If you like a good board game, check out Ludo King on Windows. It is fun, free and certainly addictive. You can play Ludo King against a computer, against friends locally (by passing a device around) and online against players from all over the world. Up to six players can get in on a single Ludo King match, making for some intense action.

PROS

Simple gameplay: Gameplay in Ludo King is simple and largely automatic, with your only choices being to roll the die and select which token to move. If there is only one token that can move, the computer automatically moves it for you.

Understandable rules: If you’ve ever played Parcheesi, Sorry or Trouble, you’ll definitely see echoes of those games in Ludo King, since they are variations on the Ludo game. You play on a board with four colored areas, and you move your four tokens around the board by rolling a single die.

But it’s challenging: The challenge with circumnavigating the board come from Ludo’s rules. If another player rolls the die and can land one of their game pieces on your game piece, your piece is going back into your base and you’ll have to roll a six to get it out and start the journey around the board again.

Many ways to play: The main event in Ludo King is the game Ludo. And you have four ways to play Ludo King:

Vs. computer: This game mode allows you to have a two- or four-player game against computer opponents. It’s all done on your PC, Android, or iPhone and doesn’t require an internet connection. The computer plays well but doesn’t cheat (or at least, as far as we can tell it doesn’t seem to cheat).

Local multiplayer: This game mode allows you to play against two or four friends from a single device (think handing the mobile device from person to person after each turn).

Online multiplayer: This is where Ludo King really shines. You can go online and play against random folks from anywhere on the planet in real time.

Play with friends: This multiplayer mode allows you to create a lobby (or choose from one) and play with established Ludo King friends that you’ve acquired in real life or during online gameplay.

Bonus Snakes and Ladders game: This is a completely separate classic board game that’s available from the main screen in the app.

CONS

In-app purchases: The game is free to play from beginning to end. But if you want to move along a bit more quickly, you can buy extra die rolls.

BOTTOM LINE

Ludo King is a deceptively simple game that actually has enough nuance and strategy to keep you playing again and again against the computer or another user. To be sure, it’s addictive and it’s a fun way to pass five or ten minutes while waiting in a doctor’s office or just sitting on your couch (or heaven forbid, while you’re at work!). And it’s certainly addictive and fun enough to keep you coming back to play and try your luck against players from around the world.