FLIGHT CLUBThe short answer
If you know Ludo, you can play aeroplane chess after a two-minute explanation. The board, the single die and the goal are the same: get all four of your pieces home before anyone else. Aeroplane chess adds two ways to travel further than you rolled, and in most sets your own planes can share a square without turning into a wall.
Both games have many family and regional versions, so treat the middle columns below as the usual way people play, not the only way.
The rules side by side
| Ludo (common rules) | Aeroplane chess (common rules) | Flight Club | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pieces | 4 tokens each, 2–4 players | 4 planes each, 2–4 players | 4 planes each, 2–4 seats; computer pilots can fill empty seats |
| Getting a piece out | Roll a 6. Indian versions often use two dice and let a 1 bring a token out too | Roll a 6. Some families also allow a 5, or any even number | A 6 only. The plane moves to your start tile and stops there |
| Rolling a 6 | Roll again | Roll again | Roll again |
| Three 6s in a row | Usually your turn ends with no move | Classic sets send the planes you moved on those sixes back to the hangar | Your turn ends with no move; the first two moves stay |
| Landing on an opponent | Their token goes back to the start | Their plane goes back to its hangar | Every opposing plane on that tile goes back. Passing over planes is harmless |
| Two of your pieces on one square | Often forms a block | Depends on the set: some stack, some make a wall | They can share the tile, never block anyone and still move one at a time |
| Moving further than you rolled | Not in standard Ludo | Land on your color to jump four squares ahead; land on your shortcut square to fly across the board | One color jump per move; the shortcut flies 12 squares; no more jumps after a flight |
| Safe squares | Your home column; Indian versions add star squares | Your home runway. Classic sets also hit planes lying under the shortcut | Home runways and the squares under the shortcut are safe |
| Reaching home | Exact roll needed | Exact roll needed; many sets bounce back on an overshoot | Exact roll; extra points bounce you back |
| Who wins | First with all four home; people often play on for second place | First with all four home | The first pilot home wins and the round ends; rooms keep a win count |
Why aeroplane chess feels faster
In Ludo a roll of 4 moves you four squares. In aeroplane chess the same 4 can carry a plane much further. Picture a plane twelve squares along its route. You roll a 4 and land on a square of your own color, so you jump four more to the next square of your color. That square happens to be your shortcut, so you fly twelve squares across the board. One small roll, twenty squares, and anyone sitting on your landing square goes back to their hangar.
That is the whole character of the game. Ludo rewards patience and building blocks. Aeroplane chess is swingier and louder: big jumps, sudden bumps and a lot of laughing at the table.
Where the two games come from
Ludo was patented in England in 1896 as a version of the Indian game Pachisi. Aeroplane chess appeared in China in the 20th century. Nobody knows who invented it, and it may have been adapted straight from Ludo. The word “chess” is a loose translation: 棋 (qi) in Chinese means almost any board game, so there is no chess strategy involved.
Explaining it to Ludo players in three lines
- Land on your own color and you jump four squares to the next square of your color.
- Land on your marked shortcut square and you fly straight across to the other side.
- At home you need the exact number; roll too high and you bounce back.
In Flight Club you do not even need those three lines. The server applies the rules, the planes you can move light up, and each move is animated square by square, so a new player sees why their plane flew.
Names you might see
Aeroplane chess (the British spelling, and the most common English name), airplane chess, flying chess, flight chess and fei xing qi all mean the same game.