Ludo: The History of Britain's Best-Loved Board Game
Jaques of London · Est. 1795
Ludo: The History of Britain's Best-Loved Board Game
From an Emperor's palace in Mughal India to 130 years on the British kitchen table
Most people have played Ludo. Few know where it came from. Fewer still know that a single British company has been responsible for its existence in Britain for 130 years, and that the same company invented the Staunton chess set, commercialised croquet, and has been making the country's favourite games since the reign of George III.
The history of Ludo is the history of an ancient game travelling across continents and centuries to land, in its final simplified form, on the kitchen tables of Victorian Britain. It is also the story of Jaques of London: the world's oldest games and toy company, and the company that gave the game its name, its rules, and its enduring place in British family life.
This is that history.
10 Facts About Ludo and Its History
6th centuryThe earliest evidence for Pachisi, the ancient Indian game from which Ludo is directly descended, dates to the 6th century AD. Representations appear in the Ajanta cave paintings of western India
1590sEmperor Akbar of the Mughal Empire played a life-size version of Pachisi in the courtyard of his palace at Fatehpur Sikri, using servants dressed in coloured costumes as the playing pieces
1896Jaques of London registered the name "Ludo" in Britain, adapting Pachisi for the British market and establishing the rules and board design that the game still uses today (UK Patent Office)
I play"Ludo" comes from the Latin "ludo" meaning "I play." For the world's oldest games and toy company, founded in 1795, it was an appropriately named addition to the catalogue
4 playersLudo is designed for exactly two to four players, a number that maps almost perfectly onto the British family. The format has been unchanged since Jaques first published it in the 1890s
VictoriaQueen Victoria's reign saw British board games reach their peak popularity. Jaques of London supplied the Royal Family and held royal warrants during the Victorian era, the same period Ludo was introduced
globalVariants of Ludo are played across every inhabited continent. In Germany it is Mensch ärgere dich nicht. In Spain it is Parchís. In India, the original Pachisi is still played. The game has crossed more borders than almost any other
1849Jaques of London also collaborated to create the Staunton chess set in 1849, with Howard Staunton's endorsement. It remains the only officially recognised chess design in international competition
2 in 1The Jaques Snakes and Ladders and Ludo reversible board has been a staple of the British family home for generations. Both games on one hardwood board: two of the greatest games ever made, made by the company that brought them both to Britain
1795Jaques of London was founded in 1795, making us the world's oldest games and toy company. We have been at the centre of British family play for 230 years, and Ludo is one of our most enduring contributions to it
Pachisi: The Ancient Game at the Heart of Ludo
The story begins not in Victorian London but in ancient India, sometime around the 6th century AD. The game is Pachisi, a cross-and-circle board game played on a cloth board in the shape of a cross, with cowrie shells used as dice and wooden or ivory playing pieces. The name derives from the Hindi word for twenty-five, "pachees", the highest score achievable with the shells.
Pachisi is depicted in the paintings of the Ajanta caves in Maharashtra, India, and would have been played across the subcontinent for centuries before any European set eyes on it. It is not, in its origins, a children's game. It was a game of strategy, luck, and social ritual, played by adults of every class.
The most famous chapter in Pachisi's early history comes from the Mughal court of Emperor Akbar in the 1590s. At his palace of Fatehpur Sikri near Agra, Akbar is documented to have played a life-size version of the game in the vast courtyard, using sixteen courtiers dressed in red, yellow, green, and blue costumes as his playing pieces. The marble pavement, laid out as a giant Pachisi board, still exists. The Hindu's historical records and multiple archaeological accounts confirm this as one of the most extraordinary examples of game-playing in recorded history.
How Pachisi Came to Britain
British administrators, military officers, and traders had been living and working in India since the early 17th century. By the 18th and 19th centuries, the game of Pachisi was well-known among the British in India, played in private homes and clubs across the subcontinent.
It was brought back to Britain during the period of the East India Company and later the British Raj. Like many cultural imports from India, it arrived in British drawing rooms as something exotic and interesting: a game from the East, with a long history, that happened to be enormously enjoyable.
The game circulated in British homes in the mid-19th century in various forms, under various names. What was needed was a publisher with the expertise and commercial reach to standardise it, manufacture it at scale, and give it a name that would stick.
Jaques of London and the Birth of Ludo
That publisher was Jaques of London. Founded in 1795, Jaques was already the dominant name in British games by the time Ludo arrived. The company had helped create the Staunton chess set in 1849 (the only officially recognised chess design in international competition), had commercialised croquet as a garden game in the 1850s, and had published Snakes and Ladders alongside dozens of other classic games.
In the 1890s, Jaques adapted the Pachisi format for the British market, simplified the rules to make them universally accessible, gave the four-colour cross board its now-iconic form, and registered the name "Ludo" in Britain. The registration is documented at the UK Patent Office as 1896. "Ludo" is the Latin first person singular of the verb ludere, meaning "I play." For the world's oldest games company, the name was precisely right.
The timing was also exactly right. The game arrived in the final decade of Queen Victoria's reign, at the height of the Victorian passion for parlour games and family entertainment. A game that could be played by four players across three or four generations, with outcomes determined primarily by luck so that any player could win, was an instant success.
The Jaques of London Snakes and Ladders and Ludo reversible hardwood board — two of the greatest games Jaques brought to Britain, on a single board.
Why Ludo Has Lasted 130 Years
Very few games invented in the 19th century are still played regularly in British homes. Ludo is. The reasons are structural.
The luck element makes the game genuinely competitive across ages. A 6-year-old has the same probability of rolling a 6 as a 60-year-old. The experience of sending an opponent's piece back to base, the momentary thrill of a well-timed move, the final sprint to get all four pieces home, these are shared across generations in a way that skill-based games cannot achieve. A grandparent can play their grandchild without deliberately underperforming.
The rules take three minutes to learn and a lifetime to enjoy. Unlike chess, which requires study, or modern strategy games, which require substantial investment, Ludo is immediately accessible. This frictionless entry is why it has remained in print without interruption since 1896.
Dr Stuart Brown of the National Institute for Play identifies games that work across multiple age groups as uniquely valuable to family wellbeing. The shared experience of play between different generations is one of the most protective factors for children's emotional development. Ludo, by design, provides exactly this.
Ludo Around the World
The British version of Pachisi did not stay in Britain. By the early 20th century, variants of the Jaques Ludo format were being adapted across Europe and beyond. In Germany, Mensch ärgere dich nicht (Man Don't Get Annoyed) became one of the most played games in German history, with over 70 million copies sold. In Spain, Parchís is a national institution. In the United States, Parcheesi was trademarked separately. In India, the original Pachisi continues to be played. Each country brought its own rules and character, but the underlying game that Jaques named and codified in 1896 is present in all of them.
The game's reach makes it one of the most played board games in human history. Across all its variants, it has been played on every inhabited continent, in more than 50 languages, by people of every social class, for over 1,400 years in its ancestral form.
Snakes and Ladders: Ludo's Natural Partner
Snakes and Ladders has its own ancient history, also originating in India as Moksha Patam, a game of moral instruction about virtue and vice. Like Ludo, it was brought to Britain, adapted by British games publishers, and became a family staple. Like Ludo, Jaques of London is one of its primary historical publishers in Britain.
The two games have been sold together for generations, typically on a reversible hardwood board: Snakes and Ladders on one side, Ludo on the other. Together they cover the full range of early board game experience: a pure luck-and-consequences game in Snakes and Ladders, and a luck-plus-tactics game in Ludo where the decision of which piece to move matters at every turn.
The Games Jaques Brought to Britain
In addition to Ludo (1896), Jaques of London also: collaborated with John Jaques and Nathaniel Cooke to create the Staunton chess set (1849); commercialised croquet as a garden sport in Britain (1851); introduced table tennis as "Gossima" in the 1890s; and published Snakes and Ladders and Tiddlywinks. Every one of these games is still played in British homes today.
Snakes and Ladders with Ludo from Jaques of London — two classic games on a reversible board, independently UKCA and CE tested.
130 Years on the British Kitchen Table. Still the Best Family Game.
Invented by ancient India. Named by Jaques of London. Played by everyone.