playing board, which is divided into four fields: red, green, blue and yellow. And if you take a closer look, you'll notice that these square-shaped fields are connected with a colored Indian swastika. It’s a nice reference to the game's ancient roots.

Animations of the dice rolling, figures migrating over the board and treasure chests popping on the screen when you win a game are quite smooth. Mostly, they are the only dynamic elements of the design: that's why gameplay feels calm and meditative. And whenever you're victorious, you're saluted with fireworks that crackle funnily.

Ludo King is that case when it looks decent, but doesn't present any "wow" effects.

Controls

Tapping & swiping, along with the occasional screen-pressing, are the only moves you need. The game feels intuitive to control. Though sometimes it stutters and therefore fails to react to your gestures instantly. Could have a bit of improvement on that.

Plot and Gameplay

Everybody knows what Pachisi, aka Twenty-Five is about. Your goal is to move all the four pieces of your color around the board strictly counter-clockwise. And it's up to blind luck to decide whether the triumph will be yours or not. Just roll the dice and see for yourself!

However, Ludo King takes a step from the classic rules. For instance, you can have up to five players, adding the orange color to the party. Well, more competition means more intrigue!

However, some players have been complaining that the game lacks impartiality and has no randomness whatsoever. The thing is that a scary tendency has been noticed: beginners always get lucky numbers, when they roll the dice and for them winning becomes a breeze. Meanwhile, in the multiplayer mode those players who have higher ratings, tend to be luckier than the rest of Pachisi community. It's hard to identify so far whether they are just extremely lucky or Ludo King doesn't have a legit random number algorithm.

Is it worth replaying?

As long as you don't mind strange randomness bugs, Ludo King can be enjoyed from time to time. Especially with your friends in the pass-and-play mode. Online Ludo King feels a bit different and frustrating due to its performance bugs.

Bottom Line

If you miss Pachisi, Ludo King can bring it into your life. Hopefully, developers will fix its flaws soon since it is a quite decent adaptation of a childhood game for mobile platforms.