Spook & Werewolf Ludo/Pachisi

Aim of the Game

To be the player to manoeuvre both their playing pieces through the four regions of the playing board (and each region’s associated monsters) to the safety of the church on square 40.

Overview

Each player has a playing board made up of 40 squares.

The playing board is split into 4 regions:

• Haunted Orchard (squares 1 to 10)
• Creepy Cornfield (squares 11 to 20)
• Gruesome Graveyard (squares 21 to 30)
• Wild Wood (squares 31 to 39)

Square 1 is the entrance to the Haunted Orchard. It is also the start square. Square 11 is the entrance to the Creepy Cornfield. Square 21 is the entrance to the Gruesome Graveyard. Square 31 is the entrance to the Wild Wood. Square 40 is the finish square and contains a church.

All the remaining squares contain one of the following characters. Each character will be activated by a specific dice roll and causes a specific action when it is activated.

• A dice roll of 1 or 2 activates the Wizards Hat which has an action of move forwards 3 squares.
• A dice roll of 3 activates the Black Cat which has an action of move backwards 6 squares.
• A dice roll of 4 activates the Spook which has an action of move back to entrance of the current region.
• A dice roll of 5 activates the Werewolf who also has an action of move back to entrance of the current region
• A dice roll of 6 activates the Witch who has an action of move back to square 1 in the Haunted Orchard

Each player has two playing pieces. These are placed on the square 1 start at the entrance to the Haunted Orchard.

The party host has a dice. They roll it and announce the number aloud.

All players must now move one of their playing pieces forward this number of squares. They can choose which of their two playing pieces to move and should choose the one that is most advantageous to them.

When everyone has moved the party host now activates one of the 5 characters on the board. They do this by rolling the dice again and announcing which character has been activated. All playing pieces which are on the same square as an activated character take the appropriate action.

Example 1

Everybody has moved their playing pieces. The party host now rolls the dice to activate a character. They roll a 2. This activates the wizard's hat. All playing pieces on a square that contains a wizard’s hat must move forwards three squares.

Example 2

Everybody has moved their playing pieces. The party host now rolls the dice to activate a character. They roll a 4. This activates the spook. All playing pieces on a square that contains a spook must return to the entrance of the region they are in. So it their playing piece was on a spook square in the creepy cornfield they would have to return to square 11 as that is the entrance square to the creepy cornfield region.

Play continues in a similar manner, the party host alternatively rolling the dice first for players to move and then rolling a second time to activate a character.

Playing pieces can only enter the church finish square with an exact dice throw. If the movement dice roll would take them past the church square then they should remain where they are.

The winner is the first player to get both of their playing pieces into the safety of the church.

Preparation you will need to do before the party

• Obtain 2 playing pieces for each player. Small coins would suffice.
• Obtain a dice.

Game Set Up

1. Give one game board and two playing pieces to each player.
2. The party Host should take the dice.

Playing the game

1. The Party Host should roll the dice and announce the number.
2. All players should move one of their playing pieces. They can choose either piece to move.
3. The party host should roll the dice again and announce which character has been activated and what the corresponding action is. e.g. "It’s the black cat. Any playing piece on a black cat must move back 6 squares".
4. Keep playing until someone gets both their playing pieces in the church. They are the winner. Players must roll the exact number to land on the church. 

Easier game

You can make the game easier to play by only giving each player one playing piece. This means the winner will be decided purely by the luck of the dice roll.

More strategic game

You can make the game more strategic by giving each player three playing pieces. The winner will still be the first player to get two playing pieces into the church. However by having three playing pieces they will still have some agency over which playing piece to move when their first playing piece is already in the church.