A traditional race for two, three or four players. Bring all four pieces from START to HOME before your opponents.
Choose New game. Same device supports human players sharing a screen and optional computers. Solo keeps one human and one to three computers. Online room creates a private table on BecknerWeb. Each computer can be Easy, Medium or Hard. Pick unique colors; two players must use opposite colors (Ruby/Sapphire or Emerald/Amber). Unused colors stay inactive.
The first setup row is the online host. Send the invitation link or room code to friends. Each guest selects an open human seat and presses “I’m ready.” The host starts once every human seat is occupied and ready. A room code lets a guest claim an unoccupied invited seat; it does not authorize control of an occupied seat.
The highest two-dice opening total starts; tied leaders reroll. Play proceeds counterclockwise through active seats. Roll using the button or R. Select a highlighted piece on the board, a large numbered piece button, or keys 1–4. Then choose a legal movement button. Tab and Enter also operate the controls. Numbered piece buttons are the preferred precise targets on a small phone.
Each die is a separate increment. The same piece can use both dice in either legal order, or different pieces can use them. If both portions can legally be used, you must use both. If only one can be used, either playable die is allowed; this edition does not require the higher die. The engine searches complete sequences before offering moves.
A five on either die enters a piece; 1+4 or 2+3 can also enter one piece using both dice. Entry is mandatory when legal. A five that cannot enter may be used for movement. Your pieces travel counterclockwise from the colored entry square, then through your private home lane. START is the circle outside the track; HOME is the central finishing area.
Landing on a single opponent on an ordinary square captures it and returns it to START. A capture earns a 20-space bonus after ordinary dice movement. Starred spaces and colored entries are safe. Different colors cannot share a safe space; normal movement cannot capture there. Entering a piece from START is the exception: it captures a single opponent on your own entry square. A single piece may be passed, including on a safe square.
Two pieces of one color on any track or home-lane square form a blockade. No piece, including one of the same color, can pass it or land on it. A blocked entry cannot be used. A player may be forced to break a blockade. The same two pieces cannot move together to form a blockade on a new square during their turn. Finished pieces in HOME do not form blockades.
Doubles grant another roll after movement and bonuses, even when no movement is possible. If no piece is in START when doubles are rolled, the movement has four portions: the two top numbers and the two opposite numbers (7 minus each top). Their sum is 14. All four must be usable in a legal order or no dice movement occurs. The third consecutive double makes no forward movement: return the unfinished piece closest to HOME to START, then pass the turn.
Each capture creates one indivisible 20-space reward; each arrival HOME creates one indivisible 10-space reward. After dice movement, choose a piece able to move one full reward. Bonuses never enter pieces from START. Take all usable rewards before the next roll. Rewards may themselves create captures or home arrivals. When none of the pending rewards is usable, the remainder is forfeited. HOME requires an exact count; the first player with all four pieces HOME wins.
The source is the complete one-page Winning Moves classic Parcheesi rulebook, ©2007. This implementation follows that edition, not Ludo. Its functional rules are implemented with original code and board art. These details settle points the short rulebook does not explicitly sequence:
Local games save after every accepted action. Resume restores the local game or your saved online seat. If both exist, Resume asks which to use. Storage is per browser and site origin; clearing it, private browsing expiry, or changing devices can lose the local save or the opaque online seat token. Do not share browser storage or seat tokens. Invitation URLs contain only the room code.
Sound and volume settings persist. Sound starts after your first click or keypress. Reduced motion is available in Settings and honors the operating system preference. Game state never depends on an animation or audio completion.
Online games poll every two seconds; this is turn-based synchronization. A disconnected human retains their seat. Refresh or Resume in the original browser reconnects. After 60 seconds without a successful poll, the host may explicitly replace an absent human with a chosen computer difficulty. There is no automatic replacement or host transfer. A disconnected host keeps their authority; other players can continue until that human's turn is needed. An unreachable host can leave the game waiting indefinitely. Rooms expire after 30 days with no game action.
All-computer advancement pauses when nobody is polling and resumes when a player reconnects. Local computer opponents use the same legal-move engine; Hard evaluates complete dice sequences and known board threats, not future dice.
Extract all files together and open index.html on desktop for local or solo play. A service worker is not permitted on file:// pages; direct local-file play uses the already extracted assets. Browser local-file storage policies differ, and some phone file managers cannot open an extracted website as a normal page. The reliable phone route is to visit the installed HTTPS page, let it finish loading, then revisit the same page offline. Offline caching needs HTTPS (or localhost during development), an installed active service worker and browser permission. Reload once after the first visit; verify airplane-mode operation before relying on it. Browser storage eviction can remove cached files. Online private rooms always need IIS and SQL Server connectivity.