T-3 Ludo
Also written T3 Ludo · a T-3 game on zen2play
Ludo, with a rogue T3rminator.
The race everyone knows: four coins out of your yard, round the board and home. Then the twist -
a T3rminator that belongs to nobody sweeps the board on every roll of and every roll of
, and safe mountains you can
capture and hold. Luck rolls the dice; your choices decide the game.
Free to play. 2 or 4 players. Play people, or Zen in any empty seat. Fair dice, rolled by the server.
A real four-player game Zen played: gem-stone coins, a held mountain, the T3rminator on the prowl.
How it plays
Each player races four gem-stone coins clockwise round a 56-square track and up their own home column. You always see your own coins at the bottom left. Tap the die, then tap a lit coin.
The roll-off
Before play, everyone rolls in turn. The first to roll a places the T3rminator on any square
except a mountain - and play starts with the next player.
Out and round
A coin leaves the yard only on a 6. Roll again after a 6, after capturing, and after bringing a coin home; three 6s in a row lose the turn.
Capture
End your move on a plain square holding another colour's coins and they all go back to their yard. Your own coins may share a square.
Home
Reach your glowing finishing square by the exact count. Bring all four home first and you win at once.
Your table, your choices
Set the table in the cards beside the board, exactly as in every zen2play game.
2 or 4 players
Two players face each other across the board; four use every corner. Pick it in the Players card.
People or Zen
In the Opponent card choose Player to be paired with a person, or play Zen Calm or Zen Master now. Zen fills every seat no person takes, always playing for its own win.
Time
Against a player pick 10, 15 (default), 30 or 60 minutes each. Every move has 30 seconds; your first move 60.
Always your corner
The board turns for you: your coins and your die are always at the bottom left, whatever your seat.
Auto roll
Tick Auto roll beside the die and your rolls happen for you; you still choose every move.
A rating for every win
Any win earns +5, whoever is at the table, Zen included. You never lose points, for a loss or for leaving a game.
Safe mountains: take them, hold them
Eight islands are mountains: four on the inner corners and one at the end of each arm. On a mountain nobody is captured and the T3rminator never kills.
One colour holds this mountain: its coins glow like fire, and no other colour may land.
The first colour to land on an empty mountain holds it.
It holds up to 3 of its holder's coins.
Other colours may pass over a held mountain but never land on it - they must move another coin.
A mountain with coins on it blocks the T3rminator: it cannot cross it.
Park before home. The island at the end of the arm before your home column is your last square on the track: hold it and wait there safely for the exact roll.
Shelter from the sweep. When the T3rminator is close, step onto a mountain - it is the only square it cannot touch.
Freeze the T3rminator. Hold the mountain just ahead of it and it cannot move at all; every coin behind that mountain is safe while you hold it.
Block a rival. A held mountain on an opponent's path is a square they cannot land on; it can leave their best roll with nowhere to go.
Do not camp too long. Three coins on a mountain are safe but not racing - and every roll must move a coin if one can move.
The T3rminator: the rogue on the board
It belongs to nobody, it cannot be captured, and it never leaves. It travels anti-clockwise - against the coins - so it meets them head-on.
Every roll of moves it 1 square. Every roll of
moves it 3 squares. It kills every coin on the squares it
enters - every player's, your own included - after the roller has moved. Mountains are never kill squares,
and a held mountain on its way stops it.
One sweep, several coins sent home: everything on the squares it crossed.
The first of the roll-off places it anywhere except a mountain.
After that, every roll of and every roll of
, by anyone, moves it, anti-clockwise, after that player's move.
It kills every coin it crosses or lands on; it never kills on a mountain or enters a home column.
A mountain with coins on it, on the squares a roll would take it through, stops that move.
Place it to hunt. Rolled the first ? Put it a few squares ahead of an opponent's start square: travelling anti-clockwise it walks straight into the coins they bring out. Never put it just ahead of your own start.
Watch the three squares ahead of it. A coin there dies on the next anyone rolls; the square right ahead dies on a
too. A third of all rolls move it.
Escape on your own roll. You move first. Rolled a or a
with a coin in its way? Move that coin out, then let it sweep your rivals.
Let it do the capturing. When rivals bunch up ahead of it, your sends them all home - clear your own coins first.
Stop it cold. Hold the mountain ahead of it and it is frozen until you leave.
Rules at a glance
How do I get a coin out?
Roll a 6. It comes out onto your start square, the first square after your arm's island.
What if I cannot move?
If no coin can move for your roll, the roll is passed - but a or a
still moves the T3rminator.
Do I have to finish exactly?
Yes: a coin reaches its finishing square only by the exact count.
Can the T3rminator kill my coins?
Yes, if they are on its path when it moves. Move them out of the way on your own 1 or 3, or shelter on a mountain.
Is it ever stuck?
Only while a mountain with coins on it lies on the squares a roll would take it through. Right beside a held mountain it waits for the mountain to empty.
How does a game end?
The first player with all four coins home wins at once. Time and leaving also end a game.
Roll the dice. Ride your luck. Rule the board.
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