Free board and dice games

What are board and dice games

Board and dice games are the games that used to come out of a box on the kitchen table. You move pieces across a board, roll dice or lay tiles, and take turns with someone sitting across from you. Some are pure thinking, like chess and reversi, where nothing is left to luck. Others, like ludo and yatzy, mix a roll of the dice with a decision about what to do with it, which keeps every game close.

Kiloo's board and dice games keep the classic rules and set each one on its own table, from a walnut backgammon board to an old tin draughts board. In every one you can play computer opponents at different levels or share one screen with a friend. Most of the strategy games add undo and hints, so you can learn a game while you play it.

Board and dice games to start with

If you want something light, start with the dice. In Yatzy you roll five dice up to three times a turn, keep the ones you like and write the result in one of fifteen boxes, or switch to the thirteen-box American Yahtzee sheet. Ludo is a race: roll a six to bring a token out, run it round the board, and send a rival back to its yard by landing on it anywhere but the safe star squares. Dominoes asks you to match the pips at either open end of the chain and play out your last tile before the café regulars do.

For the classic strategy games, Chess has every rule, including castling, en passant and promotion, a computer opponent at three levels and forty mate-in-one and mate-in-two puzzles. Checkers offers English draughts on eight by eight squares or International draughts on ten by ten, with compulsory jumps and a king crowned by a second disc on top. Backgammon is a race of fifteen checkers round the board, where you hit single checkers and build walls your opponent cannot pass.

There are quieter choices too. In Mancala you sow beads round the pits and go again when the last one lands in your own store. In Reversi you trap a line of your opponent's stones to turn them over, and in Nine Morris three men in a row make a mill that lets you take one of your rival's men. Fleet Battle has you place five ships on a sea chart and then call shots on the enemy chart until you find and sink the whole fleet.

Playing with a friend, the computer or a touch screen

On a touch screen you tap a piece and then a highlighted square or point to move it, tap the die to roll in Ludo and tap dice to keep them in Yatzy. Chess also lets you drag a piece. On a keyboard, Space rolls the dice in Yatzy, Ludo and Backgammon, the arrow keys and Enter move pieces in Chess, Checkers and Reversi, and the number keys pick a pit in Mancala. U undoes a move and H shows a hint in several of the strategy games, F flips the board in Chess and Checkers, and P pauses and M mutes in all ten.

To play with a friend, choose the two-player or pass and play option and hand the device across after each turn. Chess has a face-to-face board that suits both sides, Ludo lets people and computer players sit in any mix, and Yatzy takes up to four players. If you are new to a game, set the computer to its easiest level and lean on the hints. Chess, Checkers and Reversi also have short puzzles to practise on.

Frequently asked questions