Play Ludo Online With Friends in Sarhny (صارحني): Guide

Ludo is one of those games everyone already knows, which is exactly why it works so well online: nobody needs a tutorial, you just need a table and the right people around it. This guide covers how to play Ludo online with your friends in Sarhny (صارحني), the exact rules the game uses, what the Magic Arena mode adds, and a few habits that make a friendly match more fun.

Why play Ludo where your friends already are

The hardest part of online board games is rarely the game. It is getting the same four people into the same room at the same time. Sarhny started as an app for anonymous, honest messages between friends, so the people you would want at a Ludo table are often already there: the friends who message you, the people you follow, the group that answers your questions. The Ludo in Sarhny's Arena tab is built for them, with invite codes, two-versus-two teams and a pass-the-phone mode for when you are in the same room.

Ways to play

At the top of the Ludo screen you choose the rule set (Classic or Magic Arena), then how you want to play:

• 1v1 online: a quick match against a real player, or a private game with a friend through an invite code.
• 2v2 online: two teams of two, with partners sitting opposite each other on the board (red with yellow against green with blue). Online team games use Classic rules.
• 4 players: everyone for themselves, through quick match or invites.
• Vs computer: offline, as 1v1, as 2v2 with a computer partner, or you against three.
• Same device: pass one phone between two, three or four players, or two teams, in either rule set.

How to invite friends to your table

1. Open the Arena tab in the Sarhny app and choose Ludo.
2. Pick 1v1, 2v2 or 4 players, then tap “Invite a friend”.
3. The app creates a six-character code valid for 30 minutes. You can notify up to 10 of your followers, or paste the link sarhny.com/play/ plus the code into your group chat.
4. Friends open the Arena and tap “I have a code”, or tap the link to land straight at the table.

Online play needs you to be signed in, and your results count toward the Ludo “Top players” board.

The Classic rules, exactly as the game applies them

House rules for Ludo vary from family to family, which is where arguments start. These are the rules Sarhny's Classic mode uses, so everyone at the table knows them before the first roll:

• You need a 6 to bring a token out of the base.
• Rolling a 6, capturing an opponent's token or getting a token home gives you an extra roll.
• Three 6s in a row cancel the turn; the third 6 is not played.
• Reaching home needs the exact number. If you overshoot, the token does not move.
• There are eight safe star squares: the four starting squares and the square eight steps after each. Nobody can be captured on a star.
• Land on an opponent on a normal square and their token goes back to base. If several of their tokens share that square, they all go back. There are no blockades.
• The first player to bring all four tokens home wins.
• In 2v2, partners cannot capture each other. A player who finishes keeps rolling and moves the partner's tokens, and the team wins when all eight tokens are home.

Magic Arena: Ludo with mana and skills

If your group has played thousands of Classic games, Magic Arena is the reason to come back. Everyone starts with 20 mana, up to a maximum of 100. You earn 5 mana every turn, 20 for rolling a 6, 30 for a capture, and 15 when one of your own tokens is captured, so a bad moment still gives you something. Before you roll, you can use one skill per turn, and each skill has a cooldown:

• Shield (40): protects a token for two turns.
• Fate (50): you choose your next roll.
• Pull (45):drags an opponent's token three squares back, which can cause a capture.
• Freeze (60): the target loses three turns.
• Cosmic Swap (70): swap places with an opponent's token.
• Hidden Mine (30): a one-time trap that opponents cannot see online; a Shield cancels it.
• Dice Storm: at a full 100 mana, spend it all to roll two dice and move by their total.

The board itself is alive, too. Four mystery boxes can give extra mana, a shield or an extra roll, or carry a curse that sends you back to the nearest safe square. A wormhole links two distant squares. And every eight turns an arena event hits everyone: mana rain, a meteor that knocks unprotected tokens home, fog that hides opponents' dice, or a rush that adds two steps to every move.

Playing the computer

You do not pick a difficulty by hand. The computer opponent runs from level 1 to 5, starts at 3, moves up after you win twice in a row and down after two losses, and the game tells you when it gets stronger. It is a good way to learn Magic Arena skills before you try them on friends, and it works without an internet connection.

Table manners that keep it fun

• Agree on the mode first. Mixing a Classic purist with a Magic Arena fan is how a friendly evening turns into a debate. Pick the rule set before you share the code.
• Mind the clock. Each turn has 15 seconds; if time runs out, the game moves for you. Online, a player who keeps missing turns or stays disconnected is counted as having left, so the match is not stuck for the others.
• Use the quick chat. In-match chat uses preset phrases and emoji (a good-game compliment, a rematch request and the like) rather than free typing, which keeps the table friendly.
• Choose your table.You can change the board's look (leather, navy, walnut or emerald) in the settings.

Add a question to the stakes

Here is where Sarhny's roots show. In same-device games, the winner gets a “winner's question” to ask the loser something light and funny. It turns the end of a match into a moment instead of a menu screen. If you want the same feeling online, the Showdown and Tic-Tac-Toe games end every match with the winner asking and the loser answering honestly. For good questions to ask, see our list of honest questions to ask friends.

Start your first table

Install the Sarhny app, sign in, open the Arena and pick Ludo. Start with a 1v1 against the computer to warm up, then invite the friends you message most. The full rules live on the Ludo page, and the other five games are on the Sarhny games hub.