Top 3 Mistakes New Players Make (and How to Avoid)

So, you’re new to the game and feeling anxious? Or perhaps you’ve just participated in your first Ludo League event and felt underwhelmed with your performance? Fear not, the UK Ludo League are here to share their wisdom, experience and provide you pointers on how to avoid very repeatable mistakes we see new players make, which should lead to an improvement of performance & results.

First and foremost, the uniqueness of utilising a clock whilst playing ludo is something that’s been well received by our participants. It introduces a new dynamic to the game and makes it more competitive for sure however it also leads to the biggest mistake we’ve seen players make, taking too long on their turns which results in running out of time & subsequently losing the game. So why does this happen and how can you avoid it? We recently introduced a “Pre-event seminar” in which we encourage new players to attend the event 30 minutes prior to starting to brush over the rules and ensuring they participate in practice games. This has already proven to be a massive help as players get into the rhythm of rolling the die, making a move and then hitting the clock to end their turn. Since implementing this, we haven’t had one pre-event seminar participant run out of time during the tournament so something we recommend is having participants practice, in timed conditions, prior to attending our tournaments. We also strongly recommend players to check the clock from time to time as new players are often surprised when they run out of time.

This leads us onto the next mistake we notice new players make. Due to the confusion of having to utilise a clock, we’ve noticed some players making moves out of panic. You never EVER want to be doing this during any game of Ludo. Panic leads to wrong decisions, wrong decisions lead to losses. The second biggest mistake we notice players making is playing without strategy. We appreciate luck is a big factor in Ludo, it’s why we introduced so many unique rules (to increase the competitiveness of Ludo and to try reducing the luck aspect) however new players often not playing with some form of strategy has led to a lot of losses from what we’ve observed.To counter this, we advise players to practice as much as possible so they can figure out their own winning strategies, to bring it to our UK Ludo League tournaments and to implement it as much as possible. Like in any walk of life, practice makes perfect and figuring out 2-3 different strategies can be the difference between an early exit and being a UK Ludo League champion.

Finally, another common mistake we see new players making is lacking concentration. Of course, our mission is to make Ludo competitive but fun, encouraging camaraderie whilst battling to become Ludo League champion (and winning some cool prizes along the way) however we’ve noticed competitors more focused on the fun aspect as opposed to being on a mission to win. All it takes is one wrong move to really, really ruin your own game. Trust us, we know. It also often goes hand in hand with the previous mistakes we touched upon above such as ruining strategy, running out of time and being reliant on luck rather than skill. To counter this, we simply advise competitors to do what’s best for them. Can you multitask? Can you stay concentrated on your game whilst having a chat & laugh? Then carry on as you were. If the opposite, we recommend being more focused during the game and then potentially saving the hehe haha’s until after the current game. The difference between try and triumph is just a little umph!