When we were struggling to fight COVID-19 last year, Ludo made headlines. There were reports on playing ludo: be it fights between husband and wife over playing ludo or Mumbai police using memes on Ludo to campaign to stop the spread of coronavirus from different parts of the country. The popularity of ludo soared and it became one of the most downloadable games on the internet. Ludo is a traditional game that has been our favourite game of the afternoon before the internet. The new found popularity of Ludo can be attributed to technology. However, the popularity was triggered by lockdown due to the pandemic. While the government took several measures to enforce the lockdown, common people also endorsed the call. However, the constant flashing updates of COVID-19 cases from the globe had put people in a state of hopelessness. In that state of hopelessness, the question is how people coped up with the prevailing sense of fear and uncertainty during the pandemic. Moreover, as all economic and educational activities were put on hold due to lockdown, people got plenty of leisure. In the pursuit of hope, people resorted to playing games to get some respite as well. This paper explores the reasons for the popularity of Ludo in its digital avatar and what made people to prefer playing Ludo over other board games. The popularity of Ludo during lockdown suggests that the leisure manufactured by lockdown invoked the playfulness of the citizens to engage in the games while forced to stay at home or work from home. This paper argues that due to being a game of alea, Ludo offered a make and believe scenario in which players found opportunity to do some innovations by taking initiatives while playing Ludo at home during lockdown.
