What is Mensch ärgere Dich nicht?

Josef Friedrich Schmidt devised the game in Munich around 1908, working from the same Pachisi family tree as Ludo, and published it in 1914. During the First World War, copies were sent to soldiers in field hospitals, and the game they learned there went home with them - it became a fixture in German households and has sold tens of millions of copies since. The title tells you exactly what to expect from the board.

• No safe squares at all. Every token on the track can be captured on any square.
• No stacking. You may never place two of your own tokens on the same square.
• You must move. If any legal move exists, you have to make one - even when every option hurts.
• Entering is compulsory. While tokens wait in the yard, a six must be used to bring one out, and the start 'A' field must be cleared as soon as possible.
• Three tries for a six. With nothing left on the track, you get up to three throws to roll the six you need.
• No three-sixes penalty. Unlike Classic Ludo here, rolling three sixes in a row does not end your turn - see the three sixes rule for the comparison.

The rest is familiar: a six brings a token out, and all four tokens must reach home.

In Classic Ludo you can park on a star square and breathe. Here there is no such square, and the must-move rule can force you to walk into danger you would rather avoid. Captures are constant, comebacks are brutal, and leads evaporate. That is exactly the charm - and why it is a strong contender for the hardest variant title.

Sweden plays a close relative called Fia - 'Fia med knuff', or 'Fia with a push'. It shares the no-safe-squares, no-stacking spirit but lets tokens enter on a one as well as a six. If you enjoy one, you will enjoy the other.