How very interesting indeed!

Looks like a splendid minifig and parts pack, especially with those plates in what appear to be light royal blue and either dark tan or medium nougat (can't tell exactly), but... I also really like Ludo so I kinda wouldn't bear to part this one out if I did get it!

Well that's awkward!

Called "Parchís" in Spain.

It would be great to have Lego Games again!!

Umm... how do you keep track of who's made it home? Single 2x2 tile with no place to attach the minifigs. might need to mod that to a 2x2 plate with single open stud and insert a long bar or lance that the home safe minifigs can climb up!

Oddly it seems like they've replaced the lego die with a spinner thing (in the lower right of the image), especially as I heard rumours that these dice were the single non-electric piece that Lego spent the most developing. I'm also a little unsure about how you're supposed to stack your pieces (not to mention (as Darkstonegrey says) fitting them into the tiny goal area).

It seems like the rules for stacking pieces varies somewhat, I preferred the variant where you could stack your pieces and then move them as one, but if an opponent landed on your stack he'd knock several of your pieces back to start in one move. Others played it so you couldn't move your stack as one piece, but opponents could not land on your stack (or sometimes not even pass it). I've even seen rulesheets saying that you could move your stack as one AND opponents couldn't knock it out, but I consider that variant broken and boring.

One trick in 2- or 3-player games is to select a starting position behind the other players, so no player has the position behind (counterclockwise) of yours, this slightly reduces the risk of other players catching up to your pieces and knocking them out.

Looks very fun, love the figure torsos and the fact u get 2 of each is great. Just hope it’s something like £20-£30 and they don’t overprice it like every other 2018 seems to be in the UK at least

It is called "Who laughs at the end" in Hungary.
It seems the 4 factions represent the 4 seasons, but the winter team doesn't have a warm enough outfit.

Cool

@darkstonegrey: what do you mean by "how do you keep track of who's made it home? Single 2x2 tile with no place to attach the minifigs"?
There are four 2x2 plates in each "home zone", where you can attach all four of your minifigs. Same with the rest of the playing board, every slot/spot where you can land is a (white) 2x2 plate where you can attach a minifig. According to the rules of "Mensch ärgere Dich nicht", as soon as you land on the same slot/spot as already occupied by another figure, you kick him out to his "start zone" and he has to wait until he has thrown a six before he can move back to his starting position on the board again. That's the whole point (and fun part) of the game, isn't it?

Looking at the picture, I like the "seasons" theming to the four colours.

Game is called "Ne ljuti se covece" in Serbian (Don't get angry, man) so we probably got that from German. And it's a pretty hated game that parents mostly force kids to play when there is nothing else better to do :D

In Denmark it’s called LUDO so get over it :) Looks good btw!

I suspect far more sets will be used for parts than playing the game but I am not complaining!

Its interesting, reading all the different names for the same game in different countries.

I've grown up with the name «Ludo», but I love seeing how many of the names in different countries have to do with getting angry! I remember the last time I tried playing with my brother, he stormed out angry half-way through the game.

The lack of stacking opportunities is a bit puzzling though. I guess you'll just have to do like in «The LEGO Batman Movie» and take the hairpieces off to put the figs on top of each other to make blockades or store the figs that have made it all the way to the finish tile.

What's this "stacking" some people are talking about? I can't find anything like that in the official rules. Or is it akin to the "barricade" tactic of the alternative rules?
And what is this mysterious "finish tile"? Every home has four places for the figs to get to. After that, the game is over, at least according to the official rules.

I grew up playing this game every time I went over to my Mormor and Morfar's (grandma and Grandpa's) house. this brings back so many great memories and will definitely have to pick this one out when it arrives in Canada.

@AustinPowers, with the normal, round, flat pieces you use to play the game, you can put the pieces on top of each other to make a blockade, or barricade. As the pieces make it into the finish area, they have to make it all the way onto the finish «tile» in this case (it's usually arrow-shaped), where you stack them on top of each other like when you're building a barricade.

@J0rgen: thanks for the info, that is quite different then to the German version.
For a start, we don't play with flat pieces but with small figurines that you can't really put on top of each other. The "barricade" tactic (which by the way is not part of the standard rules for the game here) means putting two figurines next to each other, thus blocking the path of the others for the time being.
Plus, we have four places for the figures in each finish area, like the four 2x2 plates in each colour in the LEGO version. As soon as all four of your figurines have made it to their appropriate spots in the finish area, you have won.

A bit of a tangent from the current discussion, but an interesting thing I learned a while back was that the reason "Cluedo" was called "Clue" in North America was because Cluedo was a combination of "Clue" and "Ludo." Since Americans called the game "Parcheesi" and wouldn't understand the Ludo pun the game's title was shortened to Clue.

Is there any skill/strategy to Ludo, or is it just luck of the die/spinner?

I'd never heard of a "Ludo game"; for those in the same boat:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludo_(board_game)

OMG! I've played it a lot as a kid. We had a magnetic version, which is very useful during travelling. But it had 5 different colours for five players. Actually it was a double sided board game, on the other side we had a "Nine men Morris" game. I never new it is called Ludo.
Here in Hungary it is called "Ki nevet a végén?", which means "Who will laugh at the end?". Another popular Hungarian name, that was used in the 60's and 70's is "Kocog és kidob", which means something like "Running and knocking out"
Here's a picture of the old Hungarian magnetic version: http://retronom.hu/files/images/IMG_0771Akis.jpg
Instant buy! But the spinner dial will be replaced with a die.

It’s at the brand store in Billund as well

@AustinPowers, that's interesting! I really like the comment section for this article.

@CathyVT, there is a little bit of strategy involved as you can decide which of your four pieces to move.

I love the four seasons theme, though the winter team should at least get hats or something. We would call this game "Aggravation" or "Sorry" depending on who makes it, I guess. If they sell this in the U.S., I guess people will think "Ludo" is a game that Lego made up.

@AustinPowers in the version I'm familiar with playing, you don't win the game until you get every piece past the home stretch (the solid colored paths in the middle of the board) and landing in the spaces in the the home stretch protect your pieces from getting knocked back to the starting area, but you haven't won until all of those are home (the center of the board) either by exact count (more difficult, but gives other players a chance to catch up) or otherwise (easier win rule).

Now, taking into consideration what you mentioned and the customizability of the game and rules, I see now that the intention with this LEGO version of the game is just getting all your pieces into the colored paths in the middle.

Here's an interesting link that mentions some of the game history:
https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/leisure/brain-games/parcheesi1.htm

And indeed, based on variations of Ludo, this LEGO version appears to be based on the German version Mensch ärgere Dich nicht:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludo_(board_game)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensch_%C3%A4rgere_dich_nicht

Plates are not good for this. Tiles should be used (believe me). I have lots of experience with LUDO style game (www.kockarna.si):

http://www.kockarna.si/drupal/?q=node/10 Modular version of the game
http://www.kockarna.si/drupal/?q=node/19 Quick version of the game
http://www.kockarna.si/drupal/?q=node/30 Few more versions.

(use google translate - pages are in Slovene)

Not sure it can top Creationary, but I am happy to see another attempt at a game.
I wonder if Lego have been browsing what is available at Amazon and producing their own version?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lego-Ludo-Game-4500744-Workers/dp/B000R2GR0S

Edit: Just seen that this set from Amazon is listed in the Brickset database as an actual Lego release. So this is Lego refining a previous idea.

We also had this game here, also named Ludo. It's generally regarded (or at least it was during my childhood) as a simple, "inexpensive" game. You could always count on someone bringing a Ludo to any kind of gathering, sometimes even to recess. Of course, this meant you probably wouldn't feel like playing it most of the time, but it was always a reliable choice.

Just curious, what's the distinction between Sets > Games and Sets > Miscellaneous > Games ?

Seen this in the shop at Legoland Billund.

Hmm, LEGO has a hard time learning from past theme cancellations.. From memory & experience the Games line was not a great seller, so why do we keep making them..?

Looks interesting, I wonder how well that spinner works .