The love for board games can sometimes draw attention to some rather unique options. Then there are also the traditional favourites chosen for their everlasting popularity.
Two such games are Ludo and Crokinole, with the latter resembling Carrom, which will be familiar to most inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent.
Before we get into greater detail about these two popular games, it would be noteworthy to mention that both these games have become unlikely saviors from boredom, as reported by the Canada Broadcasting Corporation and The Hindu.
In this article, we will compare the two very different games of Ludo and Crokinole, along with a bird's eye of their differences.
What Is Crokinole?
The game of Crokinole is a 19th-century Canadian creation, and those who play Carrom will experience some familiarity when playing Crokinole. The game of Crokinole requires a bit of skill from the players. The game has two players (or four, playing in teams) aiming to flick small wooden discs into a hole in the center of the board.
Players sit across from each other, choosing any of the four quadrants. Each player (or team) has 14 discs of their selected color. When a player gets their turn, they must strike to move their discs from the edge of the circle to anywhere on the board.
What Is Ludo?
Ludo is also an ancient game that was invented in the late Victorian era and is itself based on the ancient Indian game of Pachisi which has been played since the 6th century A.D.
There are multiple versions of the game, such as Parchís from Spain, Parcheesi from the USA, and Uckers, a form of Ludo played in the British Navy on a Ludo board. Off late playing Ludo online is also an option, thanks to a smartphone in virtually everyone’s pocket!
Rules of Crokinole
The objective of Crokinole is to shoot your discs into the hold at the board’s center. Points are awarded depending on the position of the disc on the board. The values decrease as you move further away from the center. The scores corresponding to the zones from the center to the outermost circle are 20, 15, 10, and 5, respectively.
If opposing discs on the board are absent, the player must land their discs within the 15-point circle. If there are no opposing discs on the board, the player must either directly or indirectly make contact with an opposite disc. Failure to land in the center or hit an opposite disc means the shot discs and any other friendly discs touched on that turn will be removed.
Rules of Ludo
The aim of Ludo is more straightforward than that of Crokinole. A player must play to get their tokens into the home space before the others can, and it is a race to see who gets to traverse the board first and take their coins home.
However, there is more to the game than rolling the dice and moving your coins in sync with the number on display. Players can capture their opponents' tokens, and the coin’s positioning may restrict the movement of their opponent’s coins.
Each player chooses one of the four available colors (green, yellow, red, or blue) and places the pieces of that color in the corresponding colored zone. A single die is provided that determines movement.
Crokinole Board
The Crokinole board is made of wood and is circular in shape. It is 66 inches in diameter and divided into three perfectly aligned regions. The inner region has a hole of virtually the same dimension as the discs. Small bumpers surround this region with enough space for the disc to pass through.
Ludo Board
The Ludo board is square shapes in the pattern of a cross, with each arm divided into three adjacent columns. The middle squares are the home column of their respective colors and cannot be landed on by the other colored tokens. The center of the cross is the shape of a square divided into four triangles and is the home area, with each triangle being of different colors.
Each corner has colored squares or circles, which is the starting position of the tokens.
How is Crokinole Won?
Once all the players have shot their discs, the score for the round is taken. The team or player having more points has to score the difference between the two scores. A hundred points are the maximum that can be scored by any side. Players are to score at least 100 points to win the game. Multiple rounds are possible if this criterion still needs to be met.
How is Ludo Won?
A game of Ludo is complete when a player’s piece reaches the home column of its own color. The piece completes its journey when it gets to the center and lands on the home triangle. The number of paces to be moved must match the number on the die face to move forward; else, the token stays at its current location. The winner is the first player who manages to get all four pieces home. The game continues with the remaining players to determine the runner-ups.
Both Ludo and Crokinole are games with a rich and fascinating past. No matter which game you pick, plenty of entertainment is guaranteed thanks to their engaging gameplay and fun rules. These games even have online versions on both Android and iOS platforms for fun on the move. What more could one want?
